The Reverend Elizabeth “Kit” Ketcham of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island (UUCWI) will retire June 30 after being on Whidbey Island since 2003. Ketcham has served the congregation for the past nine years. On June 24, she will be presented with the honorary title of Minister Emerita for her outstanding dedication and service.

Raised a Baptist minister’s daughter, Ketcham received her B.A. at Linfield College in Oregon. She enjoyed many careers before coming to the ministry: welfare worker, American Baptist Home Missionary, junior high school Spanish teacher and guidance counselor.

Ketcham’s ministry saw the construction of the new church on Highway 525 in 2008. She supported efforts to create a “green” building with ground source geothermal heat, recycled wood beams and insulated panels and windows.

Active in the larger Whidbey community, Ketcham participates in the Lectionary Study Group composed of several South End ministers. Their purpose is to recognize the issues of respective denominations, discuss the needs of the community and be supportive of each other. As the minister of a congregation that welcomes persons regardless of their sexual orientation, The Rev. Ketcham is active in Pflag (parents and friends of lesbians and gays), Equal Rights Washington, the Pride Foundation and Washington United for Marriage.

In what Rev. Ketcham calls her “6th Career” she is the lead singer in Bayview Sound, an American roots music group of bass, guitars, viola and keyboard which has performed at venues all over the island.

Visit her blog, “Ms Kitty’s Saloon and Road Show,” to find out more about this versatile woman.

Ketcham will retire to Oregon later this summer. Of her years on Whidbey Island she said, “These have been the happiest years of my life. I’ve been appreciated by this community and have been able to hone my skills as a minister and to grow as the congregation has grown.”

At her farewell Sunday service at UUCWI, Ketcham will present, “Down Memory Lane and Into the Future.”