Pastor: Heidi Hudnut-Beumler

The Reverend Heidi Hudnut-Beumler (pronounced “Boymler”) was installed as pastor at Trinity on November 13, 2005. Born in Albany, New York, to Connie and Bob Hudnut, she is the oldest of four children, and has two brothers and a sister.

She attended Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, followed by seminary at Union Theological Seminary in New York City (a fourth generation of her family there, and later fourth generation in ordained ministry in the Presbyterian church).

While at Union, Heidi met her husband, Jim, now Dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School. The Hudnut-Beumlers have lived in Nashville since 2000. They have a daughter, Julia, 14, and a son, Adam, 11. Both are students at the University School of Nashville.

Committed to urban ministry, Heidi Hudnut-Beumler has run an inner city summer camp and served in a storefront church in an impoverished section of Chicago. She has served the elderly poor in NYC, has been chaplain in the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, and has run an after school program for at risk children in Indianapolis. She has built spiritual and Christian Education programs from the ground up in churches from New York to Indiana to Georgia.

In her spare time, Heidi enjoys her family and friends, liturgical dance, hiking, biking, power walking, and reading. She loves vacationing in Colorado at her family’s cabin in Rocky Mountain National Park, which she considers “a little slice of heaven.”

Parish Associate: Janet Salyer

Janet received the Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School in May 2002.  She holds a Master of Education degree in Counseling and Psychological Services from Georgia State University and the Bachelor of Arts degree, English, from Furman University.

Janet is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Tennessee, is enrolled in the mentorship for Stillpoint: Programs in Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Prayer, and is a candidate for ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  She has over twenty years experience as a counselor and small group facilitator and serves Trinity through oversight of the Christian Education and small group programs of the church.

 

Director of Music & Organist/Pianist: Valerie Oyen-Larsen

Valerie Oyen-Larsen has conducted university/college, semi-professional, community, and various church choral ensembles.  She has also accompanied numerous groups.  She is currently Adjunct Professor of Music at Austin Peay State University, where she has taught private voice, class voice, music theory, music interpretation, and vocal ensembles, in addition to accompanying  She is the founding director of the well-received Clarksville Community Chorus.  Previously, she has been on the music faculties of Armstrong Atlantic State University in Georgia, Methodist College in North Carolina, and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Texas.  She has served on the staffs of several churches.

Here and abroad, mezzo-soprano Valerie Oyen-Larsen's musical experience runs the gamut of principle roles in regional oratorio, opera and musical theatre performances to vocal/piano entertainment for nightclubs, organizations and groups such as the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.  She has been a featured soloist with a number of orchestras in the southeast, including the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and "fronts" jazz ensembles with equal ease.  She is a frequent performer of solo recital repertoire and often sings recently-composed art songs.  Audiences in Austria, Korea, and numerous U.S. states have heard her solo performances in various musical genres, and she has performed live on television and radio broadcasts as well as on recordings.

Valerie holds a Performance Diploma (summa cum laude) from the Franz-Schubert-Institute in Austria, where she trained with elite international performers.  In addition to the M.M. (vocal performance), B.M. (vocal performance), and B.M. (music education)—all with honors—she is also a published composer and arranger.  Valerie resides near Clarksville with her husband Dan, daughter Briana (age 15), and son Brennan (age 12).