Meet our Minister

The Reverend Dr. Edward Piper has been serving as full-time minister of the Fellowship since 1997. A native of Ohio, Ed graduated from the College of Wooster and then attended the University of Chicago. As a student in the 1960s, Ed was actively involved in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. With a Ph.D. in psychology and religion from the University of Chicago, Ed taught psychology at West Virginia Wesleyan from 1971 to 1987. He also served as the first dean of the West Virginia Governor's Honors Academy, a summer program for gifted high school students.

In 1987 Ed accepted a full-time administrative appointment at Mary Washington College, where he served as dean of academic services until 1995. During that time he became actively involved in the UU Fellowship of Fredericksburg, where he served as president of the congregation. During the early 1990s, Ed began to make the transition from academic administrator to Unitarian Universalist minister, as he expresses it, "a slightly higher calling at a substantially lower salary!" After completing the requirements for UU ministry, Ed was ordained in August 1996. He served concurrent part-time ministries on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and at Newport News, VA in the fall of 1996 before accepting his present full-time position at our Fellowship.

In addition to his ministerial responsibilities, Ed has taught courses at the Lifelong Learning Institute at James Madison University and served as a congregational consultant for the Thomas Jefferson District of the UUA. He also serves as a board member for the Valley Pastoral Counseling Center in Waynesboro. Ed's interests include bicycling, hiking, canoeing, and other outdoor activities. He has a grown daughter and son from his first marriage. He lives in the countryside near Port Republic with his wife Renée Herrell, who is an administrator at James Madison University.

To read a sampling of Ed's sermons, see the UUFW sermon archives.