St John's Staff 

Dr. Abbey Hallberg Siegfried, Music Director

Dr. Abbey Hallberg Siegfried is Director of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and organ instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Her doctorate is from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she also taught organ performance. Siegfried holds degrees in Organ and German from The University of Iowa. After receiving a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, Siegfried attended the Conservatory of Music in Freiburg, Germany. She has also attended the Roskilde International Baroque Festival in Denmark, was selected for the Participants Recital and Master Course at the International Summer Academy of Organists in Haarlem, The Netherlands, and has performed in other international masterclasses with Harald Vogel, William Porter, Piet Kee, Robert Bates, and Jon Gillock. An active church musician, teacher, chamber musician, and solo concert artist, Siegfried has won prizes in numerous organ performance competitions, including second place in the AGO region VIII Competition for Young Organists and has performed throughout Europe and the United States. As a chamber musician she has performed contemporary repertoire frequently with the Huntington Brass Quintet and the New England Conservatory Metropolitan Flute Orchestra, and early music with Convivium Musicum and the Boston Shawm and Sackbut Society. Her recording, Daniel Pinkham: Music for Organ and Brass, is available through Arsis Audio/E.C. Shirmer.
Contact Abbey:  (603) 436-8283 x114, music@stjohnsnh.org  

Matt Loper, Director of Education

 Matt, our Director of Education, formerly held the position of Director of Community and School Programs at the American Youth Foundation – Merrowvista where he helped young people discover and develop their personal best and lead purpose driven lives.  He holds a Bachelors of Science in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University where he also studied religion, theatre and theatre design.  He serves on the Board of Directors of Kids4Peace-Boston, an interfaith youth organization committed to building positive interfaith connections in which youth seek peace while sustaining healthy relationships in the context of diversity.  Matt deeply values helping others nurture harmony in their relationships and looks forward to knowing and worshiping with all of the families of this incredible community.  He is committed to working in team to build a better world and is pleased to share his passion for God's Green Earth and his love of learning with the youth of St. John’s.  When not at St. John’s, he can be found running, cooking, thinking green, reading, and living simply/simply living! Contact Matt at

Ashley Wade, Director of Children's Music and Ministries

Joanne Ferguson, Office Administrator

I have been working as the Office Administrator since July of 2009. Over that time I have realized that the main responsibility of this office is communication. It is my goal to create, maintain and continually update our means of staying connected to each other, to the community at large and to potential new members. An exciting and very rewarding challenge.

 Prior to St. John’s I worked at Strawbery Banke Museum in the fundraising department, managed the Fair Tide Thrift Store in Kittery, partnered with my sister in our consulting business working with smaller nonprofits, and was the administrative assistant at an early intervention center. Seems I’m a pushover for the nonprofit world.

On the side I am an inventor (which is more like no profit). I have been developing several products to bring to market. A very slow process but extremely satisfying.

Contact Joanne: (603) 436-8283  x151, administrator@stjohnsnh.org

Lory Pratt, Bookkeeper

Lory joined St. John’s in March 2011 to help us determine our bookkeeping needs and develop a staff position that would allow us to meet those needs.

Lory and her husband David live in Kittery, ME.  She has an eclectic background including retail and custom picture framing, office support, desktop publishing, and computers, retail and custom picture framing. She recently owned and operated a stationery store in downtown Kittery, but now divides her time working at Krempels Center, D. Pratt Framer in Kittery and bookkeeping. She loves knitting, gardening, and cooking. She is honored to be a part of St. Johns.

Contact Lory:  603-436-8283 x153, finance@stjohnsnh.org