at South Church
Shawn Hall Organists
ahall@us.ibm.com
Dr. Shawn Hall has been organist at South Church since 1997. He has also served congregations in Mendham, NJ and at Culver Lake, NJ, and has served as a ccompanist for numerous choral groups, including the Taghkanic Chorale and Charis. Shawn’s “day job” is in engineering. He received his B.S.E. degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mechanics from the California Institute of Technology. For the past 29 years, he has been a Research Staff Member at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center, working in numerous technical fields, supercomputer cooling and mechanical packaging. In the latter category, he is a member of the core team that, over the last nine years, has developed three generations of IBM’s renowned BlueGene supercomputers, and is the inventor and developer of the several patented schemes that cool them. He is author of numerous technical papers and holds 15 U.S. Patents.
Linda Jo Platt Director: Community Nursery School
cnsdobbsferry@aol.com
Linda Jo Platt became the director of Community Nursery School in January 1981 after joining the staff in 1979. She graduated from Eckerd College (formerly Florida Presbyterian College) and received her MEd from University of Virginia where she met her husband Bruce.
After a stint as a social worker she taught public school in a variety of positions throughout the South. Bruce and Linda Jo moved to Dobbs Ferry in 1973 and joined South Church in 1974 when their children, Jennifer and Jonathan, were baptized here. Linda Jo is on the South Church Session, president of the Westchester Association for the Education of Young Children, and member of Springhurst Compact Committee, DF Schools District Finance Committee, and the Dobbs Ferry Schools Foundation.
Claire Farrington Office Manager
office@southpres.org
Claire Farrington has worked at South Church for three years as our Office Manager. Claire is a graduate of Marymount College in Tarrytown. She came to South with extensive business experience. Among the positions she held was Senior Systems Specialist for the computer division of Verizon Corporation. Her responsibilities included tasks such as data center planning; disaster recovery planning and quality control planning. Claire then went to work as Office Manager at Sacred Heart Church in Dobbs Ferry, where she is still an active member. She and her husband, Jim, moved to Irvington from Dobbs Ferry five years ago. They have three grown children (all married) and eight grandchildren (1 girl and seven boys). When not working, Claire spends her time helping to care for ‘the boys’. She enjoys reading, traveling and getting together with friends.
John Radomsky Buildings & Grounds
office@southpres.org
John Radomski began his work as South Church Sexton in 1974. Far beyond his attentions to the buldings and grounds of South, John has been a steady and steadying presence on Sunday mornings, at weddings, funerals, and parish special events. Very many members and friends have stories about John’s kindness and generosity; almost none of these are known. John grew up in the Bronx, then Ardsley and Dobbs Ferry. For 16 years, he worked with boys at Children’s Village before accepting a position on the custodial staff of the Springhurst School. He is now Springhurst’s Head Custodian. Hunting, fishing, camping, and (believe it or not) chopping firewood are among his passions. He is also a drummer and occasionally plays in bands for weddings and parties.John and his wife, Bonnie, have two grown children, John Jr, and Dawn—and one grandson, Tyler.