About Dr. Vickery
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Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Dr. Vickery
is a real "Valley Girl" but old enough not to have been
memorialized in Moon Unit's famous song.
"That song really nailed the kids who hung around in
the Galleria back then - thankfully by then my friends and I were old
enough NOT to be any of those kids.
Dr. Vickery felt a pull to religious service as early as
her late teens, but she resisted it for years - preferring instead to
spend her time buried in the bowels of computer rooms, managing
mini-mainframes until the PC network revolutionized the
profession. By then, the pull to be of service was too strong to
be ignored.
"So I finally gave in, sort of. I began
studying Oriental Medicine at SAMRA University of Oriental Medicine in
Los Angeles. I really love the combination of the physical and
spiritual in Oriental Medicine, but at the time I wasn't ready to go
through the clinical internship, so I left school. I finished my
ordination, got a PhD and began following the path I probably should
have been following since college. Since 1994 I've been
performing weddings as well as other clergy services."
Acting as Clergy-at-Large, Dr. Vickery has no
congregation to answer to, which allows her great flexibility in
performing a variety of ceremonies including inter-faith, alternative
and non-religious.
"I've had the privilege of marrying inter-faith
couples, I've dressed in costumes to blend in with the wedding theme,
I've hiked to the tops of cliffs. This has been an adventure and
I'm glad to have the freedom and flexibility to enjoy the
adventure. I have colleagues who are attached to specific houses
of worship, and we talk about the restrictions they feel.
Several of them feel constrained in the types of weddings, or other
services, they can perform because of their congregation. I don't
have that responsibility so I don't have that constraint. There
are pluses and minuses to both sides, but over all I wouldn't change a
thing!"
In 2001, Dr. Vickery realized her unfinished education
in Oriental Medicine was not going to leave her in peace, so she
returned to finish her coursework, this time at Emperor's College of
Oriental Medicine in Santa Monica. She expects to graduate June of
2003 and take the State Board test in January 2004. But her plans to practice
Oriental Medicine in no way will conflict with her continuing
ministerial duties and she looks forward to many more years of helping
couples begin their new lives together.
"My work is amazing and humbling. I get to
be there at the beginning of a new life. In a certain sense, I'm
like a mid-wife but instead of delivering babies I'm delivering whole
new families. And I enjoy following my couples. They're
out there, facing the challenges of life, and they share those
challenges with me. Some have had babies, some have bought new
homes or relocated. They've lost jobs and there have been new
careers. They've had family crises and they have lost parents
and other family members. It's all tied up together and I am so
blessed to be able to share these times - good and bad - with this
diverse group of people."
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