Our team is made up of not only the folks who currently live and work at Big Laurel year round, but also of all those who have joined us over the years. Many individuals have dedicated years to the vision of Big Laurel. Our current community is just a small snapshot into one season of Big Laurel.
Grace Williams
Grace Williams
Grace serves as the director at Big Laurel. She lives in the main guest house with her dog, Rosie. Grace first visited Big Laurel in 2010 on the wood chopping trip as a Wheeling Jesuit University student. Grace moved back to West Virginia in 2016 to serve as a Notre Dame AmeriCorps member at Big Laurel. She began her role as director in 2018. Since then, she has developed new camp and gardening curriculum, implemented social-emotional learning into outdoor education, and doubled the number of student immersion trip groups. Grace is completing her Masters in Applied Community Development from Future Generations University. She currently serves on the boards of Friends of the Tug Fork River and the WV Mine Wars Museum. In her free time, you can find Grace cooking, biking, hiking with Rosie, learning guitar, or skating with the Chemical Valley Roller Derby team.
Sister Kathy O'Hagan
Sister Kathy O'Hagan
Sister Kathy, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, moved to the ridge in 1976. She was instrumental in starting the Big Laurel School and has remained a vibrant member of the community for 5 decades. A primary teacher and animal lover at heart, Kathy councils individuals in addiction recovery and assists in Big Laurel’s community outreach. You can often find her rounding up the ponies on her 4-wheeler, preparing her signature baked spaghetti, or performing at special events disguised as Dolly Parton. She makes her home at the St. Joe’s house along with Sister Gretchen, and their many pets.
Sister Gretchen Shaffer
Sister Gretchen Shaffer
Sister Gretchen is a Sister of Saint Joseph, a native West Virginian, and a founding teacher of Big Laurel School. After serving as the director of Big Laurel for many years, Gretchen is a wealth of knowledge and tradition. Gretchen is a talented storyteller and is able to hold almost any audience captive for hours of heart-warming and adventure-filled tales. Famous for her homemade oatmeal bread, “better” butter, and Big Laurel applesauce, Gretchen has fed many visitors over the years. She currently lives with Sister Kathy, their dog, Roscoe, and their three cats at the St. Joe’s House.
Elizabeth Nawrocki
Elizabeth Nawrocki
Elizabeth is serving for her second year at Big Laurel as a Notre Dame AmeriCorps Member. During undergrad at Wheeling Jesuit University, Elizabeth visited Big Laurel for the annual wood chopping trip and the seed to return one day was planted. Elizabeth has spent the intervening years hopping around the country, spending time farming with the L'Arche community in Tacoma, WA, studying theology at Loyola University Maryland, and campus ministering at Gannon University, and slinging lattes in Erie, PA. In her spare time you can likely find her experimenting in the kitchen, building up basic skateboarding skills, collecting cool leaves, stones, or flowers on a walk, or starting a new creative project that will likely not be finished for 3-5 years (good things take time!).