Our People
During 2022 we highlighted a few members of our church so that you could get to know a little bit more about them. We hope you enjoyed getting to know us a little bit better and for those who don’t attend a church, gaining a glimpse into the lives of some great people from a typical Aussie church.
Galbraith first gained recognition for marrying above his pay grade and having numerous children who are all unusually good looking.
His first big budget production was, at the age of 30, leaving Sydney, travelling around Australia with his first wife Tracey, and choosing Hobart as the place to lay his seed.
Galbraith found greater commercial success when he became a foster carer and earned himself the nickname – “The Manny.”
He cemented his blockbuster celebrity status when he was almost thrown into jail in another country for putting on his international entry card that he was a Super Model and Brad Pitt’s stunt double. He actually wasn’t Brad Pitt’s stunt double.
Today Brett lives happily with three of his six children and his incredibly understanding but obviously blind wife Tracey, in their humble home on the outskirts of Sandy Bay (only 11km away).
Brett’s favourite bible verse is Proverbs 24:26 “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”
We take no responsibility for anything that Brett wrote 😂
I am a Tassie girl born and bred and I love living here (especially on the Eastern Shore 😉). I am married to Franky Pascal and we have two beautiful children; Samson who is 8 and Florence who is 6.
I have already had a change of career in my life, starting out as a Registered Nurse before having children, working in nursing homes and the private hospital sector. After having children I decided the nursing pathway was not for me and I had a couple of years off whilst raising the kids at home before they headed off to school!
I’ve since worked as a Teacher Aide, and then pursued my next adventure in becoming a Primary School Teacher, which brings me to where I am today!
I love teaching. I teach mainly in Primary School, but this year I even taught high-school Mathematics for a semester!
In my spare time, I love to play the piano. There is something about an actual piano that makes me really happy! Keyboards are great. But nothing beats the joy of sitting at the piano and singing.
I grew up in South Hobart, Davey Street to be precise! I am an archivist, having worked at the Tasmanian Archives for the past 17 years. My work involves appraising, collecting and arranging government records into the State Archives collection. These are kept mainly for genealogical inquiries, but also for people interested in tracing the history of land in Tasmania, of a region or town, clubs, societies and much, much more!
My interests include Playback theatre. This is a form of improvised theatre where the actors reflect back the moments and stories that the audience share from their lives. I love it, its so scary! I also am a member of the Tranmere and Clarence Plains Land and Coast Care group. We are currently developing a new walking trail with signs around the Clarence Plains area. We hope to have it launched sometime next year so watch this space.
I love jogging, playing percussion, am a back-slidden cyclist and would love to do more bushwalking. I am VERY happily married to my beautiful Tam and have two wonderful boys, Evan (14) and Hugh (11).
I was born in Nigeria, where I grew up and completed my medical education. I then lived in Trinidad and Tobago (a Caribbean island) for three years before relocating to Tasmania in 2011. My family and I now live in Glebe Hill.
The Tasmania Health Service employs me as a Forensic and Legal Medical Specialist and General Practitioner. My current role involves policy and governance.
Apart from my regular job, I am deeply engaged in community leadership. For the past five years, I have served as the President of the Nigeria Community in Tasmania Incorporated. I am also the Vice Secretary and Public Officer of the African Community Council of Tasmania (ACCT).
I sit in the Board of the following associations: Tasmania African Community Forum (Tafric), Community Languages Tasmania, International Wall of Friendship, and the Council of Nigerian Associations’ Presidents in Australia (CoNAPA), the apex leadership forum for all Nigerians resident across Australia.
I host my personal YouTube channel and blog at https://davidonu.com, where I publish curated content to help people grow their relationships, whether married or single and their health. My articles feature on Medium.com and The Good Men Project.
In my spare time, I enjoy listening to sonorous music, digital photography and looking after my aquarium goldfish.
I am happily married to Favour, and we are blessed with four lovely children.
I was born in Burnie, on 20th May 1958 into a policing family as Dad was a police officer. By the time I left home in 1976 our family of Mum, Dad, four boys and my sister had lived in nine different homes from King Island to Kingston and everything in between. Life was always changing and as children we never had the luxury of settling into a local school for any length of time. One consistent was being involved in a local faith community, always different, but giving me an understanding of diversity.
It’s interesting that I now find myself at a faith community in Clarence Plains as I started at the Rokeby Police Academy when it first opened in 1976. That kind of seems like a full circle. I stayed with Tasmania Police for nearly 40 years, twenty of those years as Inspector, in charge of a variety of areas, all stimulating, rewarding and interesting. More importantly I didn’t move out of Hobart. I wonder why?
Anne and I were married in 1980. We were at Matric College together in Burnie prior to Anne heading off to Launceston University to complete her Batchelor of Education. We have two adult children, Angus 29, working with Anglicare and Maddie, 26, working as an Interior Architect, both in Hobart.
Having been retired since 2014 life is different, but I regarded it as a new season without the pressure associated with full time work. I enjoy playing golf, travel, travel photography, coffee catchup with anyone, cooking (Anne calls it following a recipe with intent) and keeping my GP happy by going to the gym. As a volunteer, apart from Grace Church, I enjoy driving clients from home to hospital for the Cancer Council of Tasmania and on call with Tasmania Council of Churches Emergency Ministries.
Most recently I was the recipient of a cochlear implant as a result of profound hearing loss, but that’s a story for another day, or a chat over a cup of coffee.
I was born in Burnie, one of five girls in a busy, happy family. Growing up, our idea of a perfect day was to pile into the old Valiant, head to Boat Harbour Beach and spend the afternoon swimming in its turquoise waters. In 1976, aged 17, I left Burnie and moved to Uni in Launceston to study teaching.
After graduating in 1980, Phil and I were married, and we moved to Hobart where I began teaching at New Town Primary. Over the past 40 years, I have taught at various schools around Hobart and retired in 2014. Since then, I have been doing relief teaching and have recently moved into the area of mentoring new teachers in the challenging environment of classroom teaching, which I really enjoy. We have two children: Angus 28, working with Anglicare and Madeline 26 who is an Interior Architect, both in Hobart. We live in New Town in an old house we have been slowly renovating over the years.
I love the beach and will generally swim anywhere! I enjoy going for walks, travelling to interesting destinations and appreciating art and architecture. I’m also part of an inter-denominational Community Bible Study which meets on Tuesdays and aims to deepen our relationship with God. Hanging out with friends for a cup of coffee is also a favourite pastime. I am truly blessed and thankful for all the special people God has placed in my life.
I was born in Whakatane, and raised on a farm nearby in the coastal Bay of Plenty, NZ. I’ve three younger brothers and a sister so being the oldest probably helped mold me into a bossy, Type A driven character? The primary school I went to had 80% Maori kids so the curriculum included the local culture. A school bus (two buses for high school) picked us up and dropped us off at the farm gate so our school days were long. However, we couldn’t wait to get home to work or play on the farm. These rural activities remain my life-long hobbies – bush walking, motorcycle riding, 4WDriving, hunting & fishing.
I left home at 17 ½ riding a motorbike to study Mechanical Engineering at Auckland University. In the timber town of Tokoroa (sister city to Burnie, TAS) I meet my wife Lyndy because we had the same surname (but not related). In 1985 we moved to Burnie for my work in the pulp and paper industry. After completing my Masters in Business Administration at UTAS, I’ve worked in many industries in most states and territories of Australia. I usually acted as a project or construction manager. I’m now semi-retired, working or playing about 6 months in each of AUS & NZ.
Our eldest daughter Alana is a physiotherapist, married to local James, lives in Howrah, and they have given us three grandchildren who we get to babysit regularly. Single daughter #2, Melanie (Annie) lives on the Gold Coast where she is both a relief teacher and stunt actor. We regularly “holiday” together – last school holidays the three of us volunteered at a camp for aboriginal foster children in Darwin.
I was born in Christchurch New Zealand, and I have two younger brothers. My family moved to the North Island of NZ when I was aged 5. I spent most of my school years in a mill town called Tokoroa and my final year of high school in Rotorua. Tokoroa was a very thriving little town then but has declined since. In fact, in NZ if you are from Tokoroa you don’t mention it!
I met and married David in Tokoroa and we have been married for 44 years. A friend of mine thought we should meet because he and I had the same surname. We have two adult daughters and three beautiful grandchildren.
After leaving school I trained in nursing and worked at the local hospital until our first daughter Alana was born. After moving to Burnie Tasmania in 1985, I continued nursing while studying counselling and psychology. I am currently working as a counsellor in private practice but have worked with a variety of NGO services. I taught counselling subjects at Tabor college (now Alpha Crucis) and also at UTAS.
My favorite hobby is reading- I enjoy biographies and reading fiction. I like walking and enjoy going to the gym.
I love training others and David and I have enjoyed many short-term mission trips to mostly Vietnam and Cambodia. More recently I have been engaged in training counsellors and social workers in Asia, travelling to China( Mongolia) and Cambodia. The last 3 years via zoom.
I grew up in Austins Ferry with two younger brothers. We had a great carefree childhood and we all attended the Catholic primary school in Claremont.
At the moment I have two jobs. I work for Operation Christmas Child as the Regional Ministry Leader in Tas. We fill shoe boxes to send to children in countries around the world with the ultimate goal of having those children finding a personal relationship with Jesus.
My other job is as Business Manager at Slick Branding a promotional products company . I am in the process of winding back from my role at Slick.
My husband Will and I have an interest in Missions and since 2005 we have been involved initially in Vietnam and since 2011 in Cambodia where we have a school and Church that we support . We also build houses and provide water and sanitation projects for poor families in rural Cambodia .
My interests include bushwalking, the gym and spending time in my vegetable garden. My favourite place to go is Bruny Island where I enjoy long beach walks. I am also involved in Tas Council of Churches Emergency Ministries where I am on the list of Volunteers to be involved in any natural disasters recovery programmes.
Will and I have 6 kids and 18 grandchildren and we live on a farm at Copping.
I was born right here in Hobart and grew up in New Town and later Sandy Bay during my high school years.
After a career in finance and owning several small businesses, I guess I am partly retired but I still do some part time work. Mike and I work at the Grace Centre one day per week between us, and I am also doing professional gardening work at the moment whilst Mike recovers from hip replacement surgery. We have been owner-builders for the past couple of years whilst we have been turning a shed into a dwelling at Port Arthur. Thank goodness this is nearly finished, so we can get to enjoy it and hopefully earn some income when we are not using it to fund our mission work in Uganda. We founded our organisation over there about 2 years ago to alleviate poverty through community projects and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. It is called Hanan Life Ministries International. Hanan is Hebrew for grace ☺
My hobbies are yoga, gardening, walking my dog and sea kayaking, although I haven’t done much of my own gardening or kayaking lately. In warmer weather we love to get away camping in our little tear drop camper.
Mike and I have been married for 10 years and we have 5 (big) children between us and 5 amazing grandkids. They all live in Tasmania which is fabulous. We feel very fortunate that we are all in the same state, at least for now.
I grew up in Burnie. I lived there until i was 17 and then moved to Hobart with my Parents and two Brothers.
I work at Incat Tasmania, and my role is Technical Training Officer. I teach Apprentices’ how to weld Aluminium and also, I am in charge of all welder certifications and testing.
I love AFL and i am a huge Carlton supporter. I also enjoy Cricket and Ten Pin Bowling and I am actively involved in the Hobart Districts Little Athletics club.
I have 4 Children. Taylor 24, Lucy 18, Mackenzie 10 and Alex 9. I am so blessed to have amazing kids.
I am a fourth generation Tasmanian and grew up in a Christian household. I taught Sunday school, was involved in youth group and my parents’ home either had people staying or people coming over for weekly meals, Sunday after church mostly. This meant that I grew up meeting people from all walks of life and hearing fabulous adventures and some dreadful struggles.
I did not finish my schooling, I worked as a waitress for the Casino Coffee Shop and married young. I have two of the most amazing humans on this earth and a beautiful grandson. Unfortunately, the marriage dissolved in 1995. I went to one other Church before coming to Grace in 2006. At Grace I found that half the Youth Group I had grown up in was here! While at Grace I have run Connect Groups, assisted with Sunday School and been on the Serving Teams.
Over the years I have discovered a love of a number of activities which I still participate in, at different levels of engagement; Theatre – became a stage manager for over thirty productions, now I am an audience member. Scuba Diving-which has led me to travel to some pretty amazing places both here in Australia and overseas. Bushwalking – I have done some serious walks both here in Tasmania and in New Zealand, but alas I can only manage day walks now. I organise and facilitate the Grace Walking Group that commenced in 2013, so if you’d like to join myself and a number of other fun loving Gracer’s come and have a chat. Traveling is another passion. In 1996 I was privilege to be selected as one of four young people to represent Tasmania with the Rotary Group Study Exchange to Norway. I have saved my pennies and been to many places since and yes, there are many more I would like to see. For a year, I became a Student Home Stay Host for students from Korea and Japan.
I worked for 32 years In Aged Care in various roles until I was 49 years of age. At this point in my life I applied for the Fast Track Nursing course with the University of Tasmania. I was accepted and kept studying until 2020 when I completed my Masters. Can you believe it? From someone who didn’t finish school. I now work at the Royal Hobart Hospital for Statewide Mental Health Services in one of their speciality units as a Clinical Nurse Educator. What I have learnt is that the more I learn the less I know. That kindness, respect and valuing who a person identifies as and who they are, and where they are on their personal journey while being present in the moment goes a long way to building trust and healthy relationships.
