Clergy & Staff
The Rev. Jimmy Bartz
Rector
307-733-2603 Ext. 106 |
Jimmy serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Prior to coming to Jackson, he was the founder and priest at Thad’s, an emergent Episcopal Church in Santa Monica, California, in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He has also served as the Campus Missioner at the University of Texas in Austin, at All Saints’ in Austin, Texas, and All Saints’ Parish in Beverly Hills, California. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Theological Seminary. Presently, he serves as the Chair of the Board of the Episcopal Evangelism Society, and in years past has worked with Red Bull High Performance teaching athletes spiritual disciplines, with Naval Special Warfare working to create systems for character development within special operations teams, and was a speaker at TEDx, Venice Beach.
Married to Cindy and dad to Jas and Jade, the Bartz family loves to spend time outside mountaineering, skiing, fly-fishing, hunting and surfing. Jimmy is currently writing a book on the spirituality of risk.
The Rev. Brian Nystrom
Associate Rector
307-733-2603 Ext. 112 |
Brian grew up in Iowa and has lived in Jackson Hole since 1980. He has three grown children, Adam, Jack, and Lucy, who are the light of his life. An avid bicyclist and skier, he has been a member of St. John's since 2001, and was ordained a priest in December of 2016. After a lifetime of work in the construction industry he looks forward to serving the people of St. John's for many years to come.
The Rev. Suzanne Harris
Associate Priest
Suzanne grew up in the New York area and served several churches in New Jersey before moving to Jackson in l992 with her husband George to “recycle” themselves. She felt spiritually moved by the landscape, sky and the fact that there are more animals than people in Wyoming. Suzanne loves her family (8 grandchildren, including one in heaven) dogs, music, reading, gardening and friends.
The Rev. Mary Erickson
Associate Rector
307-733-2603 Ext. 105 |
The Rev. Mary Erickson serves as an Associate Rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the same church in which she began her service in 2007. She is known among the congregation as a force for social justice and servant leadership who delivers pastoral care, spiritual growth workshops and women’s retreats, is a Stephen Ministry trainer, spiritual director, and a former hospice chaplain. Erickson has been involved in every aspect of running a church: liturgical, pastoral, financial, administrative, missional, organizational. She also expresses her commitment to Wyoming and her community through her work at Coombs Outdoors, a nonprofit organization that empowers at-risk children. The organization has more than doubled in size and flourished during her tenure. Her prior nonprofit work centered on direct work with community members in financial crisis and creating systemic change to address ongoing inequity. Erickson is the founder of two additional community-based, equity-focused organizations: ShelterJH which advocates for housing for low-income members, and Jackson Hole United, a grassroots community organization that builds relationships across difference through the core principals of Civility, Compassion, and Love. Erickson spent the first half of her career in strategic communications, helping companies and their leaders define their unique value and describe it to the world. This work required flexibility, creativity, collaboration, analytic thinking, and an ability to get quickly to the heart of any issue. She has found these skills to be invaluable throughout her career. Erickson received a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, with an emphasis on economic and social ethics and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley. Erickson, along with her husband Bruce, and two children, Adele and Oscar, has called Wyoming home for the nearly 20 years after moving from South Dakota.
The Rev. Dr. Travis Helms
Associate Rector
307-733-2603 Ext. 8067 |
Travis Helms is a priest and poet with a deep love for exploring how creativity can draw us closer to God and one another. After serving in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, Travis attended seminary at Yale Divinity School, then got his PhD in theology and literature from the University of Cambridge. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2017, and for the last three years has been serving as the Campus Missioner to the University of Texas at Austin. In 2018, he founded LOGOS Poetry, a monthly liturgically-inflected reading series that gathers in an east Austin brewery, and online. He serves as one of the Executive Directors of EcoTheo Collective, a nonprofit that offers a variety of programs grounded in the intersection of ecology, spirituality, and art.
In addition to priesting and writing, Travis loves spending time with his wife, Gracie; their young daughter, Helen; and their pups, Roo and Bunny. The Helms love hiking, skiing, fishing, and live music — and is estatic to join the huge-hearted St. John's community as love-spreading difference-makers.
Deacon
Robyn Reed
Director of Operations
307-733-2603 Ext. 101 |
Robyn was raised in a rural community in Virginia surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In her mid-twenties, she moved to a small southern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, where she spent the next twenty years raising her three daughters and working and volunteering in an inter-denominational church as the Administrative Director in their media department. In 2011, her heart stirred for a change and to get back to the mountains. She went big and moved West to Jackson Hole and the majesty of the Tetons! She now lives in Star Valley Ranch with her husband, Jim. She enjoys hiking and exploring the hills that surround her, photography, cooking, and spending as much time as she can with her daughters and two amazing granddaughters.
Pam Woodson
Parish Life
307-733-2603 Ext. 104 |
Pam moved to Jackson in 1984 after graduating from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, with a B.S. in Forestry. After briefly working for the Forest Service in Jackson, she went back to her true passion, dancing. Pam taught and danced at Dancers' Workshop for 18 years. She then received her Pilates Certification from The Pilates Center in Boulder, CO and opened The Pilates Place studio in 2001. In October 2014, she began working at St. John's as the Parish Life Coordinator. The daughter of a Lutheran pastor, she feels her dad would love that she now works for the church! She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, skiing, hiking, biking and doing all that this incredible place has to offer.
Haley Ross
Communications Director
307-733-2603 Ext. 103 |
Born and raised in the North Georgia mountains, Haley and her family moved to Jackson after experiencing an inspirational 90-minute massage in the Tetons. She is an avid marketing professional and an event planner at heart who excels in details. She maintains multiple projects simultaneously, but isn't multitasking proven unsuccessful now?!
Her specialties consist of excellent written and verbal communications, a knack for team-leadership, adaptability, decision-making (well, sometimes!), stress tolerance (namaste), collaboration (two heads are better than one), and web content management. Her passions include baking, Pilates, music, reading and travel. She and her family have been lucky enough to call Jackson home for more than 10 years, and they enjoy living in this amazing community.
Lonnie Brown
Browse ‘N Buy Manager
307-733-7524 |
Born and raised in Colorado, Lonnie has been in the retail/customer service industry most of his professional life. Lonnie and his wife Michelle enjoy raising their daughter and two sons together. He is passionate about family, the outdoors, and is involved in the Boy Scouts of America.
Administration Assistant
Sexton
Ron Fabry
Music Director
307-733-2603 Ext. 108 |
Ron grew up in Connecticut and attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where he received a double Masters Degree in Church Music and Organ Performance. While doing postgraduate studies in upstate New York at the Eastman School of Music, Ron taught conducting, hymnology, choir training methods and group vocal techniques in the Diocese of Rochester’s certification program at St. Bernard’s Institute. Currently he enjoys teaching piano, organ and voice lessons and has been the director of the Jackson Hole Chorale for the past six seasons. In his leisure time, Ron takes pleasure in hiking with his black lab, Patrick, playing cards (especially Bid Euchre and Six Handed Pinochle) and trying to learn how to cook!
