Vestry
At St. Matthew's, the Vestry and Officers are partners in ministry and leadership with the Rector. Vestry members are called to lead, to support the life of the parish, and to participate in caring for and building up the congregation. Some of the responsibilities of the Vestry are to help define and articulate the mission of the congregation, to support the church's mission by word and deed, to select the Rector, to ensure effective organization and planning, and to manage resources and finances. The Vestry is the legal representative of the parish with regard to all matters pertaining to its corporate property. Each Vestry member represents a different population or community within the congregation, so that our work together is considerate of the life of the whole place.
Our Vestry members are elected at the Annual Meeting, each for a 3 year term. Officers are also elected at the Annual Meeting, which is usually in February. Officers tend to serve different length terms, each one plays an important role.
Current Vestry Members
Jen Kepner
Senior Warden
Jen Kepner lived in Wilton as a child and actually attended the Presbyterian church when the services were held in the Parish Hall. She has fond memories of youth group dinners at John’s Best pizza. When she and her husband, Tyler, returned to Wilton to raise their four children (Lily, Mack, Caroline and Rory) they joined St. Matthew’s and have been members for 10 years. Jen has served as a Lay Eucharistic Minister, a member of the Mission Team, and was excited to serve on the Discernment Committee. She and Ty are grateful to the St. Matthew’s community for giving their children such a warm, loving, accepting place to grow up.
Jen also serves on the board of Wilton Children’s Theater and Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance. She also teaches preschool at St. Francis of Assisi in Weston.
Brian Angerame
Junior Warden
Brian and his family (Jennifer, Michael, Katie, Patch and Mongo) moved to Wilton over 16 years ago and have been members of St. Matthew’s since 2004. In the recent past, Brian has served as a Warden and Vestry member of St. Matthew’s, and also as stewardship chair, auction chair, pancake flipper, endowment investment committee member, confirmand mentor, men’s night organizer, and finance committee member for many years. In his professional life, Brian has been an equity portfolio manager specializing in mid-sized companies for over 14 years.
Keith DeAngelis
Treasurer
Keith and his family (Jennifer, Caroline, Jack, and Kate) joined the St. Matthew's parish in 2001, shortly after moving to Wilton from Farmington, CT. His children grew up in the St. Matthew's community, attending church school and confirmation class, and actively participating in the high school youth program. Post college, Caroline and Jack continue to sing with the choir, while Kate serves our youngest parishioners in the nursery.
Anne Newton
Clerk
Anne lives in New Canaan with her husband Chip. They began worshipping at St. Matthew’s in 1994 and Anne was received into the Episcopal Church in our sanctuary in the spring of 1999. Their children, Sarah (25) and Brad (20) attended church school and were confirmed at St. Matthew’s. Anne has served as a church school teacher, as a mentor for our confirmands and by assisting with and directing the Christmas pageant. She has co-chaired our Stewardship campaign, which led to her initial term on the Vestry in the early 2000s and was honored to serve as both Junior Warden in 2014 and Senior Warden in 2015. Anne currently serves as a LEM and loves the opportunity it gives her to play a part in our worship. She was co-chair of the Recruitment Committee as part of our search process for Marissa and enjoyed working with a diverse group of fellow parishioners throughout that process. Professionally, Anne is a physical therapist and currently serves as the lead PT in the Joint Replacement Center at Norwalk Hospital.
Tim Jarvis
Tim and his South African wife Kate settled in Norwalk in 2006 and joined the St. Matthew's community in 2015. They have twin daughters, Chloe and Tessa. Tim joined the Vestry in 2018 where he immediately leapt into the rector search process that blessedly called Marissa into our world, and has since helped support the Mission and ForGiving Committees, while frequently volunteering with a smile for ushering and coffee hour duties and other church activities.
Tim is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and has lived and worked in the financial services industry in Luxembourg, London, Hong Kong, and Australia, and now works for State Street Bank in New York City.
Kim Hall
Kim Hall joined St. Matthew’s in 2014 with her husband Matt and their children Jack and Lydia. At St. Matthew’s, Kim leads hospitality for coffee hour and enjoys participating in an array of St. Matthew’s activities including teaching Sunday school. She also serves as an active member of the Middlebrook and Wilton High School PTAs. Kim holds an AB from Smith College and an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. Prior to retiring, she held a range of Insight & Strategy roles at Pepperidge Farm (Campbell’s Soup) and Kraft Foods, most recently leading Insights for Innovation at Pepperidge Farm.
Dodo Roberts
Dodo has lived in Wilton for 46 years. After college she started working for IBM which started a 48-year career in technology. Dodo and her husband, Rick, raised their 2 daughters here. She is currently on the Wilton Riding Club board and volunteers at the Nantucket animal shelter where she adopted her young friend, Scoot.
As a life-long Episcopalian she sang in the choir and taught Sunday School while she was young. At St. Matthew's she taught Sunday School, chaired the Auction, "Mary Martha's Guild" and the Christmas fair, and served on many functions over the years. Her favorite role at St. Matthew's was on the discernment committee where she not only helped bring Marissa here, but got to know more parish members well and have so much fun doing serious work.
"St. Matthew's is a family. We laugh together, we cry together. We support each other and are there for each other. When Rick died I found out just how much everyone cared without my ever having to ask for anything. I learned that it really is easier to give than to receive - and that both giving and receiving is what makes us the family we are."
Jessica Christ
Mike Kaelin
Mike and his wife, Carol, have been parishioners at St. Matthew’s since 1994. Each of their four children, Catherine, Christina, Michael, Jr., and Jack, attended church school, were confirmed, and participated in youth programs at St. Matthew’s from preschool until they graduated from high school (in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015, respectively). Mike has taught church school throughout his time at St. Matthew’s and recently co-chaired the recruitment team for our new Rector. Carol has been actively involved in adult formation, Bible study, and the flower guild. Outside of St. Matthew’s, both Mike and Carol have been active volunteers in various community organizations in Wilton, including the Library, Chamber of Commerce, Community Emergency Response Team, Garden Club, and Women’s Club. Mike graduated from Duke University in 1981 and Duke Law School in 1984, and is a principal at Cummings & Lockwood LLC in Stamford, CT.
Joe Magnano
Joe and his wife Catherine moved to Wilton from NYC in 1998 and immediately found a church home at St. Matthew's. All three of their children, Alex, Chris, and Sarah attended church school, participated in the youth programs and went on Washington DC mission trips. Chris and Sarah were also in the children and youth choirs. Joe has served as a Sunday school teacher, as a mentor for our Confirmands, and as a member of the Vestry currently and in the early 2000s. Joe has greatly enjoyed the adult education offerings at St. Matthew's and helped organize many of these programs. Joe retired from practicing M&A and Finance law in 2019 having been with NYC law firms for 17 years and with Zurich Insurance Group in the NY and Zurich offices for 22 years.