Bill DeWolfe

The Rev. Bill DeWolfe, long-time parish minister, UUA regional leader, steadfast activist for civil rights and justice, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, died at age 87 on 29 October 2014, after suffering a heart attack earlier while watching the World Series.

Bill DeWolfe was widely known, admired, and loved by colleagues, especially during his many years in district and interdistrict service. He was “a minister to ministers, always with a keen eye to what was needed to bring insight and healing,” said the Rev. Bill Hamilton-Holway. A younger colleague, seminarian Claire Curole, writes that she “will remember him for his sense of hope, humor and the historical perspective he brought to our visioning conversations.”

William A. DeWolfe was born in Boston on 21 August 1927 to John Campbell Gordon DeWolfe and Miriam Elbridge Ford DeWolfe. After graduation from Medford high school, he enrolled at Tufts but deferred his study there for service in the U.S. Army (1945-1947). Returning to Tufts, Bill spent much of his summer time at the Universalist retreat center at Ferry Beach, where he met Barbara Louise Mosher of Bangor, also a Tufts student. They were married in 1949, and he was graduated with an AB in government in 1950. He went on for ministerial study at Harvard, served a student ministry at the Assinippi Universalist church, was ordained to Universalist ministry in 1952, and completed his STB from Harvard in 1953.

The Rev. Mr. DeWolfe accepted parish settlements at the First Universalist Society of Wakefield, Mass (1953-1955), at First Parish Universalist of Stoughton, Mass (1956-1960), and then at the 16 Acres Unitarian Universalist Church of Springfield, Mass (1960-1964), meanwhile earning an M.Ed. from Springfield College in 1963. He went on to serve the First Unitarian Church of San Antonio (1964-1970) and then the First Unitarian Church of St. Louis (1970-1973). After these parish ministries, Mr. DeWolfe turned to administrative work as UUA Interdistrict Representative to the Eastern Great Lakes Area (1973-1985) and as District Executive for Central Massachusetts and the Connecticut Valley (1986-1992).

The Rev. Art Severance, who served the San Antonio congregation (1991-2007), some years after Mr. DeWolfe’s tenure there, offered the following reminscence:

Bill was one of my predecessors in San Antonio; he liked to say “the only one who left voluntarily.” … His favorite San Antonio story was a time when he was president of the local ACLU and went down to the local jail to get Austin-based Madalyn Murray O’Hair out on bond after she had been arrested for some local speech on atheism. Madalyn saw him coming, and said, “Oh, Bill, thank God you’re here. I was getting worried no one would bail me out.”

Deeply devoted to the larger UU movement at many levels over the years, Bill DeWolfe first went to Ferry Beach at age 15, and later worked there as a crew member, staff member, and institute leader, as well as later at Star Island, Rowe, Lake Murray, and Ohio-Meadville Summer Institutes. He belonged to the Fraters of the Wayside Inn and the Cedar Hill Study Group, founded the Eastern Great Lakes Leadership School, served on the boards of the Connecticut Valley and Northern New England Districts, the UUMA, and as president of the Universalist Historical Society (1958-1964) and the UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association. In 2013 he received the Northern New England District UUA Leadership Award, given annually to one “who has contributed the most to the well-being and health of the District.” District president Sue Buckholz, in presenting the award, said, “When Bill’s name came up, that was the end of the discussion.”

Mr. DeWolfe advocated for civil action and justice and was very devoted to Planned Parenthood. His Rotary Club membership led him to active local service in all the communities where his parish career took him. He was instrumental in the founding of the Texas American Civil Liberties Union and served on the ACLU’s national board of directors. After retirement to Maine, Bill and Barbara lived in Damariscotta where they were active members of the Rockland UU church, and later moved to Granite Hills Estates (retirement home) in Hollowell, becoming active in the Augusta UU church and in the Augusta Senior College. During these years, Bill did occasional guest preaching, especially at the Midcoast UU Fellowship at its former meeting location in Edgecomb.

Bill enjoyed family trips and his wife, Barbara, fondly remembers camping throughout the United States with him and their young children. He was “a wonderful husband and father,” she wrote. “One of the things I appreciated about Bill was that even in the days before women’s lib, he was always urging me to follow my career as much as I wanted to. He would readily take care of the kids while I went off to work.” In later life he continued the pleasure of spending time with his children and grandchildren, and of following sports, particularly the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins.

Bill DeWolfe is survived by his wife Barbara, sons Richard and Paul, grandchildren Reid, Jack, Abby, and Emily, and great grandchildren, Sebastian and Madeline. Another son, the Rev. Mark Mosher DeWolfe, died in 1988.

A memorial service for Bill DeWolfe was held on 21 November 2014. at the UU Community Church of Augusta, Maine. Notes of condolences may be sent to Barbara DeWolfe, 4 Hickory Lane, Augusta, ME 04330.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts are encouraged to the Ferry Beach Park Association, 5 Morris Avenue, Saco, Maine 04072 or to the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Assn., c/o Joel Weaver, Treasurer, 535 Gradyville Rd. Unit V212, Newtown Square, Penn. 19073.