Oral history interview with Jennifer Mihok

Oral history interview with Jennifer Mihok

Jennifer Mihok discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the United Church of Underhill, in Underhill, Vermont. She explains how they adapted their decision-making processes to comply with COVID guidelines and describes shifting church services and events online at the start of the pandemic and then transitioning back to in-person as conditions improved. She also talks about missing important family events like her grandfather's funeral. More specifically, she shares the changes made to make her child's baptism ceremony in 2020 possible. It was held with people present in-person but was socially distanced and outdoors. She also mentions the differences in the clarity of guidelines between 2020 and 2021, and how there was no clear end date for the pandemic.

Rev. Jennifer Mihok began as the pastor of the United Church of Underhill in Underhill, Vermont, in 2018. Prior to her appointment, she attended seminary in Boston and graduated from the Boston University School of Theology in 2014. She was ordained in the United Methodist Church in 2022. She was the mother of a four month old child when the pandemic began in 2020.

The United Church of Underhill in Underhill, Vermont, is a small congregation located in the eastern part of Vermont's Chittenden County. In Fall 2023, they celebrated their 50th anniversary as two denominations, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, united in one church.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22.

2024-03-21

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-044

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Wingerson, Amber

Mihok, Jennifer

1 hr., 20 min.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4215