Listed below are some essential members of our staff.

Office Manager

Lori Hicks – firstpresbyterianmqt@gmail.com

Lori Hicks is a native of the area who lived most of her life in Chocolay Township.  She has a daughter Lindsey, son Cody, granddaughters Veda & Hannah, and grandson James.  She loves spending as much time as possible with her grandchildren and taking them on adventures.  She is most passionate about outdoor activities including biking, hiking, sailing, kayaking, fishing, skiing, beach glass hunting, and particularly anything involving Lake Superior.  Lori is happy to be a part of the FPC church family and is proud of all the church’s efforts as a Matthew 25 church!

Campus Ministry Director

Ryan Redmond

Bio Coming Soon!

Financial Secretary

David Kurtz

David and his wife, Sherry, have been members of the First Presbyterian Church of Marquette since 1973. They have one daughter, Kristy Kerkela, and two grandchildren, Ryan and Nicole. He has served two terms on the Session, starting in the early 1990’s and also served as Clerk of Session. Additionally, he has served on the Mission Support Committee, the Personnel Committee, and the Nominating Committee.

His first term as the Financial Secretary was in the early 1970’s, while attending Northern Michigan University as a student. He notes that bookkeeping was very different then than it is now. Back then, all of our financial records at church were done manually using the McBee system. Presently, he uses Church Windows software to manage the accounting. 

His education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting (1975) and a Master of Public Administration Degree (2000) from Northern Michigan University.  In his spare time, he like to read political and historical magazines and news publications.

Organist

Anne Perket
Anne Perket grew up in Marquette and began attending the First Presbyterian Church at the age of six, when her family moved to Marquette from Ferndale, Michigan. Anne began playing the piano in second grade and the cello in fifth grade. At age 16 Anne began taking organ lessons from Ruth Matthews, an NMU professor, and continued studying the cello and organ at NMU for the next six years. After one year of organ lessons, Anne became the regular organist at First Presbyterian for six years. After graduating from NMU with a degree in music performance, she desired to play the cello professionally and moved to center city Philadelphia to study with Orlando Cole, a cello teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music, and Kathryn Picht, a cellist in the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1985 to 2014 Anne was the organist at Glenolden Congregational Church in Glenolden, Pennsylvania.

During all of those years in southeast Pennsylvania, Marquette, Michigan was still home. Anne and her husband Bond (also from Marquette) eagerly returned to the U.P. last year and their favorite outdoor activities, which include sailing, camping, hiking, fishing and kayaking. It has been a pleasure to return to this beautiful area and a blessing to be a part of the music ministry once again at First Presbyterian Church.

Nursery Coordinator

Amanda Fruehling
As a kid growing up at FPC, Amanda (Swanson) Fruehling first served the church as an Acolyte. Then, as a teenager she took on the responsibility of coordinating the Acolytes, which she did for many years. Now she has moved on to working in the church Nursery since February of 2012 and looks forward to serving for many years to come. Amanda likes working with kids and has enjoyed helping at many First Presbyterian events. Amanda was married in 2015 to her love, Stacy, whom she met at Presque Isle. In her free time Amanda enjoys working on crafts and puzzles.

Music Director

CURRENTLY VACANT 

Bell Choir Director

Dr. Andrew A. Poe – aapoe@charter.net

Andy Poe is the Bell Choir Director of First Presbyterian Church of Marquette.  Although born in Indianapolis, he grew up in Upstate New York.  His day job is as Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Northern Michigan University (Marquette Co, MI).  He received his degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science (up through a Ph.D.) at Cornell University (Tompkins Co, NY) and University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (Washtenaw Co, MI).  Although he has no formal musical training or education, he has been playing handbells since he was in high school, and he sang with the award-winning a cappella group Amazin’ Blue at UMICH. He and his wife Diane, herself a Bell Choir Director at another church, live in Marquette and actually manage to find time to spend with each other between their professional, musical, and spiritual lives.  Dr. Poe serves as a Session Elder and is working toward becoming a Certified Lay Pastor.  He enjoys all forms of escapist fiction, and, in particular, takes the side of DC Comics in DC vs. Marvel discussions with Pastor Nick.

Karl – Custodian

I am a native yooper, and have 3 older children, Mike, Kyle, and Courtney and grandson Mason. I like working at the church because there is always something to do. I also like attending the worship service and talking to all of the church members. I am a big Detroit Lions fan, NASCAR and Detroit tigers fan.