 | The Reverend
Dale Augustin, Priest in Charge
Dale was born in a suburb of Saint Louis and lived his entire childhood there. Dale has lived most of his life away from
his hometown. After college, Dale married early, and owned a small business. Maureen and Dale vacationed in Las Vegas in
1968 and never left. Looking at the move as an extended vacation it seems that Dale and Maureen have spent the Lion’s share
of their lives in the land of sun, fun, and entertainment. As a lapsed Southern Baptist, the Episcopal Church was regarded
as heaven sent. Little did he know that God’s hand was already at work; Dale became a priest later in life, guided and governed
by our generous and loving God. Dale Augustin was ordained Deacon in 1982 and to the Sacred Order of Priests in 1983 at
The Episcopal Parish of Christ the King in Las Vegas by The Rt. Rev’d. Wesley Frensdorff. He served that parish for 23 years
before retiring in September 2006. In December 2006, the folks at Grace in the Desert asked him to serve as Priest-in-Charge.
On Father’s Day, June 17, 2007, Fr. Dale was installed at Grace with much joy and excitement expressed by all. Maureen and
Dale have been married 44 years, have a daughter, Tara, who is an RN for the Clark County School District, a son Christian,
who is an educator in Liberal Arts and the men’s volleyball coach at Shadow Ridge High School, Las Vegas. They enjoy every
moment they have with their beautiful grandson Jacob, just 12 months old. Dale and Maureen are parents to Hannah and Smitty,
two wonderful shelties.
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 | The Very Reverend
Mary Bredlau
Mary Bredlau began her serving God as a Roman Catholic Benedictine nun for seven years. She was also a teacher. She left
the order to find a ministry in a setting that was less cloistered. She was ordained a priest at Christ Church in Las Vegas
in 1995. She served as Priest Associate and then Interim Rector for 15 months at All Saints’ Church. During this time she
served as Chaplain to their Day School. Mary has worked for Palm Mortuary for 12 years and is full-time Chaplain six days
a week officiating at funerals for families of all faiths at various locations in Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City.
The Reverend Mary provides follow-up grief counseling. Prior to joining the staff at Palm, Mary served for seven years as
the full-time Chaplain for Nathan Adelson Hospice. Mary Bredlau is one of two thanatologists (experts in death and dying
studies) in Nevada and she is a trained grief-counselor and frequently leads retreats and quiet days. Married to Kurt, a
retired LV City Fireman. Their family is blessed with two grown children and grandchildren living in the area. Rev. Mary
is an inspirational breast cancer survivor who brings a passion for living to her ministries at Grace in the Desert.
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 | The Reverend
Sherman Frederick
Sherm Frederick grew up in Glendale, AZ where Sundays were all about sports, not church.
Sundays changed when he married the former Christina Secker of Angleton, TX, the daughter
of an Episcopal priest. Sherm attended Arizona State University for two years, then joined
the Navy where he edited the base newspaper during his Viet Nam era tour of duty in Guam.
Returning from the service he enrolled in Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff majoring
in journalism. He played championship tennis as singles, doubles and mixed doubles
champion in Northern Arizona. In 1976, as a student intern, he covered night cops for
the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In 1980, he became editor of the Hawaii Tribune Herald in
Hilo and held that position for 5 years. A three-year stint as publisher of the Alamogordo
(NM) Daily News, lead him back to Las Vegas as the Editor of the Review-Journal.
He subsequently became publisher the newspaper and president of the Stephens Media Group,
which included the Review-Journal and a collection of daily newspapers throughout the
country. In June 2011 formed a new company the new company named Battle Born Media LLC and
purchased the Ely Times and Eureka Sentinel from Stephens Media. as well as Mineral County
Independent-News in Hawthorne from brothers Tony, Ted and Frank Hughes. He is active in a
variety of charitable and civic groups in Las Vegas, including Rotary and St. Sherm
continues to write editorials for the RJJude's Ranch for Children. Sherm and Christina
were founding members of Grace in the Desert. He was ordained in 1994 and has served
Grace as a priest since then. Sherm writes an opinion column for the Review-Journal and
says he "never, ever" mixes politics with sermons. "Sermons are too important for that."
He and Christina have numerous grandchildren and a couple of great grandkids.
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 | The Reverend
Jim Wallis
I am Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the College of Southern Nevada, and an adjunct Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
I got my M.Div. degree with a special competence in Biblical Studies from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I received my Ph.D. from the Claremont
Graduate University in Claremont, California in philosophy and religion. I have written one book, Post-Holocaust Christianity, and am working on another on religious
responses to the Holocaust. My focus of research is in religious pluralism, the interreligious dialogue, and Holocaust Studies. I have written many articles on these
subjects and read them at professional conferences and other venues. I have co-taught a class on the history of Jewish-Christian relations with Rabbi Herschel Brooks, D.D.
In the spring term of 2012 I will team teach with Rabbi Mel Hecht and Imam Aslam Abdullah a class called: The Abrahamic Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This
class will include a trialog between the three of us about what we share in common and about where we disagree. When we disagree we will attempt to creatively resolve
the disagreements in trialog. I have another experience not in a trialog but in a dialogue, a Jewish-Christian Dialogue. This was when I was the college chaplain at the
University of California, Irvine. My dialogue partner was Marlene Silverman, Jewish chaplain at the university. I received a fellowship to participate in the Seminar in
Jerusalem, Israel; the fellowship was granted by the National Conferences of Christian and Jews, Inc., NY, NY, and the David Hartman Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies,
Jerusalem, Israel. The purpose of the seminar was for Christian and Jewish scholars to study together each other’s religious texts in an attempt to come to some understanding
of the texts meaning for both religion’s faith. There were ten Christian and ten Jewish scholars that participated in the month long seminar. I am a member of the
Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada, and each fall Interfaith puts on a series of forums with each forum given over to a specific topic. Each forum program includes
participants from a variety of religious traditions. In the fall of 2011 Grace in the Desert hosted one of these forums for the first time, and I participated in the forum’s
panel discussion. The other participants represented Paganism, the Roman Catholic Church, Islam, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the United Church of Christ.
I have participated in these fall forums for a number of years.
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 | The Reverend Deacon
Clelia P. Garrity, LCSW
The Rev. Clelia Pinza Garrity is a native of New York City. She has a Master’s Degree in
Social Work and is a licensed clinical social worker. She is a deacon in the Episcopal Church,
and has also worked as a hospice chaplain. Clelia has spent the majority of her professional
career working with the impoverished, the sick, and the dying. She was one of the founders of
the hospice program in America, and began working with people living with HIV/AIDS in the late
1980s before the disease had a formal name. During the 1990s, Clelia worked with projects
throughout the United States developing social service programs and medical treatment programs for
people living with HIV/AIDS. Clelia has worked with the Episcopal Church in Haiti for the past 12
years; She is currently the Coordinator of the Nevada Diocese Haiti Partnership Program and a member
of the Board of Directors of Ste. Croix Hospital in Leogane, Haiti. Clelia is the Executive Director
of Nevada Outreach Training Organization and the Nye County Child Advocacy Center in Pahrump; the
eNews chief of the Diocesan eNewsletter, and the Coordinator of the Diocesan Committee for Social
Justice and Mercy. Clelia has been married to her husband, Devin, for 31 years and has one daughter,
Sarah, and a ten year old grandson, Nathaniel.
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 | The Reverend Deacon
Barbara Lewis
Born in Chicago, Barbara was the youngest of Reginald and Lillian Waddell’s 3 children. Reginald, Jr. and Clifton inherited
a baby sister with whom they vied for their father’s attention. Barbara attended public schools and spent 3 years at Chicago
Teacher's College. During the Korean War she was married to James Lewis, bearing her daughter Cynthia Ann (Love). She met
and married her second husband, Douglas G. Lewis (no relation to James although both were medics during the Korean War).
Barbara also welcomed her stepdaughter Gayle to the family. Barbara is the grandmother of four girls, and has one great
grandson. Barbara and Douglas moved to Las Vegas from Michigan in 1993. She began attending Grace in the Desert in 1994
and was chosen from the congregation to pursue the Deaconate. She studied for the next few years and was ordained on June
22, 1997. “My experience as a deacon is fulfilling. I served as a hospice Chaplain and am a Deacon at Grace.” Her beloved
husband Douglas died February 3, 2000. For 9 years The Reverend Barbara Lewis served as Diocesan Secretary working for The
Very Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Rt. Rev. Dan Thomas Edwards, Bishop of Nevada. She retired
November 1, 2010 and now volunteers in the parish office.
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 | The Reverend Deacon
Barbara Preas
Barbara was born and raised in Milwaukee to two loving parents. Her brother Chuck and his wife Diane live in Frankfurt, Ky. Barb has four children
from her first marriage: Paula, Jeff, Christine and Brad. Her husband Rhine has three children: Matt, Caroline and Sarah. Together they share 9
grandkids. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Stout in Menominee; Barb move back to Milwaukee; lived in Illinois, Indiana and California where
she was a single mom of three teenagers at one time. She met Rhine Preas in Las Vegas and within a year she moved from California to Nevada became Mrs.
Rhine Preas. The Preas' have been married for twenty nine years. In 1989, a flyer appeared in the Review Journal indicating that a new Episcopal church
was forming in Summerlin. Rhine and Barb joined Grace and from the first day, both were “hooked”. He gave up basketball on Sunday mornings and they
became deeply involved in the Church. In 1991, the parishioners at Grace called Mrs. Preas to be a Deacon. After consulting with Bishop Zabriski, and
a great deal of prayer and soul searching, Barb began her studies. In 1994 she was ordained Deacon; at the same time that Sherman Frederick and John
Zaiss were ordained as Priests. Barbara and Rhine have enjoyed being part of the many changes at Grace over the past twenty-two years. Grace in the
Desert continues to be a major force in both their lives and they are "thrilled at the growth they have seen."
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Rick O'Brien, Postulant
Rick and his family moved to Las Vegas in 2008 from Massachusetts. Rick and his wife Jen have three sons, Jason, Sam, and Scott.
The entire family has been active in the Episcopal church for the better part of their lives together. Rick served on the Vestry in
Massachusetts and matriculated to Senior Warden. He also served as a lay minister and lay preacher. Rick participated in several
positions in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. He served on the board of directors of the diocesan camp and conference center,
and was appointed by the Bishop to serve on various task forces. In his professional life Rick is Regional Vice President for a
national insurance company, based in Las Vegas. He is responsible for the company’s operations on the West Coast. Rick holds the
CPCU professional designation, along with a Bachelors degree from the University of Massachusetts and a Masters degree from Boston
University. Rick continues as an aspirant to the priesthood and will be taking a number of classes and working with a group of parishioners
to discern how God is calling him. In addition, he will be taking a more active role in the liturgy of the parish.
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 | Rick Smallwood, Aspirant
Bio pending.
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