Cheryl Van Ornam
Organist Cheryl Van Ornam resides in Richmond, Virginia, where she serves as director of music ministries at Patterson Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church, organist/choir director at Redeemer Lutheran Church, and is active as an accompanist in the community. A member of the American Guild of Organists, she is editor of the Richmond AGO chapter newsletter and yearbook. She is also co-chair for the 2007 POE, which will be held in Richmond.
A few years after graduating from Pacific Union College in 1977, Van Ornam went to Africa as a missionary. While serving for three years as an elementary teacher at Maxwell Academy in Kenya, she incorporated music into her teaching. One of her efforts was a song she wrote for the children about dental health. After her students performed it on national television, they were honored by a request from the president of Kenya for a private performance in his home.
Van Ornam returned to PUC where she completed an A.S. in piano pedagogy and a B.A. in piano in 1996. She received an M.Mus. in organ/church music from Northwestern University in 2001. She particularly enjoys her ministry in church music, feeling that it embodies her love of God, people, and music, all of which are central to her life.
2006