Aimée Renée Lowrie Salínas was born in 1977 to a family of Irish and Mexican decent in Tyler, Texas, and lived in Texas until leaving for Smith College in 2003. She still has several family members in Texas but is closest to her brother who now lives in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
As a child, she went (was dragged) to whatever church her mother was interested in at the time i.e., Assembly of God, Baptist, Korean Baptist (why this choice, Aimée doesn’t know as they didn’t speak or understand Korean) and then Presbyterian. She never really felt welcome in these congregations (the exception being the Korean Baptist Church) because she felt she, and her mother, were treated differently due to their economic status and single-parent family structure. Over the years, she explored different religions and types of the Christian church, but never found a church body in which she could feel completely safe.
The first Sunday she attended Saint Paul’s was on her birthday in August of 2018 where she was gifted a flower by Teresa Singer. She met the other Smithies, Ashley Eason and Karen Day (yeah!), in the church and was confirmed in January of 2020.
She is part of the Parish Life group, Gold Hospitality team, and fills in as a Greeter when needed. Aimée has found joy, peace, and acceptance at Saint Paul’s and support like no other. You may not see her on a regular basis because of her work schedule, but the parish of Saint Paul’s remains close to her heart.