Meet Our Members

The Council is asking members to give a short snapshot of themselves and their relationship with our congregation, as a way of helping us connect.  This month, we’re presenting two members of our Church Council and their spouses.

Bob & Zaida Durham—Whitehouse Station, NJ

It is a pleasure to meet you!  We are the Durhams … Bob and Zaida!  We have resided in Whitehouse Station for the last 25 years.  Our home is filled with animals!  We have 3 Salukis … Jack, Ashe and Sydney … which are all AKC Grand Champions.  In addition we have three cats … Martini, Rossi and Olive.  Oh … cannot forget the fish!

We just celebrated our 33 Wedding Anniversary on May 26^th.   November 13, 1994 was the date that we joined Zion Lutheran Church.  How fast time flies!  We both have served in numerous positions on Council … Bob is currently the Chair of Parish Life and Zaida is the Chair of Evangelism.  While we were guests at a Dinner Group when we first joined, a member said that their “best friends were fellow members of Zion.”  How true that is!  In addition to serving on Council, we are “charter” members of the Bell Choir, Ushers, Bob serves as Assistant Minister and Zaida serves on the Altar Guild.

Zaida is a Pathologist at Saint Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick.  Bob has been a Home Loan Consultant for 33 years … and is currently with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Somerville.

Long Beach Island is our second home … where we love to kick back and relax.  Zaida loves to paint watercolors.  In addition, we love showing our three Salukis at local Dog Shows … and have shown twice at Westminster Kennel Club.

John & Jann McAleer — Pittstown, NJ

John and Jann McAleer became members of Zion in 2015 after moving from another Lutheran congregation in Flemington where they were active for 41 years.  They reside in Alexandria Township.  John and Jann first met in High School, were married at Somerset Hills Lutheran Church in 1967 and will celebrate their 50^th anniversary this August.  John served in the NJ National Guard for 6 years.  He is retired from Lucent Technologies where he had a long career in various entities of what was then called the Bell System.  They have 3 adult children, John, Kristina and Andrew and 4 Grandchildren – from 2 to 20 years old.  John is currently serving on Zion’s Church Council and is Chair of the Property Committee, and Jann serves on the Altar Guild.  John’s hobbies are golf, gardening, biking and reading.  You may also hear him playing the trumpet on festival Sundays.  Jann’s hobbies are sewing, quilting, cooking/baking and gardening.