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In Memoriam: Unitarian Universalist Ministers 2004 - 2005Eugene H. Adams
Gene served as minister at Universalist and Unitarian Universalist Congregations in Binghamton and Jamestown, NY, Orange, Worcester and Medford, MA. He was chaplain at the YMCA's Seaman's House in NYC from 1949-54. He was named minister-emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford at the time of his retirement in 1987. Gene was active in the civil rights movement and he embraced many other social causes. He was also a member of The Fraters of the Wayside Inn, a group of Unitarian Universalist ministers who meet annually for a retreat at the Wayside in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Although Gene had wanted to be a mechanic he found that those jobs were scarce and became a professional boxer, fighting under the name Red Adams.' It is not clear if that moniker described his hair or his politics. His boxing career ended in 1938 when he was knocked out in the Boston Garden. Gene entered Tufts College as a special student (due to his lack of high school credits) and graduated in 1942 with an AB. In 1945 he received an S.T.B. from Tufts Crane Divinity School. While at Tufts he became a disciple of Dean Clarence Skinner, was a staunch supporter of blue collar folk, and not too friendly toward capitalism. He traveled with local Worcester clergy and Worcester born Abbey Hoffman to march with Dr. King in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama. Gene wore denim overalls in the pulpit for 3 years out of solidarity with the Farm Workers Union. Though no longer behind the pulpit he continued his prophetic and caring ministry, enriching the many lives of those who he came into contact with. He was recently busy protesting the lack of affordable health care for seniors. John C. Agnew
Born April 29, 1920 in Plattsburgh, New York, Mr. Agnew graduated from Plattsburgh High School and received his bachelor's degree in 1941 from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where he was active in debating and journalism and was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He attended Albany Law School but left during World War II to join the Army. He attained the ranks of sergeant and chief clerk of the Judge Advocate General's Office at the Central Pacific Base Command in Honolulu. In 1952 he entered Harvard University Divinity School. He received his bachelor's degree in sacred theology in 1954 and was granted ministerial fellowship by the American Unitarian Association the same year. He served as a student minister at the former Unitarian Church in Mendon, Massachusetts from 1952 to1955. After his ordination, he served as a minister at Channing Memorial Church in Newport, Rhode Island, until 1961. In the late 1950's he was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly House of Representatives, serving two terms, both with the endorsement of (then Senator) John F. Kennedy, he was also Rhode Island Department Chaplain of the American Legion. From 1962 to 1965, he served as minister of the Universalist Church in Auburn, Maine. Mr. Agnew joined the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in 1966 as a religion writer and suburban news reporter and worked there until he retired in 1985. He was installed as a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1977, retiring from that position in 1995. He served as an interim minister at the Mendon-Uxbridge Unitarian Universalist Church until 1996. He leaves his wife, Rosemary; two daughters, Judy Turgeon and Jill McIntosh, both of Lewiston, Maine; two stepsons, Michael Clarke of Los Angeles and Thomas Clarke of Holden, Massachusetts; and three grandchildren. Mr. Agnew is buried in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne on Cape Cod. M. Elizabeth Anastos
Elizabeth was born November 15, 1926, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of the late Charles F. and Mary [Ford] Keegan. She was a graduate of Belmont High School and attended Radcliffe College although, for family reasons, she was unable to complete her studies there. In 1947, she married T. George Anastos and they became the parents of five children in six years. They divorced in 1964. In the late 1950s, she began her career as a leader and religious educator, first at the Belmont (MA) Unitarian Church where she served as a teacher and as Chair of the Religious Education Committee, and shortly afterwards as Director of Religious Education in the Haverhill (MA) church (1959-1961). She continued her work as Director of Religious Education in Weston (MA) from1962-1969, and at the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1980, she was ordained at Cedar Lane as a Minister of Religious Education. During all this time, she was also raising her five children as a single parent. Elizabeth was tirelessly active in the cause of liberal religious education and organized numerous summer Religious Education conferences at Star Island, New Hampshire and Ferry Beach, Maine, where she was deeply respected as a mentor and leader for her wisdom and broad knowledge of the field. In the 1970's she was particularly instrumental in developing the ground-breaking Unitarian Universalist sex education program, About Your Sexuality, believing passionately that sexuality is a spiritual issue and, therefore, open and healthy discussion of sexuality belongs in the church. This program, although initially controversial, received wide acclaim. She served as the President of LREDA (The Liberal Religious Educators Association) from 1971-1973 and was one of the leaders of the movement to create the Ministry of Religious Education. She moved to the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) headquarters in Boston in 1980 as Interim Director of the Religious Education Department and then became the Director of Curriculum Development in 1982, serving in that role for the next decade. She retired from the U.U.A. in 1992 only to come out of retirement one year later to serve as Interim Director of Ministerial Settlement for nine months. In the mid-1980s, still yearning for the college education she had been denied in her youth, she waited until her children had all completed their own college degrees and then enrolled as a student at Goddard College at Norwich University where she attained her own B.A. in 1987. In 1990, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Meadville Lombard School of Religion at the University of Chicago in honor of more than three decades of commitment to religious education and her work in bringing discoveries from the field of childhood development to the religious arena. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Kathryn Anastos, MD, and Jonathan Wallen of Yonkers New York; her daughter Ellen of Portland, Maine; her son and daughter-in-law, Peter and Lori Anastos of Yarmouth, Maine; and her son and daughter-in-law, the Reverend George C. and the Reverend Andrea LaSonde Anastos of Greenfield, Massachusetts; and six grandchildren. Her third daughter, Beth, died in a climbing accident in 1984. Robert LeRoy Cope
He was born in Manhattan on October 3, 1922, and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son of LeRoy Butler and Mabel (Lottridge) Cope. He graduated from Teaneck High School; the Clark School in Hanover, New Hampshire; St. Lawrence University; St. Lawrence University Theological School with a Master of Divinity; and did graduate studies at both Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. On April 22, 1964, he was married to Patricia Bateman, in Griggstown, New Jersey. During his career in the clergy, he served as Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, New York 1950-1957; as a Professor of Religious Education at the St. Lawrence University Theological School in Canton, New York 1957-1960; and as Minister of the Unitarian Church of Princeton, New Jersey 1961-1976. While in Princeton he was appointed, on the recommendation of Dr. Eugene P. Wigner, to the Civil Defense, Project Harbor at the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In March 1965, he and his wife joined the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1974, on sabbatical in Sicily, he met and befriended social activist Danilo Dolci at the Centro Studi E Iniziative and upon returning to the United States became president of the Friends of Dolci. Following his retirement from the ministry, he worked as a vice president of sales for a multi-media production company in New York City. He and his wife moved to the Upper Valley in 1988. He was locally employed by Procter & Gamble, Pegasus Satellite Television and Digital One. He was a person of broad intellectual interests. Lovingly referred to by his family as "Curious George", he had a lifelong love of learning. An avid reader, he studied literature, history, philosophy, Western culture and social commentary. He enjoyed gardening, bird watching and natural history, photography, opera and the fine arts. Above all, he cherished time spent with family. He is survived by his wife of Quechee, Vermont; son Christopher Robert Cope of Hartford, Connecticut; and daughter and son-in-law Catherine Cope Cavalier and Christopher Cavalier of Boston, Massachusetts. At Mr. Cope's request, services were private. He is buried at the Hilltop Cemetery in Quechee. Arrangements were by The Cremation Society of New Hampshire. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Quechee Library, PO Box 384, Quechee, VT 05059. Clifton B. Gordon
Clif served as a volunteer minister at the Bakersfield Unitarian Fellowship, using his training from Harvard Divinity School and his ministerial credentials from the Unitarian-Universalist Association. He was instrumental in helping the small Bakersfield Unitarian fellowship to buy land and build its present worship hall. He also conducted a number of weddings and memorial services in Bakersfield, Visalia, and Porterville. He served as teacher, counselor, and administrator at Sacramento City College for 20 years, where he was Chair of the Social Sciences Division. He also taught part time in the Psychology and English departments of Bakersfield College. A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, "Clif" was educated at Boston University and Harvard Divinity School but was an avid lifelong learner, enjoying reading and cultural pursuits until his death from a stroke, in his sleep, on September 23, 2004. He is survived by his wife, Helen H. Gordon, and her three children by a former marriage: Bruce Winn, Brent Winn, and Holly Winn Willner. Memorial services were held October 24, 2004 at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 98 Sterling Road (corner of Sterling and Virginia Streets). The Reverend Tom Schmidt officiated. Memorial contributions would be welcome for the Unitarian Fellowship or for the League of Women Voters of Bakersfield, of which "Clif" was a proud male member for 20 years. Dr. Thomas J. Maloney
He was born on November 16, 1922 in Arlington, Massachusetts, the son of Doris Edwards Maloney and Thomas J. Maloney. He grew up in Brookline and Needham in Massachusetts and graduated from Needham High School in 1940. He attended Northeastern University from 1940-41. During World War II he joined the Army and then the Marine Corps serving in a surveying unit in China at the end of the war. His observations of the living conditions of the Chinese people during this service profoundly influenced him the rest of his life. In January of 1948 he graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He married Elizabeth (Betty) Gartner in Needham in February of 1948. He worked as a chemical engineer for General Aniline and Film in Easton, Pennsylvania from February of 1948 to August of 1948. While a chemistry student at the University of Colorado in Boulder he was active in the Unitarian Fellowship and felt the call to the Unitarian ministry. He obtained his Bachelor of Theological Science Degree in 1952 from Harvard University. From 1952 to 1956 he served as the minister of Unitarian Churches in Davenport, Iowa and Quincy, Illinois. From 1957-1962 he was the part-time minister for the Unitarian Fellowship in Boulder, Colorado and also was an instructor of anthropology at the University of Colorado. From 1962 to 1967 he held the position of assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. From 1967 to 1969 he served as a professor of Anthropology at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. He ended his academic career as professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois where he taught from 1969 to 1989. In 1989 he retired as professor emeritus and moved to Fort Collins. During the first ten years of his retirement he volunteered with the Larimer County Search and Rescue, served on The Rural Land Use Board, and was active in the Fort Collins Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Democratic Party, Amnesty International, and Unitarian-Universalist Ministers' Association. His favorite activities included exploring the back roads of Colorado's high country in his jeep, photographing wild flowers, and fly fishing. He also enjoyed telling stories about his adventures. He is survived by Betty, his wife of 57 years; four children, Susan of Mexico City, Mexico, Greta of Boulder, Colorado; Lisa of Groton, New York; and Thomas J. of Worden, Illinois; seven grandchildren; and his cairn terrier, Salty. Norman V. Naylor
Mr. Naylor was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on January 17, 1936. He received a BS from Trenton State College in 1958 and a Masters from St. Lawrence Theological School in 1962. He received fellowship in 1962 and was ordained in October 1962 by the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, New York. He served congregations in Brooklyn, New York; Winnepeg, Manitoba; Oak Park, Illinois; Brockton, Massachusetts; Pasadena, California; East Lansing, Michigan and Troy, Michigan. He served as Secretary-Treasurer and later as President for the Pacific Southwest District Chapter of the UUMA of and was a Board Member for the Pacific Southwest District. Mr. Naylor was the founder of the Malibu Study Group for UU ministers and the author of a booklet about the UU Principles. He was a member of a support group for people with HIV and AIDS, and was a hot-line counselor for the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. He was also an organist and a singer with various musical groups throughout his life. Surviving is his wife, Mary Beth Grim of Southfield, Michigan. A memorial service was held November 20, 2004 at the Emerson Church Unitarian Universalist in Troy Michigan. Howard W. Oliver
Mr. Oliver was born August 26, 1919 and served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. A Unitarian Universalist minister, he obtained degrees from Harvard University, University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California, receiving master's degrees in both political science and religion. Known as a brilliant scholar of Transcendentalism, he led Unitarian congregations in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Los Angeles and Berkeley, California in the 1960's and early 1970's. He joined the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and served as executive and national director until his retirement in 1986. Oliver lived 31 years in Laguna Beach, California, having discovered the town while stationed at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and deciding to raise his family there. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Joyce Oliver; children, Kimberley, Pamela and Peter; and grandchildren, Kailee and Emily. David Paine Osborn
When he retired from active ministry he and Janet fulfilled a dream of moving to the southwest, building a home in Albuquerque. In retirement they surprised even some folks that knew them by buying a recreational vehicle and traveling across the United States to visit their many friends. Both he and Janet were active in local environmental concerns and Democratic politics. He leaves his wife of 51 years, Janet, a brother and sister and numerous nieces, nephews, grand nephews and grand nieces. Carl J. Westman
Dr. Westman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 4, 1911 and graduated from Everett, Massachusetts, High School in 1929. During World War II Carl Westman served as welding foreman in the United States Navy shipyard at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Following the war he attended St. Lawrence University, Canton New York, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in Divinity, graduating with honors and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Westman was ordained in 1950 and served as pastor of Unitarian Universalist churches in Gloucester, Massachusetts; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Akron, Ohio; Rochester, New York; Plainfield, New Jersey and Lakeland and Port Charlotte, Florida. He was Minister Emeritus of the Lakeland Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Prior to moving to Florida in 1976, Dr. Westman served as Interdistrict Executive for the New York City area of the Unitarian Univeralist Association of America (UUA) and on the commission whose work led to merger of the Unitarian and Universalist churches. He was active in various other governing bodies of the UUA and of St. Lawrence University Theological School. In 1965, St. Lawrence University awarded Dr. Westman an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. He retired from active ministry in 1986 but continued to conduct services and to preach from time to time, principally in southwest Florida. He continued to enjoy the arts and pursue his love of scholarship in various fields including rereading the complete works of William Shakespeare every year. Dr. Westman is survived by a daughter, Marjorie A. Yasueda of San Francisco, California, sons John W. Westman of Atlantic Beach, Florida, and William W. Westman of Brasilia, Brazil, and son-in-law Ronalds S. Newton, Esq. of Hubbard, Oregon. He had 14 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. The family suggests that memorials be directed to Hospice of Southwest Florida, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota 34238; the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota, 3975 Fruitville Road 34232 or to the UUA, 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108. A memorial service was held at the Sarasota Unitarian Universalist Church on November 23, 2004. Horace Frederick Westwood
Upon graduating from Tufts with AB and M.Div degrees in 1938, Horace was ordained by his West Bridgewater, MA student parish. He met Virginia Boyd at Tufts and began their 66 year marriage in 1935. Daughter Joan arrived in 1937; then came their son Wallis and a brief ministry in Somerville before volunteering with the Navy 1941. His primary wartime service was with a Marine Corps replacement battalion in Tulagi on a small Solomon Island in the South Pacific where as chaplain he called upon his considerable imagination to create diversions for men awaiting action on a remote island until the war ended. Upon mustering out at Newport RI as a Lt. Commander, he assumed leadership of the congregation in Fairhaven MA in 1945. In 1950 he was called to his principal and most challenging 22 year ministry in Houston TX. He inherited a threadbare old building and what could be called, at best, a pallid hand-holding ministry. In just two years he strengthened the congregation, managed to sell the old building, buy land on a major thoroughfare, and build a splendid, Southwestern style physical plant with a spacious sanctuary down one side of a great courtyard an assembly room, classrooms and offices arranged around the quadrangle. Horace attracted to his side a committed and generous team of lay people determined to bring the fresh air of our liberating gospel to rigid, right-wing Houston. Their church was the first racially white church in the city to integrate. Horace marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma. They suffered some 60 resignations, making up the loss within the year. Ten years later his First Unitarian Church was bursting at the seams on double sessions and still crowded Houston was still growing. The First Church leadership bought land in a new, affluent and growing part of the city. After fund raising and construction of a new building, for a full year Horace preached at both stations: 9 AM at the Emerson Church, as the new church was called, and at 11, back at First Church. Sometimes, for exercise, Horace rode his bicycle between the two services. At the year's end, in a kind of spiritual or institutional mitosis, the church divided into what remain two of our strongest congregations. Facing the choice of which church to serve, Horace opted to stay with First Church where he felt he was most needed. In 1972 he left Houston named minister emeritus. Horace also served on the UUA board of trustees, the Fellowship Committee, and advisory committees to the Department of Ministry and the Beacon Press as well as numerous positions of leadership in the Southwest. Always a minister-to-ministers, he was much beloved by his colleagues. Meadville Lombard honored him with the DD in 1971. Before formal retirement in 1976, serving in Woodstock and Hartland Four Corners, VT for four years, he brought new vitality to these two rural churches, leaving each able to hire full-time ministers. He went on to serve brief interims in Summit, NJ; St. Paul, MN; Victoria, BC; Brewster, MA; Annapolis, MD, and Schenectady, NY, often called upon to use his healing skills in troubled situations. On a more personal note, Horace was an avid fly fisherman. He dearly loved to retire to the woods and streams with beloved colleagues to try and outwit the wily trout. Some of his most treasured times came on those occasions when he would finally find the right trout fly to attract his quarry. And he was indeed eloquent in describing his tactics and his skill. He will be greatly missed by many, many UU ministers. Horace was born in Youngstown OH March 15, 1911, the oldest son of the eminent UU minister whose name he bore. He died August 28, 2004, in Fairhaven MA in his 93 rd year after suffering the loss of Virginia and both his children. He is survived by his brother Reverend Arnold F. Westwood of Cummington, MA, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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The Reverend Eugene H. Adams of Medford, a prophetic voice for justice, died peacefully surrounded by family on August 11th, 2004. He was 87. Gene is survived by his wife Caroline Adams of Medford, and sons Richard Adams and wife Shari Adams of Prince Fredrick, Maryland, John Adams and partner Tom Fontaine of Nobleboro, Maine, Peter Adams and wife Ann Citron of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Tom Adams and wife Joan Adams of Livermore, California. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 
The Reverend John Clay Agnew, who combined careers in ministry and journalism, died July 10 at Blair House in Milford, Massachusetts. He was 84. 
The Reverend Dr. Mary Elizabeth [Keegan] Anastos (Elizabeth) of Cambridge, Massachusetts died Thursday, October 14, 2005 with the dignity and grace that marked her life. She had suffered a stroke six days earlier. She lived a long life devoted to moral responsibility and social justice including feminism, in action as well as word. Her children and grandchildren were deeply grateful to be with her steadily through her last days. 
Robert LeRoy Cope, 81, died on September 1, 2004, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. 
Clifton "Clif" Gordon lived for 21 years in Bakersfield with his wife, Dr. Helen H. Gordon, a professor of English at Bakersfield College, until her retirement in 1995, when they moved to Santa Barbara to reside in a 3-levels-of-care retirement community. 
Dr. Thomas J. Maloney, Jr. of Fort Collins, Colorado died after a courageous battle with progressive bulbar palsy on May 6, 2005 at Poudre Valley Hospital. He was 82. 
The Reverend Norman V. Naylor, died November 18, 2004. He was 68 years of age. 
Howard Wayne Oliver died March 20, 2005 at the age of 85. 
The Reverend Dr. David Paine Osborn died on August 4, 2004 having lived a happy and full life dedicated to Unitarian Universalism. David was born in South Weymouth, Massachusetts on January 20, 1925. Family, friends, and the Hingham Public Schools educated him. After graduation from the School of Arts and Sciences at Boston University in 1947 with a BA he taught Spanish, World History and Theater for a year at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He then entered Meadville-Lombard Theological School. With both his musicians' card and a bartender's license he supplemented his income while at Theological School. He graduated from Meadville-Lombard in 1952. Later he would serve as President of its Board of Trustees at a critical moment in its development. In 1977 they recognized his dedication to the school and Unitarian Universalism with an honorary doctorate. 
The Reverend Carl J. Westman, D.D., retired Unitarian-Universalist (UU) minister, of Sarasota, Florida passed away early Thursday, October 14 at his home in Beneva Park Club. Cause of death was congestive heart failure. He was 93. Dr. Westman was known for activism in protecting the rights of others sometimes at his own personal risk. He joined Dr. Martin Luther King on the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, at the height of the civil rights struggle and in Washington, D. C. when King delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech. Dr. Westman spoke out forcefully in protection of first amendment freedoms during the McCarthy era when the right to free speech was under siege and when defending free speech was often considered a treasonable offense. 
A tall man with gentle demeanor, sharp intelligence and quick wit, he spent his long life freely in devotion to others, to our cause, to his family and to insistence on justice and fair play at every hand. As a minister able to be both a kindly pastor and an ardent entrepreneur building lasting institutions, he served faithfully with skill and good cheer whatever his post for over 50 years. 
