Sarah Elliott Director of Music

Sarah Elliott is the choir director. She is not new to St. John United Methodist Church and brings many years of musical experience to our church. Sarah is a retired music/chorus teacher from Apollo High School. She also taught at West Louisville Elementary School. Sarah has strong ties to the Daviess County community. She was born here and graduated from Daviess County High School. Sarah has 4 children, Christy, Julie, Michael, and Sarah Jane.

Marty Hazelrigg Shively Pianist

Marty started playing for church when she was in high school, under the encouragement of Ruth Fort.  She graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan college with a B.A in Music Performance.  She was a Graduate Assistant in the Music Department at the University of Wyoming.

After living in many different states, Marty returned to Owensboro in 1985.  She was a pianist at a Methodist Church in every city she lived in.

Marty retired from OPS as a Teaching Assistant.  She taught at St. John’s Preschool and taught music lessons at DJ’s Music for over 20 years.

After retiring from DJ’s Music, Marty became the accompanist for the Burns Middle School and Apollo High School Chorus Programs.

Marty has been a member of St. John since she was 21 months old.  Four generations of her family were attending St. John at one time.

Marty is married to Tom Shively and has 2 children who attend St. John, Alalesa Huffman and Joshua Bowles and 3 Grandsons, Sebastian, Elijah, and Isaiah.

Ila Culp Organist

Ila has been our organist since 2004 and prior to that she was our pianist for about three years.  

She and her husband have been members of St. John UMC since moving to Owensboro in 1989.

Ila earned her Bachelor's Degree in Home Economics Education from Ohio University, and received her Master's Degree in Counseling from Western Kentucky University.

Ila has been an avid supporter of the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra for many years and also enjoys making quilts.

Daniel Gray Video Technician

Danny Huffman Sound Technician

Danny has a B.A. in Math from Brescia University and a M.A. from Indiana University.  Danny retired from AT&T after 40 years. 

He was a part time Math instructor at OCTC for several years and recently became a full time Math instructor.  Danny also has a DJ business and Sound and Light Show, Blue Moon.

Danny has played drums since Freshman year in high school and has been in several local bands and has performed with the Community Band for many years and is the Percussionist in the yearly presentation of the Messiah. 

Danny is married to Alalesa Bowles Huffman and they have one son, Sebastian.