Our Elected Leaders
President
Debbie Wingard (3rd year)
Debbie was born in San Diego, raised near San Francisco, and attended college in Berkeley, where she met Pierre Vaughn, whom she married in 1976. While raised a liberal Catholic, she finds Unitarian Universalism a much better fit. She has been a member of Summit since 2004, currently serves on the Finance and Aesthetics Committees, has served as Board President once before and Treasurer twice, and chaired the Capital Campaign to raise funds for Summit’s current building. Debbie and Pierre have two sons, Kyle who is a musical theatre thespian and Brendan who is an event planner and auctioneer. She is a Professor Emeritis at the UCSD School of Medicine where she taught and conducted biomedical research for 34 years. Debbie loves travel, photography, cooking, ballroom dancing and attending the theatre.
Vice President
Laurel Bernstein (1st year)
Laurel has been a UU since her teens, and both she and her husband Sandy have been members of Summit since 1995. She has served previously as Board Vice President, and twice as President. She chairs Summit’s Music Committee, sings in the choir, and is a member of the Social Justice in Action committee. Now retired, Laurel had a long career in biotech, from academic research to VP of Intellectual Property at a company in the Bay area. Currently her time outside of Summit is spent singing and performing with the San Diego Women’s Chorus, walking, birdwatching, gardening and playing the mandolin. She and Sandy have two sons: Daniel lives and works in LA with his wife Alissa Davis Bernstein, and Ben is a bench jeweler living in San Diego.
Secretary
Treasurer
Dan Bartholomew (1st year)
Dan grew up in the Imperial Valley and attended the University of San Diego. He and his wife Melody went to high school together and married in 1987. Santee has been their home for 37 years. They have two sons: Aaron, a software engineer in Maryland, and Davis, a Deputy Sheriff in San Diego County.
Dan spent 10 years as a Navy officer, followed by a career as a civilian employee with the Department of the Navy. During his 8 years on the Santee School Board, the district moved from deficit spending to a surplus while renovating the schools.
Raised with almost no exposure to organized religion, Dan found his way to Summit UU three years ago after exploring several non-denominational churches. What keeps him here is the freedom to think without the constraints of doctrine, and a community where people can be real and authentic with each other. He serves on the Finance Committee and enjoys Men’s Group and Book Club, along with travel, reading, exercise, and music.
Director
Vickie Cottle (1st Year)
Summit UU represents, for Vickie, a new opportunity for community, one devoted to honesty, diversity, acceptance, non-judgement and, to be a little corny, loving each other.
Vickie’s last chapter ended abruptly after being launched off of her beloved horse, Pearl. A broken rib, a bout of bad covid, lots of time flat on her back and lots of time to think about the next chapter.
Some background. 25 years ago, after a 35 year career as an Emmy award winning, professional musician, she got a horse, a life changing event. That led to becoming trained in and creating a business doing Equine Assisted Learning (can’t call it therapy, but it is therapeutic).
That led to a 3 year training to learn about healing trauma. Vickie has been an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner) for almost 20 years and currently sees clients who are looking to get back that sense of their most authentic self. She looks forward to contributing to the life of Summit UU.
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