Wardens and Vestry
2025 Vestry Cohort
Casey Jonathan Woodruff, Senior Warden
2025 - 2026
Casey Woodruff is a lifelong Diocese of New Jersey Episcopalian. He and his two sons, Calvin (16) and Miles (9), joined Trinity five years ago. Casey previously served as a member of the Vestry, and currently participates in a number of other ministries, including lay reader and lay preacher. Casey started and chairs Trinity’s Ministry for the Imprisoned, and helped form Trinity’s Greening Committee. He also served as chair of the Liturgical Committee of the 150th Anniversary Committee. Outside of church, Casey works as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of New Jersey, representing the Division of Child Protection in cases of child abuse and neglect. He enjoys playing bass and getting lost in the woods. He and his family live in Westfield.
Tom Kaercher, Junior Warden
2024-2026
Tom Kaercher started coming to Trinity Church in 2001 and joined the parish in 2002. Tom led the communications efforts for Trinity II. He has served as Junior Warden since January 2022. Tom served on the Vestry from 2008 to 2010 and from 2020 to 2022. He is a member of the Property and Finance Committee. Tom serves as a Eucharistic Minister, Lector, and Stephen Minister. Tom is in the choir and bell choir and is on the Altar Guild and the Outreach Committee. He is one of the planners of the Trinity Fellowship Luncheon program. He wrote and disseminated press releases to the local media for Trinity activities from 2006 to 2020. In 2016, Tom served on the Discernment Committee to search for Father Andy and worked with Nancy Noonan to plan and oversee the renovations to the Rectory. He served on the Operation Warm Heart team. Tom was the co-chair of the Trinity Green Team. He was a member of the 150th Anniversary Steering Committee serving as the chair of the Communications Team and was a member of the 150th Anniversary Events Committee. Tom is a regular participant in the Men’s Group and at Morning and Evening Prayer. Tom spent two decades at AT&T and Lucent Technologies and retired in 2001 as a Senior Manager in Strategic Marketing Communications. Blessedly, his early retirement enabled him to have the time to care for his mother after her stroke. Tom would be honored to serve again as Junior Warden.
Dr. Kathleen Annarelli
2023-2025
Dr. Kathleen (Katie) Annarelli moved to Cranford in Fall of 2020 and formally joined the Trinity congregation in 2021. Since joining Trinity, Katie has participated in planting the 150th anniversary trees, in donating supplies for sandwich Sundays, and in assessing post-Ida damage.
While a newcomer to Trinity and the Episcopal Church, Katie was raised deeply immersed in the Christian faith. A native of Florida, Katie was raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school from pre-school through 12th grade. During that time, Katie served as an altar-server, cantor, and religion tutor and participated in numerous outreach activities including days of service, donation drives for underserved populations, and service retreats. Katie earned her BA in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Drew University. In keeping with her orientation toward justice and service, she went on to pursue a PhD in Political Science, which she recently earned from Rutgers University. Katie’s research focuses on economic inequality, specifically by looking at the relationship between financial markets and social provision. Her research on the relationship between levels of social provision and types of household debt was recently published in the academic journal, New Political Economy. As an undergraduate at Drew, Katie served as an intern for Mercy Global Action at the UN, which worked to ensure that access to clean water and sanitation was named as a right, and as an intern for a refugee resettlement agency during which she developed a cultural orientation training, aided in job and housing searches for recently arrived families, and executed a micro-fundraiser.
Katie cites several reasons for wanting to serve Trinity. First, she has found in the Episcopal Church a community that nurtures her Christian faith while challenging her to critically reflect upon and apply that faith. Trinity is an active community that undertakes significant community outreach. Katie thinks that she could further support this work through her unique perspective as a social scientist and her experience with on-the-ground NGO work. She also seeks to bring a distinct viewpoint as she is a part of the very small group of persons between the ages of 18 and 29 that identifies as Episcopalian. Finally, Katie will be getting married in the church this year and hopes to raise her children here, so she feels a deep sense of investment in the Trinity community.
David L. Burnett
2023-2025
David L. Burnett was born in Toronto, Canada, and received his B.A. from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1995. He graduated from Seton Hall Law School in 1999. David is employed as an in-house counsel attorney with Chubb NA. David’s legal practice includes a wide variety of insurance matters including commercial litigation, product liability, and subrogation defense. David and Heather Burnett became members of Trinity Church in 2007. Their daughter Sarah Abigail Courtney Burnett was born in February 2009, and she was baptized and confirmed at Trinity.
Jim Willix
2023-2025
Jim Willix is a lifelong parishioner of Trinity; he married Stephanie at Trinity in April 2004 and their daughter Emma is an acolyte. He is currently on the Vestry, as well as being a counter and usher; he has served on the Northern Convocation in the past. A firefighter and an EMT for over three decades, he is currently a Quality Manager and Associate Certified Entomologist with Bowco Laboratories in Woodbridge.
Dr. Patrick Milas
2024-2026
Dr. Patrick Milas joined Trinity Church in 2019. He enjoys Trinity’s worship, music, and fellowship with his wife Piper and daughter Maeve. Before coming to Trinity, Patrick served on the Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church in Bordentown, New Jersey, and as a Eucharistic Visitor in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. He teaches research at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and directs the Sage Library & Archives. Patrick chairs the Episcopal Denominational Group of the American Theological Library Association. At Trinity, he now serves on the Vestry, as well as the Archives and History Task Force for the 150th Campaign.
Denise Alvarez
2024-2026
Denise Alvarez was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church, where she actively participated in that church’s many activities. She and Jim Behnke were married there in 2005. In 2012, their daughter, Abby, started attending TEDS, and Denise met Nancy Ditzel and other members of the church. Her family started regularly attending Trinity in 2014; since then Denise has served as a Sunday School teacher, Christmas Pageant leader, Handbell and Adult Choir member, Property & Finance Committee member and TEDS Board member. Denise also volunteers as a Girl Scout leader for her daughter’s troop and is the Treasurer for the Cranford Service Unit 48. She was recently appointed to the Shade Tree Commission of Cranford Township, which seeks to restore many of the town-owned trees and advise residents on tree care.
A 1994 Rutgers College graduate and Cap and Skull Member, Denise has worked in the banking industry for over 30 years. She currently works as a Director of Corporate Credit Underwriting and Portfolio Management at First Citizens Bank.
Peter Waldron
2024-2026
Peter Waldron has been a member of Trinity Church since 2017. During this time, he has served as a member and secretary of the Vestry and Property & Finance committees, as chairperson of the Stewardship committee, and as a Counter and Lector. A lifelong New Jersey resident, Peter lives in Cranford with his wife Christine and daughter AJ. He is employed as an actuary and in his spare time he enjoys spending time with family, jogging, learning guitar and studying languages.
Robert Barone
2025-2027
Robert Barone is 23 years old and has been an active part of the Trinity community his entire life, baptized and confirmed at Trinity, during Sunday school, helping with Sandwich Sunday, serving as an acolyte and now serving as a LEM. He is assisting with leadership of TESY as well as assisting with newer acolytes when serving at the altar. He writes, “I have always been drawn to community and service in and out of the church as I continue to keep my faith and beliefs at the center of who I am. Many families in this parish supported me during my journey to become an Eagle Scout. Recently, I had the privilege to deliver a ministry minute upon my growth in faith and service and what this community has allowed me to accomplish in my life. Now, it is my time to give back, to work with other church leaders, and to promote that sense of community, willingness to serve, and growth as a member of the Vestry.” He grew up in Springfield, attended Seton Hall Prep High School and DeSales University and now works for PSE&G in their Health and Safety Department.
Jennifer Cammarota
2025-2027
Jennifer (Cabrera) Cammarota and her family have been parishioners at Trinity since 2015. She grew up in the Forest Hill neighborhood of Newark and attended Catholic school in Montclair, before moving out of state as a teenager (first to Florida then Texas, before returning to the east coast for law school). Jennifer qualified as an attorney in 2006 and currently practices regulatory law as a partner at the law firm Vicente LLP. She and her husband, Paolo, moved to Cranford in 2014. Jennifer was previously a member of the Trinity handbell choir and currently helps to oversee Trinity’s Sunday School program. Her husband Paolo is a member of the board of Trinity Episcopal Day School. She and Paolo have two sons: Julian, who is in 6th grade at Orange Avenue School, and Eric, a first-grader at Bloomingdale Avenue School and a 2023 graduate of TEDS.
Kathleen Murray
2025-2027
Kathleen Murray found her spiritual home and joined Trinity in January 2023 after converting from the Roman Catholic Church. She has served the parish as a member of the Altar Guild, Outreach Committee, Sabbatical Committee, and Interfaith Human Relations Committee as well as a LEM and Reader during worship. She and her husband of 37 years have lived in Cranford for over 20 years and have three adult children. She has been involved with many Cranford community groups including Hanson Park Conservancy (Past President, Trustee), Green Thumb Garden Club, Boy Scout Troop 80 (Committee Chair, District Advancement Committee), Cranford Environmental Commission, Cranford Planning Board (Past Chair), and Union County Master Gardeners. Professionally she is President of TERA, an environmental consulting firm based in Cranford.
