"Tell your wife she cannot have her program at our General Assembly." That was the phone message Drusilla Cummins received from the GA planning committee in 1974. Drusilla, former president of the UUWF, was reminiscing with fellow board members Elinor Artman, Denise Davidoff, and Natalie Gulbrandsen. "So we ran two buses to a nearby church and held our first UUWF meeting there," Drusilla told us.

The 1973-1975 Board of the UU Women's Federation (UUWF) received this year's Ministry-to-Women award because it was their vision 27 years ago that led us to this place at this time. This year's gathering honored these and other women who went before with the song "Standing Before Us," written and led by composer, singer, and troubadour Carole Eagleheart (her e-mail is ceagle4@aol.com). As we let our spirits soar, we called out the names of many other women to honor.

These are a few of the women who led us
We know there have been many more
We name but a few yet we honor them all
These women who went on before

Reported by Mike McNaughton; formatted for the web by Kasey Melski.