Born and raised in Colorado Springs, Jay has been around music and liturgy for a long time. Raised in a Catholic church, he sang in the children's choir as he aged up and jumped into serving with the adult choir as an instrumentalist as soon as he was able. Through his close work with the director, he picked up just as much as what he gained in private piano lessons. Jay studied organ at CSU-Pueblo and began serving as music director at a small, local, Catholic parish. Soon after beginning work in music ministry, he found value in taking voice lessons (and recommends it to anyone even remotely interested) and began private voice lessons for an incredible six years. After blessed, significant growth in those areas, and some twists and turns, God brought Jay here to Norwalk as the St. Paul music director, following Mark Niese's retirement the summer of 2024.