Meet the Staff

I have been the pastor at FPCPV since October of 2018. I arrived as  Interim Pastor, stayed on through COVID as Stated Supply pastor and became the Installed Pastor in November 2023. Nearly eight years have gone by in a flash! I am a third-career pastor, graduating from seminary in 2014 and ordained in 2016. I never expected to be the installed pastor of a church but, as they say, we make plans and God laughs! Ministry here at FPCPV has been fun and healthy and productive. I consider myself blessed and fortunate to walk alongside the good Christian folks gathered here! My husband Stephen and I live in Ghent, NY, with our Wheaten Terrier, Lucy. We have three adult sons , one daughter-in-law, one son-in-love, and four grandcats. None of them live with us and all but the cats are self-supporting.

Elena Pelih was born in Ukraine. She has been the organist at First Presbyterian Church since 2024. Before that, she spent fifteen years as a piano professor and accompanist at Marist College, as well as working at a variety of local churches.

Olivia Martin started working as the secretary at First Presbyterian Church of Pleasant Valley in March of 2024. She graduated from Rhinebeck High School in 2014 and went on to study at Ridley Lowell Business and Technical Institute, graduating from the IT program at the top of her class with Alpha Beta Kappa Honors in 2016. Olivia lives in Rhinebeck with her husband, Patrick, two children, Jonah and Hazel, their big yellow lab, Vanya, and little silly beagle, Gunner. The family attends First Presbyterian Church and her children participate in the children’s activities. This church and its people have all become family to them. “Church is not something you go to, it’s a family you belong to.”

Ken Brands grew up in the First Presbyterian Church of Pleasant Valley, singing in the Junior Choir as a child and playing with the Bell Choir in high school. After graduating from SUNY Fredonia with a degree in Music Education, he came back to the area to teach music at Balmville Elementary School in Newburgh, and joined the Senior Choir in 2006. He has been Music Director since 2023, enjoying both the harmony  and the community of our wonderful choir!