Editor’s Note: It is February, and love is in the air, a fitting time to feature in this 2nd “HeartS of the House” column these loving and beloved Unity couples.
David and Beth Burton, blessed by a shared spiritual commitment and bonded by a mutually positive perspective, often walk their way to Unity from their home just a block away. A member at UCC for more than three decades, Dave served as chairman of the Board of Directors in the early years of Rev. Dr. Leddy Hammock’s ministry here. The couple is also active at Church of the Ascension Episcopal Church in Clearwater, where Beth is a member. She and Dave find the theology and messages of both churches surprisingly similar in their emphasis on positive thinking and acceptance of alternate points of view. Diverse routes and reasons directed Dave and Beth, each a parent of two, from Virginia and Pennsylvania to Florida, where the two would meet, then marry around the turn of the century. Both CPAs, they have enjoyed interesting and lucrative careers in the real estate and insurance industries. For this vibrant Valentine couple, world travel is also an important part of their lives.
For 17+ years, Gregory Brady and Walter DeFord have been coming to UCC, the only Unity church either has ever attended. Walter, from Stafford Springs, CT, was raised Catholic. Gregory, born in Huntsville, AL, went to church with his missionary Baptist grandparents. Now celebrating nearly 23 years together, they were legally married in Lake Tahoe in 2008. They have two canine children, both Dachshunds. Founder and past president of the Downtown Dunedin Merchants Association, Gregory has coordinated and promoted many popular events in Dunedin. A cosmetologist, he owns, with Walter, Salon GW on a prime Main Street corner in Dunedin where he has worked for more than three decades. Walter, graduate of the University of Miami, taught autistic students for 15 years in south Florida and later, in Pinellas County, worked as an oncology practice office manager, as well as for Air Canada and Holiday Inn Express. Managing their businesses, real estate and family occupies his full time today.
Nearing their 3rd wedding anniversary, Ralph Webbe and Barb Kozel have returned to their winter home in Largo. Barb first came to Unity in 2010. When Ralph, raised in the Anglican Church of Canada, later joined her, he felt immediately connected. Subsequently, the two attended many classes and workshops, participated in Service Saturday, volunteered printing and photography services and visited Unity Village twice. Last winter they started an EFT tapping group now hosted by Karyn Russo and Mary Haviland. Barb’s children live in Canada, Ralph’s in the United States. A former COO for a Toronto printing company, Ralph was a corporate executive most of his adult life. Born in Ontario, Barb, who grew up helping with running the Askew family business, well known for making boats, loved water skiing and swimming and once owned and raced her own sailboat. Today at their home in Bracebridge, Ontario, the couple enjoys the grandeur of the Muskoka River while cruising in their pontoon boat.