Ministry & Professional Leadership News
 |
Home About Us | Programs & Services | News & Events | Publications | Giving & Funding | Press Room |
|
|
In Memoriam: Unitarian Universalist Ministers 2001 - 2002Harold Dodge Buck
He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brown University in 1940, his Master of Divinity from Meadville Theological School in 1951 and his Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University in 1975. He was ordained by All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City in 1951, and served as minister to congregations in Middleboro, Massachusetts and Des Moines, Iowa. From the ministry he moved into fund raising, serving as the Associate Director of the Office of Development for the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, Massachusetts and Berkeley, California, and as a fund raising consultant to various Unitarian Universalist and other non-profit societies throughout the United States and Canada. He was a member of the Bay Area Ministers Association and served as President of both the Unitarian Universalist Association affiliated Ministry of Ecology in Berkeley and the Development Executives Roundtable in San Francisco. He retired in 1984 from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, where for 10 years he held the position of Director of Institutional Advancement. Prior to World War II, he worked as a retail executive for G. Fox in Hartford, Connecticut, and as a defense worker for Pratt and Whitney Aircraft. He was a special agent with the United States Army Counter-Intelligence Corps, in both the United States and occupied Japan, during and after World War II. In 1950 he married Jeanette Arneson, a union that lasted 35 years. He is survived by his ex-wife, his son Arne Buck of Newton Massachusetts, and his daughter Kirsten Buck of Vallejo, California. A memorial service, conducted by his friends the Reverends Dennis Kuby and Al Henrikson, was held on October 24, 2001 at the First Unitarian Church in Kensington, California. Written by the Reverend Buck many years ago, these words of his remain highly relevant today: "The Unitarian Universalist church can join its voice with those of other liberal religions and community-minded groups to challenge the presumptions of fundamentalism. Together we can serve as a powerful antidote to the closed mind." The Rev. John Ogden Fisher
John Ogden Fisher had a long, illustrious and fruitful career as a parish minister. He left the Methodist ministry soon after graduation from Boston University School of Theology to become a Unitarian. His parish ministries in Groton, Massachusetts, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Framingham, Massachusetts, West Newton, Massachusetts, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Brewster, Massachusetts, were marked by strong parish growth and major expansion projects. His parish legacy includes religious education buildings in West Newton, St. Petersburg and Brewster; strong congregations in all of the churches he served; and the development of a strong regional church on Cape Cod out of six fragmented and conflicting organizations. Believing that his duty in World War II was to the soldiers in the field, he took time off from his parish and volunteered as an Army chaplain, where he attained the rank of Captain. He served under General Patton with Patton's front-line field hospitals. In addition to his parish work, Jack to made other major contributions to the cause of liberal religion. He took a founding and/or guiding interest in many social action organizations, including the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the New England Home for Little Wanderers. He founded or strengthened Human Relations Councils in every city where he had a parish. He was quietly active in the Civil Rights movement, especially in St. Petersburg. In order to gain a larger forum for his concerns about the direction and health of the Unitarian Universalist Association, he ran twice for its presidency, in 1964 and 1968. In both elections, he managed to garner 25% of the vote without running a major campaign. It was his evaluation in 1960 that saved the Starr King School from closing. In the midst of everything else, he also found time to rear a family, travel extensively, and have fun. He read widely and was always searching for new insights into human cultures. He was an accomplished musician and amateur actor with a booming voice that could easily fill an auditorium without a microphone. Jack was a good friend to have. Junella E. Hanson
My wife, the Reverend Junella Elizabeth Hanson, age 74, died Wednesday November 28, 2001. We have been Petaluma residents since 1998. Junella was a Unitarian Universalist Minister for 35 years, having parishes in Long Beach, Pasadena, San Francisco and San Rafael. Junella was born in Los Angeles, attended local Los Angeles schools, and graduated from UCLA. A teacher in the Ontario and Long Beach School systems prior to her studying for the ministry at Starr King Theological Seminary, UC Berkeley. She began her theological journey in Long Beach while raising four children and attending theological school. Junella was honored by the Starr King Theological College with an Honorary Doctorate of Theology. The Unitarian Church of San Francisco made her their Minister Emerita. She received the Prestigious, "Angus H. McLean Award," for Excellence in Religious Education from the St Lawrence University Alumni in cooperation with the National Unitarian Universalist Association. She retired in 1999, still serving on the Church's national fellowship committee for new ministers, and active on the Northern California UU conflict Resolution Committee. Junella and I were married fifty years; we have four loving children, Kristin Heusser, Karen Thornburg, Karla Earle and Jim K Hanson. Along with nine precious grandchildren, John Heusser, Brian Heusser, Kevin Heusser, Brianna Hanson, Brittany Hanson, Kelly Earle, Kristina Earle, Lindsey Murillo, and Lindsey Thornburg. Memorial services were held Friday December 7, 2001 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin, 240 Channing Way, San Rafael. "Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth, Violet Kochendoerfer
Violet served Unitarian Universalist congregations in Provincetown, Massachusetts; Calgary, Alberta; Tallahassee, Florida, and Kent Ohio. Her story of these ministries is told in her autobiography, "A Modern Pioneer," published by Skinner House Books in 1996. This book was preceded by "One Woman's World War II," published by University Press of Kentucky for the 50 th anniversary of D-Day. A third book, "Santa Fe in the Fifties," tells of her years of living in Santa Fe during the early days of Los Alamos. She is survived by a brother, Ray of Grand Prairie, Texas; a sister, Dorothy (Frank) Blatnik of Duluth, Minnesota; Dorothy and Frank's children, Brian (Janet), Barbara Blatnik and Michael Blatnik, all of Duluth; Brian and Janet's children, Stephen, Mark, Christopher and Andrea; Neil's children, Margaret Moore of Portland Oregon; and Paul Kochendoerfer of Dana Point, California; and Michael's daughter, Alyssa. A memorial service was held at the First Unitarian Church, Duluth, Minnesota on July 25th, 2001. Fred LeShane
Originally from Boston, the Reverend LeShane served Unitarian Universalist congregations in Massachusetts, New York, California, Illinois, Maryland and South Florida. He was a pacifist who marched in Selma, Alabama with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was an advocate for Cesar Chavez's United Farmworkers. He was a longtime supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Humanist Association, Amnesty International, the Audubon Society, The Carter Center, Colby College, the National Wildlife Federation, the NAACP, the Nature Conservancy, NOW, the Sierra Club, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Unitarian Universalist organizations, the United Nations Association, the United Negro College Fund, and the World Federalist Association. The Reverend LeShane is survived by his wife, Phyllis; daughter, Dorcas (Chris) Angier of California; sons David, of Colorado and Peter (Mary) of Gainesville; grandchildren, Stephanie (Tom) Chapman and Joseph LeShane; great-granddaughter, Annabella Chapman; brother, Robert LeShane, of St. Petersburg; sister, Lillian (Henry) Woodard of Dade City three stepdaughters, Kathy (Ed) Wydallis of Colorado, Barbara (Michael) Howell and Joan (James) Watson of Eustis; six step-grandchildren, Corey Glasgow of Rockledge, Iris Howell, Jessica & John Wydallis and Julia & Jonathan Watson. He was preceded in death by his son, Philip. A Memorial Service was held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami, Florida on Sunday, August 5, 2001. Donald Guy Lothrop
His lengthy leadership of the Community Church of Boston was characterized by its role in the community as a forum for a vast array of scholars, statesmen, diplomats, and the clergy from throughout the world. During the McCarthy era Mr. Lothrop and the Church were a target for those who were frightened and angry and saw Socialism and Communism as "the evil axis" Those who have memories of those times will remember the courage of Mr. Lothrop and his church to uphold the principles of free thought and speech how unpopular or politically incorrect. Mr. Lothrop was a 32nd degree Mason and belonged to Boston's Revere Lodge. He chaired the New England Committee to Save the Spanish Republic; he was an active participant in the citizen group organized to defend Sacco and Vanzetti. For 15 years, he served on the Board of the Social Science Institute founded by economist, Scott Nearing, at Harborside, Cape Rosier, Maine. Donald Lothrop was born in Everett, Massachusetts in 1905 to Chester H. and Mary Hilts Lothrop. The family moved to Lexington in 1912 where Chester began his florist business. Donald went to public school in Lexington and then to Dean Academy prior to Tufts University and ultimately, Crane Theological School where he received his degree in Sacred Theology in 1930. Mr. Lothrop served in the Merchant Marines as well as the Marine Corps Reserves. He served in Unitarian Universalist churches in Framingham, Massachusetts; Des Moines, Iowa and five years as minister in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was called to The Community Church of Boston in 1936 at the age of 31 and retired in 1975, at 70. Mr. Lothrop was married to Helena Lukomska in 1932. They moved to Brookline, Massachusetts in search of good schools for their children, Karla and Paula and later, John. Mr. Lothrop was a Parent Teacher Organization leader and for 10 years, a Brookline Town Meeting member. A s his father and mother before him, Donald Lothrop was a lover of the earth and a consummate gardener of vegetables. He thought flowers were nonessential since one cannot eat them. He left the flowers to Helena. The Lothrop family escaped from the cares of the city to their farm in Maine where hay was harvested, an occasional cow or goat was raised and life was lived without electricity and plumbing or radio or television. After retirement, Don and Helena lived at the farm during summers and wintered in Cape Cod, home to earlier Lothrop sea captains. They took a year off from their retirement so Donald could be interim minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Helena Lukomska Lothrop died in 1993 after 61 years of marriage. A daughter, Paula Lothrop died in her early thirties. Hilda Lothrop Rudback a sister, died in 1998. Mr. Lothrop is survived by his daughter, Karla Lothrop Wight, Center Conway, New Hampshire and Shelton, Washington; and son, John of Belfast, Maine; his sister, Jeanne Wilensky of Mokelumne, California; three granddaughters, three great-grandchildren, three nephews and three grandnieces. Andrew X. Mahy
Andrew was born in Yokohama and was about seven when his parents returned to the U.S. to live in California. He did his undergraduate work at Stanford University, but the ministry was his calling and he started at the Harvard School of Divinity, later transferring and graduating from Meadville-Lombard Theological School in the 1938. It was while he was there he met and married, Helen Hoag. His first Unitarian church was in Keokuk, Iowa. His next was in Augusta, Maine. During World War II he served as a Chaplain in the Army Air Corps in Cold Bay, on the Alaskan Peninsula next to the Aleutian Islands. In 1944 Andy returned to civilian life and was called to become the first minister of the fledgling North Shore Unitarian Society in Port Washington, Long Island, New York. They were then meeting in an American Legion Hall. This is the church better known today as the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. In 1945 he took a sabbatical from the ministry. For a time he worked in New York City for the United Press and they then moved to Michigan where Andy worked for an auto dealer in Cadillac. On the death of his father in Florida, they moved to St. Petersburg to be close to his mother. There he worked for nine years as the office manager for a small machine shop. In 1965 he returned to the Unitarian Universalist ministry serving the Bell Street Chapel in Providence, Rhode Island for many years, his last full time ministry. On retirement in 1980, he and Helen moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland. It was there he became an active member to the Seneca Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship leading services, from time to time. And it was there he was made a Minister Emeritus. Throughout his life Andy was a voracious reader. He loved books and acquired a huge and very eclectic library, which he donated to the Sugarloaf Congregation of Unitarian Universalists in 2001. Andy is survived by his wife of 64 years, Helen H. Mahy of Montgomery Village, Maryland, a son, Tyler Mahy, and grandchildren, Richard and Helen M. Mahy of Gaithersburg, Maryland. A son, Richard L. Mahy died in 1996. Earle T. McKinney
Earle received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943 from Tufts College, and his Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1946. He was ordained into the Universalist ministry at the Foxboro, Massachusetts Universalist Church on September 29, 1946. Clinton Lee Scott, Superintendent of the Massachusetts Universalist Churches, led the Act of Ordination; many of the Tufts School of Religion faculty took part: Alfred Cole, Albert Ziegler, John Ratcliff, and Earle's dean – then Dean Emeritus – Clarence Skinner. 1946 was a significant year in Earle's life. Besides his graduation from Crane, his ordination, and his call to the Foxboro church, he married Dorothy "Pete" Petrus – just two weeks after his ordination. From 1947 to 1953, Earle served the First Universalist Church of Monson, Mass. In 1953 he was called to the Universalist Church in Urbana, Illinois, where he and Pete lived for the next five years. In 1958 , Earle accepted a call to the First Universalist Church at Congress Square in Portland, Maine. He was instrumental in the 1964 merger of Portland's two Universalist churches – Messiah-All Souls Church (on Stevens Ave.) and the Congress Square church – to form the Universalist Church of Portland. The continuation of a strong Universalist presence in Portland was extremely important to 1 Earle; he counted as the two "notable successes" of his career the church mergers and consequent building programs in Urbana and in Portland. While in Portland, Earle served on the UUA Board of Trustees – continuing the very strong role he had had in Universalist denominational activities. Between 1961 and 1967, he was on the UUA Executive Committee, Ministerial Fellowship Committee, and the Coordinating Committee on Unitarian Universalist Consolidation. Earle wrote, "I had the rare privilege of representing the Joint Nominating Committee at the time of merger in asking Dr. Dana McLean Greeley to stand for election as President of the new denomination." In 1969, Earle accepted the position of Executive Secretary for the Connecticut Valley District. The following year, however, the dire state of UUA finances caused the elimination of that position. The McKinney's moved to Caribou, Maine, where Earle served the Unitarian Universalist Church of Caribou until his retirement in 1985. Upon retirement, he and Pete moved to Gray, Maine. Earle was named Minister Emeritus of the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church (Portland, Maine) in 1986. Earle's bonds with his colleagues in ministry were special beyond words. The rich ecumenical clergy group in Caribou, the Universalist and UU ministers associations, the Humiliati, the Fraters, and the Retired Ministers Association – all were dear to him. Pete McKinney died of pancreatic cancer in 1995, and Earle grieved her death greatly. This past year, mounting medical problems caused Earle to give up living independently. He died in Portland, peacefully and with friends, on August 16, 2001. Joseph Frank Nerad The Reverend Joseph Frank Nerad died in his home on Saturday, February 16, 2002. He was 78 years of age. Reverend Nerad was born May 7, 1923 in Cleveland, Ohio. He received a B.S. in Education from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in 1959 and his B.D. from Oberlin School of Theology in 1964. He served congregations in Wausau, Wisconsin and Montpelier, Vermont and was the summer minister in Washington and South Stratford, Vermont. He retired in 1988. Reverend Nerad was active in the Central Midwest and New Hampshire/Vermont Districts and many other denominational affairs. He enjoyed working with youth and was an LRY counselor. He was "tireless and canny" in his social justice organizing and was active for labor rights. Outside of the ministry he was a public school teacher, a machinist, a chemical laboratory technician and a chemical analyst. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Gertrude Lober Nerad; three children, Joseph, Jr. of Burke, Virginia; David A. of Bellingham, Washington; and Shava Nerad of Portland, Oregon. He also leaves several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A funeral service was held Saturday, February 23, 2002, at the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Durham, North Carolina. The Reverend Arvid Straub officiated. Albert Charles Niles
Al earned his B.S. degree at the St. Lawrence University in 1958. He received his Master's of Divinity degree from the St. Lawrence Theological School in 1940. He was ordained in the Universalist Church in Henderson, New York in 1939. He served Universalist Churches in Henderson, New York, South Weymouth and Weymouth Landing in Massachusetts, Auburn, Maine, Dolgeville and Salisbury Center, New York, Brockton, Massachusetts, Norway and South Paris, Maine. His ministry extended beyond local churches. He served as Director of Development at the St. Lawrence Theological School in Canton, New York, and as Director of the Clara Barton Camp, managed by the Association of Universalist Women, in Oxford, Massachusetts. Al possessed the gifts of a disarming smile and infectious laugh that brought him friends from all walks of life. He was a magician, writer, carpenter, painter, and reader as well as serving as an active minister. He wrote for the Candle, and the Laurention, both St. Lawrence University quarterlies, as well as The Universalist Leader and the Register Leader – denominational journals. Near the end of his life he was writing a book about his ministry in Auburn, Maine. He completed 15 chapters. Al was a member of the Universalist Minister's Association and then the Unitarian Universalist Minister's Association. Al was one of the eight Universalists to serve on the Board of the Council of Liberal Churches that led to the consolidation of the Unitarians and Universalists. He was awarded the honorary title of Minister Emeritus by the Elm Street Universalist Church in Auburn, Maine. His ministry was ecumenical and community based. He organized men's clubs and served as a chaplain in the hospitals. He won a seat on the School Board in Auburn, was president of the Community Council, a member of the State Committee on Aging. He worked in behalf of labor unions. He is included in Who's Who. He and his wife Belle, were active in the Unitarian Universalist Retired Minister's and Partners Association. In his later years he served interim ministries in Norway and South Paris, Maine. He served as the minister of the Community Church in Sebago, the Methodist Church in Sebago and the Union Church in Danville, Maine. Al called himself a "Naturalistic Humanist." He said, "I am the minister for those who have dropped out of church because they have not found meaning in spiritual concepts. " When Al was the minister at the Universalist Church in South Weymouth and Weymouth Landing, he and Belle Paine were married. They have five children. Thomas Eliron Payne
Ordained in 1970 by the First Unitarian Church in Toledo, Ohio, following a Bachelor of Arts and Divinity from Howard University and a Masters of Theology from Harvard University, Reverend Payne went on to be awarded a Doctor of Ministry by Howard University. For a year prior to ordination, Reverend Payne was a special assistant to the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Reverend Payne served as Minister of the First Universalist Church in Lyons, Ohio, from 1969 through 1972, then as Chaplain at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility and the Ohio Reception, Medical and Geriatrics Center until 1977. Reverend Payne is best known for his ten-year concurrent ministry for the Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Churches in Boston (now Urban Ministry), Co-minister of First Church in Roxbury, and as Director of the Roxbury Urban Mission Project. In 1987, Reverend Payne started serving a series of interim ministries including the Norwich Unitarian Universalist Church; Unitarian Universalist Society of Lexington, Kentucky; Beverly Unitarian Church in Chicago; and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia, South Carolina. In 1994 he went on medical leave. His last settlement was the Catawba Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Hickory, North Carolina. Reverend Payne lived his final years at Unitarian Universalist House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Boston colleagues and friends remember Reverend Thomas E. Payne as a true pastor to the poor and oppressed, especially urban youth for whom he organized the Southern Black College Campus Tour which is still in existence. Reverend Payne is survived by a brother Edward Payne, two nephews, Keith and Darnell Payne of Washington, DC, and a foster son, Wayne Procope of Boston. A memorial service was held Monday, December 17, 2001 at the Unitarian Universalist House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Reverend Paula Maiorano officiated. The Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry also remembered Reverend Payne at a memorial service on January 13, 2002 at the First Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The Reverend Yielbonzie C. Johnson officiated. Albert Quillen Perry
Born on January 17, 1915, in Portland, Maine, he was named Albert after his grandfather, a farmer-shoemaker born in 1816. That Albert and his wife Jane Salmon Hart were Universalists, and two of their sons – Albert Quillen Perry's uncles – became Universalist ministers. His parents, Oscar Hoyt and Ella Louise Fernald Perry, gave him a middle name that was a tribute to the great Universalist leader, Dr. Quillen Shinn, whom they deeply admired. Ferry Beach was always important to this family. Al Perry graduated from Deering High School in 1933 and went to Tufts College during the Great Depression. After completing his undergraduate and divinity degrees, he was ordained in 1942. In 1938 he married Irene Lewis, an English immigrant who still retains friendships from her teen-age days in the Unitarian church in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Al and Irene worked as a team in the many churches he served as a minister. These include Essex, Brockton and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, North Hatley, Quebec, Harrisville and Providence, Rhode Island, Cincinnati, Ohio, Flushing, New York and Maine. He retired in 1985 and was editor of Elderberries, the newsletter of the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers Association. In 1988 he and Irene moved to Eastport, Maine, where he accepted a call to serve the town's Unitarian meetinghouse. After retiring "for good," Al and Irene lived for several years in Dexter, Maine, where they were active in the Unitarian-Universalist Church and where he preached occasionally at other churches in Maine. He liked to call the weekend trips they took during these years the honeymoons he couldn't afford to give Irene during the Depression. Throughout his life, he was an avid gardener and fisherman. In his college days he won a reputation as a radical and iconoclast. In later years he was dedicated to community service. In Cincinnati he served on the Mayor's Commission on Juvenile Delinquency and was active in organizations that brought together the clergy and leaders of organized labor. During his Pittsfield years he was active in Kiwanis and in the Maine Democratic Party - which had been dear to his parents' hearts in an earlier era. He responded with hope and energy to the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s. He marched in Alabama after "Bloody Sunday" and in Mississippi after James Meredith was shot. An early opponent of the Vietnam War, he ran for U.S. Congress in Rhode Island in 1967 as a peace candidate. He evoked memories of the promise of the1960s with special fervor in his address as the 50-year speaker at the 1992 General Assembly in Calgary. He is survived by Irene, his wife of 63 years, his two sons, Lewis Curtis Perry, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Bond Elston Perry, of Laconia, New Hampshire, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren His daughter, Diantha Louise Gross, died in 1998 in Milford, New Hampshire. The Reverend Karen Brammer of the Saco-Biddeford Unitarian-Universalist Church officiated at his memorial service. His lifelong friend, the Reverend Maurice Cobb, spoke of Al's college days and the prophetic vision he expressed through his ministry. Charles W. Phillips
Following World War II, he entered the Unitarian ministry, holding posts at churches in Des Moines, Iowa, Omaha, Nebraska, and Wilmington, Delaware. The intellectual caliber of his ministry, his leadership with the denomination's Commission on Theology and the Frontiers of Learning, and his 'generous and judicious community service' in the fields of mental health and civil liberties, were honored with a Doctorate of Divinity in 1961 by the Meadville Theological School at the University of Chicago. A subsequent career in government for 20 years in Washington, D.C. included positions on the staff of Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey and the Office of Manpower Development at the United States Department of Labor. He retired in 1982 to pursue volunteer work and a range of interests in philosophy and science. His family considers itself blessed to have been a part of such an honorable, engaged, and deeply thoughtful man. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, his children, Todd, Anne and Camilla, and his grandchildren, Jordan, Samantha, Christopher, and Louise, all of the Washington, D.C. area. Burchard A. Royce
He graduated from the former Classical High School in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1937 and from American International College, also in Springfield, in 1941 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. Royce received a Master of Divinity from Tufts University School of Religion and a Master of Arts degree in psychology from Boston University in 1960. From 1943 to1960 he served congregations in Foxboro, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut. He worked as a psychologist at Boston State Hospital, the Erie County Board of Cooperative Educational Services and the West Seneca Development Center. He was also a school psychologist and counselor in school systems in Westport, Connecticut, Amsterdam, New York. He retired in 1982. He was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers Association and was a member of the Radio Association of Western, New York. His hobbies included woodworking, golf and tracing his family history. Survivors include his wife, the former Jeannette D'Ewart; a son, Jonathan of Cãnon City, Colorado; a sister, Beverly Royce of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts; a grandchild and a great-grandchild. A memorial service was held January 22, 2002 in Williamsville, New York. Hugh Warren Weston
In a professional career that spanned more than four decades he served churches and reported on events from many corners of the world. A 1939 graduate of Lake Forest College in Illinois, he then undertook theological studies at Meadville/Lombard Divinity School in Chicago, from which he graduated in 1942 and was ordained as a Unitarian minister. Reverend Weston was honored by receiving Meadville's fellowship to a foreign divinity school and spent 1942-43 at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. From 1943 to 1946 he was the minister of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Northside Unitarian Church and also was a report for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In three years he traveled and lectured, especially on the Middle East - as Israel was constituting itself as a nation. From 1949 to 1952, he served Unitarian churches in Natick and Marlborough, Massachusetts, followed by three years at the Universalist Church in Saugus, Massachusetts, and four years at the Unitarian Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts. In 1962 he again left the United States to spend four years at the Adelaide, Australia Unitarian Church, and there in 1966 married Helen Hair, whom he had met some years before in Massachusetts. They spent two years in Santa Rosa, California, two years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, three year in Bridgewater, Massachusetts at First Parish. In 1973 he received a Doctor of Religion degree from Geneva-St. Alban's Theological College. He retired as a Unitarian Universalist Minister in 1977, but spent three years (1978-1981) serving the Ukiah, California Christian Church. Hugh Weston was born in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, son of Gerald and Edith West on September 4, 1918. His childhood was spent in the Chicago area and in Kansas City where he graduated from high school. He is survived by his widow Helen, and two children Lorraine Weston of San Francisco, Warren Matthew Weston of Phoenix, and three grandchildren, Kellan, Isaac, and Claire Weston, all of Phoenix. He will be long remembered by many for his dedication to issues of social justice.
| |
|
Home | About Us | Programs & Services | News & Events | Publications | Giving & Funding | Press Room
Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Search | Site Map
Unitarian Universalist Association
|
The Reverend Harold Buck was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1918. He was first attracted to Unitarianism at the age of 13 'because it offered the opportunity for freedom of thought and action'. 
The Rev. John Ogden Fisher, S.T.M., died Friday, February 22, 2002, at his son's home in Groton, Massachusetts. Born September 22, 1907, he was 94 years old at the time of his death. He leaves his son, Eric S. Fisher, and daughter-in-law, Clio Broussard Fisher, and their children and grandchildren. 
We held hands for 51 years. We held hands when we were married, when our four children were born, when we talked. Junella always said, "hold my hand," and I did. She didn't ask me to hold her hand when she died. I did. 
Violet Kochendoerfer was born in Winona, Minnesota on November 7, 1912. She attended Reed College in Portland Oregon and was the first woman graduate from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California in 1962. In the meantime she served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps before joining the American Red Cross as the director of on-base military service clubs. She was with the 82 nd Airborne Division when the 21st German Army surrendered to them as they liberated a concentration camp. 
The Reverend Dr. Fred A. LeShane, Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami, died at his home on Sunday, July 29, 2001. He was 79 years of age. 
Mr. Lothrop died February 20, 2002 in Belfast, Maine, his home for the past two years. He died as he lived, alert and planning to get well and return "in a few days" to his beloved farm in Alna, Maine. His was a life of commitment to church, community, both local and international, and the environment. He passionately believed in democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizens to freely express their ideas and have access to divergent views no matter how popular or politically correct. 
On March 2, 2002 Andrew X. Mahy, 94, retired Unitarian Universalist minister, died at the Montgomery County, Maryland Hospice, Casey House. 
Earle Thomas McKinney was born April 20, 1920 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was the older son of active Episcopalians John and Fanny McKinney. 
The Reverend Albert Charles Niles was born June 24, 1916 in Lyndonville, Vermont, the son of the Reverend Harold Niles – a prominent Universalist minister. 
The Reverend Thomas Eliron Payne died on November 17, 2001, at Unitarian Universalist House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 59 from complications of diabetes. 
Albert Quillen Perry died at the age of 86 on August 12, 2001, at Southridge Living Center in Biddeford, Maine. He and his wife, Irene, moved there in 1996 after a half-century of service to Universalist and Unitarian-Universalist parishes and the communities in which they were situated. 
Charles W. Phillips, 85, passed away on March 16, 2002, at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, after a long illness. Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Bethany College and the University of Chicago. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942, serving as a chaplain and participant in the invasions of Sicily, Salerno, Normandy and Southern France. In 1943, he married Elizabeth Seitner of Mount Carroll, Illinois. 
Burchard A. Royce, Jr. who was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, died January 16, 2002. He was the son of the late Burchard and Sarah (Clow) Royce. 
The Reverend Dr. Hugh Warren Weston, of Phoenix, Arizona, died September 4, 2001 on his 83 rd birthday. 
