Father Robert K. Kaynor ("Bob") is our Rector. Prior to being called to St. Stephen’s in 2005, Bob Kaynor was Rector of Christ Church in Hyde Park, Massachusetts and spent 25 years in secular employment as a campus planner for MIT. Fr. Kaynor currently serves on the Board of Directors of Housing for New Hope, a Durham nonprofit which seeks to end and prevent homelessness. He is also on the Advisory Board of YO:Durham, a career-focused summer academy and after-school program for disconnected youth.
Father Derek Shows is our Priest Associate. He has been associated with St. Stephen’s since 1985. He earned his AB and MA degrees from the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, in 1957 and 1958. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where he studied theology from 1958 to 1960. After he received his Ph.D. in Psychology from DukeUniversity, he pursued his career of clinical psychology at DukeUniversityMedicalCenter from 1967 to 1998.
Father Shows spent a sabbatical year at The General Theological Seminary (GTS) in New York City, where he received a Certificate in Anglican Studies in 1981. He was ordained Priest in 1984. For the fall semester of 1999 he was invited to teach at GTS as visiting Sabbatical Professor. He has served as Interim Rector for St. Stephen’s three times and is currently Priest Associate.
In 2010 the Rev. Louane Frey was given the title of Deacon Associate.She joined Saint Stephen's as a deacon in November, 2007. She comes to us from the Diocese of New Jersey. Louane holds a BA degree in Elementary Education and post-graduate certification in science education. Louane graduated from the Diocese of New Jersey school for Deacons and was ordained to the Diaconate in 2000. Since ordination, Louane has served as a member of the Diocese of New Jersey Christian Formation Commission, hospital chaplain, and is the former Director of Christian Formation in Princeton, New Jersey. Presently, Louane has been appointed by The Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, Bishop of North Carolina, to serve on the Committee for Christian Formation and as a formation coordinator for the Durham Convocation.
Dr. Joseph Kitchen, St. Stephen’s Music Director and Organist, holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees fromHarvardUniversity, in mathematics. He taught mathematics at Duke for about forty years. He studied organ with Parvin Titus at the Cincinnati Conservatory and Melville Smith at the Longy School of Music inBoston.
He served as organist/choirmaster at St. Stephen’s from 1963 to 1993. During that period he participated in the selection and design of the Frank H. Kenan Flentrop Organ, inaugurated a concert series at the Church and founded the St. Stephen’s Chamber Orchestra (now called the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle).
Nathan Leaf is the choir director at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Durham. He is also the Director of Choral Activities at North Carolina State University and the chorus master for the Raleigh-based North Carolina Opera. A tenor, Nathan is a member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus in Eugene, Oregon, and has also performed with several other professional groups around the country. A native of the Midwest, he enjoys celebrating his Swedish heritage and spent one semester of his graduate study singing and researching in Stockholm. He earned his bachelor's degree in music education from Valparaiso University and his MM and DMA degrees in conducting from the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr. Burke Raper is a native of Mount Olive, North Carolina. He is a graduate of MountOliveCollege, WestminsterChoirCollege (Princeton, NJ), and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, NC). In addition to his duties here at St. Stephen's, Burke serves New HopeBaptistChurch in Raleigh as Organist. He is president of Trinity Concepts Corporation, a small business established in 1998 to assist churches with administrative and business management matters.
Cathy Bressler has been the director of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Preschool since January 1997. She has a master’s degree in Nursing Education and an Early Childhood Education credential. Mrs. Bressler’s husband’s family were founding members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. She has two grown sons.
