The Rev. Dr. Alan Leslie Seaburg

The Reverend Dr. Alan Seaburg—sometime parish minister, poet, and historiographer, whose archival and bibliographic knowledge assisted hundreds of researchers at the Harvard Divinity Library over the years—died on 22 July 2018 at the age of 86.

Alan Leslie Seaburg was born on 28 February 1932 in Medford, MA to Nils Henry and Eva (Gerrard) Seaburg. From Tufts University (MA) he received a B.A. in 1954 and a B.D. in 1957. He was ordained on September 15 of that year by the First Universalist Church in Medford (MA), where he served an interim ministry (1958–59) while studying for an M.S. at Simmons College (MA, 1959).

The Rev’d Mr. Seaburg worked as a librarian at the Crane Theological School of Tufts University (1959–65) before returning to the parish in a shared ministry with Kenneth Patton at the Charles Street Meeting House in Boston (1965–68).

Then, after two years at the UUA (1968–70), he moved on to what would become his most significant vocation as Curator of Manuscripts at Harvard Divinity School’s Andover- Harvard Theological Library (1970–95). At retirement he was named Curator of Manuscripts, Emeritus, and in 1999 Meadville Lombard Theological School awarded him a D.D. honoris causa.

Alan was a prolific writer, with pieces appearing in The New York Times, Amherst Review, Hawaii Review, and Commonweal. He published five books of poetry and was for many years poetry editor of the nature journal Snowy Egret. He also authored or co-authored more than half a dozen small histories, mostly on New England subjects.

Alan is survived by daughters Carolyn Joy Bell and Ann Leslie Seaburg, two granddaughters, and two nephews. Memorial contributions are encouraged in honor of Alan’s brother, to the “Carl G. Seaburg Scholarship Fund” at Meadville Lombard Theological School, Development Office: 610 South Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605.

June 13, 2018

The Rev. Dr. Arnold Thaw

The Reverend Dr. Arnold Thaw—whose parish ministry career became turbulent and led him to a second career in gestalt therapy—died peacefully on 15 July 2018, aged 87.

Arnold Thaw was born on 21 April 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, to Max and Hilda Thaw. He was graduated from New York University in 1952 with a B.A. in history and then earned his M.Div. from Starr King School in 1956.

Mr. Thaw was first settled at the Unitarian Church of Natick, MA (1956–62) and was ordained there on 10 February 1957. He then took a settlement at the Unitarian Congregation of South Peel (now in Mississauga), Ontario (UUCM, 1962–68), where his regular columns were quite popular in the local newspaper. The church membership “grew enormously,” and he was appreciated as a “great story teller” and a stimulating leader of adult education classes and discussions. It was a divisive tenure, ending with Mr. Thaw’s resignation, along with 42 of his “disciples,” to form and lead the short-lived Experimental Unitarian Community of Mississauga.

Turning from ministry, the Rev’d Mr. Thaw moved across the continent to earn a Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology (Los Angeles) in 1974. This new career took him first to Flagstaff, AZ, as a counselor (c.1975–78). Dr. Thaw then moved to establish the Gestalt Institute of Phoenix, where he remained in private practice until 1998.

Arnold was survived by personal ass’t. Paula Allen and loving friends in the UU Congregation of Phoenix, where a memorial service was held on 15 September 2018. Memorial donations may be made to The Arnold Thaw Memorial Water Project.

Esme Cahill

Esme MacKinnon Cahill, spouse of the late Reverend Edward Cahill, died 8 July 2018.

Born in Nova Scotia in January 1927 to Herbert and Marie MacKinnon, she grew up in North Easton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Boston University.

She married the Reverend Edward Cahill in 1955, and became the full-time stepmother of his daughter Linda. He was serving a UU church in Charlotte, North Carolina, before moving to churches in Atlanta, Georgia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1969 he came to serve the UU church of Concord, New Hampshire.

Esme was an active minister’s spouse. She wrote and spoke of her experiences with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s church and the turbulent civil rights era. She served in many capacities, especially in the UU Church of Concord. She was Chair of the Prudential Committee, and actively worked on the Finance, Caring, and Long Term Planning committees.

She worked professionally her entire life. She did significant public health research with the Survey Research Center, U of Michigan, and co-authored an early study useful in the evolution of managed care. She worked with the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta and the School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. In Concord, she was a freelance contractor to survey research companies before working for the Digital Equipment Corporation. She retired in 1992.

Esme had a passionate interest in arts and crafts. She became an accomplished silver jewelry maker and taught classes as well as served on the board of the Arts Council of Greater Concord and the Concord Arts & Crafts Council. Her other community service activities included serving on the Board of the N.H. Mental Health Association and as a consumer representative at the United Health System Agency. In her later years, Esme most enjoyed her volunteer work and friends with the Hopkinton Town Library.

Ms. Cahill leaves her stepdaughter and son-in law, Linda and Dennis Brunn, her granddaughter Jennifer and her husband Ecco Adler, her great grandson, Nico Adler, and her nieces Beth Hemmert, Ellen Muehlenberger and their families.

The family suggests memorial donations to the ACLU or to the Hopkinton Town Library.

The Rev. William Clinton Saunders

Will Saunders

The Reverend Dr. Will Saunders, parish
minister and college instructor, died on 26 June 2018 at the age of 73 after living with cancer for several years. He is remembered for his sparkling wit and wide-ranging scholarship.

Will spent much of his retirement traveling the world, enjoying art, theater, music, hiking, canoeing, and bicycling. Not one to withdraw from living or ministry as his cancer became more serious, Will wrote a series of extraordinarily candid “health updates,” detailing the course of his disease and treatments as well as his and his spouse Julie’s playful efforts to “Keep Cancer Fun.”

William Clinton Saunders was born on 18 March 1945 in Morristown (NJ) to Byron Winthrop and Miriam (Wise) Saunders and grew up as a Unitarian in Ithaca, New York. He was graduated from Oberlin College (OH) in 1967 with an A.B. in religion and earned his B.D. from Union Theological Seminary (NY) in 1970. During graduate work, Will was a student minister at Manhattan’s Community Church (1968-71) and then a lecturer in religious studies at Hunter

College (1974-75). In 1978 he completed work for a Ph.D. in American religious thought at Columbia University (NY). Ordained in 1972 by his childhood church, the Rev’d Mr. Saunders served called ministries at UU churches in

Brunswick, Maine (1976-85) and in Urbana, Illinois (1985-95). After interim ministries in Harvard and Haverhill (MA), he was called as co-minister with then spouse Marta Flanagan to South Church, Portsmouth (NH) in 1997, and they were named emeritus/a on early retirement in 2005.

Will is survived by his second spouse, Julie Draper Saunders, sons Brynn and Peter, Julie’s sons Nicholas and Zachary Draper, sisters Martha Nabatian and Carolyn Munger, three grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial service was conducted by the Rev’d Dan Hotchkiss on 2 July 2018. Memorial gifts are encouraged to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England: www.ppnne.org/annualfund.

The Rev. Dr. Matthew “Matt” Deane Tittle

The Rev. Dr. Matthew “Matt” Deane Tittle died on June 26, 2018 at the age of 56.

Matt is survived by his wife Gail (Camp) Tittle; his children Alex and Sophie Tittle; his mother Phyllis Alcorn; and his aunts Jayne (Jim) Hill and Loretta (Gay) Jividen.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Brain Tumor Association or the Unitarian Universalist Association. UURMaPA will contribute $50 to the UUMA Endowment Fund in honor of our colleague’s ministry.

A Celebration of Life was held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign, 309 W Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801.

A Memorial Service will be held on September 1, 2018 (tentative) at the Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church Houston, 17503 El Camino Real, Houston, TX 77058.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Gail Tittle, 1702 Gentry Square Lane Apt 107, Champaign, IL 61821; gatittle@gmail.com.

A more complete obituary will be forthcoming after biographical research has been completed.

The Rev. Dr. John Hanly Morgan

The Reverend Dr. John Morgan—peace and civil rights activist, poet,
tenor chorister, and lifelong learner, who combined dedicated parish service with an academic and writing career—died on 23 June 2018, aged 99.

With work for peace going back to his college years, John’s community activity, wherever he lived and served, was guided by a hands-on theology of worldly engagement. He said that the church should always be answering the question, “What shall we do now with our world?” His commitment to peace and justice took him to Selma in 1965 and to the vice-presidency of the World Peace Council (1983–87), whose Joliet-Curie Gold Medal of Peace he was awarded in 1984. He had received the International Lenin Peace Prize the year before.

John Hanly Morgan was born on 28 November 1918 in New Albany, Indiana, to John Sidney and Vada Elizabeth (Dorn) Morgan. He earned his B.A. in Education from Ball State Teachers College, Muncie, IN (1943) and his ministerial degree from Harvard Divinity School (1946). He was forthwith ordained on 13 June 1946 by Waverly (MA) Unitarian Church, where he served until 1947.

Over the next 24 years, the Rev’d Mr. Morgan served churches in Charlotte (NC), Indianapolis, Flint (MI), South Bend (IN), and finally Toronto (ON), from which he took early retirement as minister emeritus in 1973. Meanwhile he taught philosophy at local colleges and, along the way, earned an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Michigan (1955). In 1979 he completed a Ph.D. dissertation in English Literature at University of South Florida. Over sixty years, starting at age 23, Mr. Morgan published eight books of poetry and prose, a history of the Toronto UU Church, and a memoir of his lifetime work for peace.

At his death, John was survived by his spouse Jeannette, children Lois Jean and David Hollis, nine grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

The Rev. George Brooks

The Reverend George Brooks—who combined activism in social justice and mental health with expertise in physics and astronomy and wove it all together into a career of 40 years in parish ministry—died peacefully on 18 June 2018, aged 95.

George Gordon Brooks was born on 14 December 1922 in Pleasantville, New York. to Leonard and Irene Huggins Brooks. He earned a B.A. in physics from Amherst College, MA, in 1944, an M.S. in astronomy from Mass. Inst. of Technology, MA, in 1947, and an S.T.B. from Harvard Divinity School in 1951.

After serving a student ministry at the UU Church of Danvers, MA, Mr. Brooks was ordained there on 24 June 1951. He was then settled successively at the Second Parish Unitarian Church in Saco, ME (1954–57), the Adams Memorial Unitarian Church in Dunkirk, NY (1957–61), the Lexington (KY) Unitarian Church, and in a half-time position at the UU Fellowship of Burlington, IA (1963–68).

An academic opportunity then lured him away to teach physics and astronomy at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, OH, while serving weekend ministries at two nearby congregations. He closed out his parish career with interim ministries in Chattanooga, TN, and Columbia, MO, and finally a two-year settlement at the UU Fellowship in Port Charlotte, FL, which later honored him as their minister emeritus.

Beyond the parish, Mr. Brooks took active leadership roles in a variety of district UU chapters and local community organizations, especially in the American Civil Liberties Union and in local support of human rights and mental health services.

At the time of his death, George Brooks was survived by nieces Miriam E. Coe, Katherine L. Randall, Julie Fix Graves, and Karen Fix Graves, nephews Edmund A. Jones, Carlton Parker Jones, and Leonard Brooks III, and several grand nieces, a grandnephew and a great nephew.

A memorial service was held on 2 December 2018 at the UU Fellowship of Charlotte County, FL.

May 9, 2018

The Rev. Dr. Victor Howard Carpenter Jr.

The Reverend Dr. Vic Carpenter Jr.—distinguished parish minister and tireless advocate for the disadvantaged and marginalized—died on 1 June 2018, aged 88.

Throughout his ministry, Vic was always awake—in compassion, preaching, and action—to the suffering of others. In South Africa, he and spouse Cathe worked against apartheid and he was sometimes a secret courier of international messages and money for legal and social aid to apartheid victims. In the United States, the Rev’d Mr. Carpenter was active in a breathtaking number and variety of social justice causes and organizations, opposing racial, gendered, and economic discrimination, the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, the death penalty, police violence, unjust immigration restrictions, and exploitation of hotel and hospital workers.

He promoted prison reform, reproductive freedom, same sex marriage, disability rights, and full educational access. He lost track of the number of his civil disobedience arrests. In 2011 the UUA gave him the Award for Distinguished Service to the cause of Unitarian Universalism.

Victor Howard Carpenter Jr. was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on 23 October 1929 to Victor Sr. and Pauline Carpenter. After service in the U.S. Marine Corps (1951–54), including two years in Korea, he completed his undergraduate work at Boston University in 1955 with a B.A. in English, and then earned an S.T.B. in 1959 from Harvard Divinity School. In 1987, Mr. Carpenter would receive an S.T.D. honoris causa from Starr King School.

Mr. Carpenter was ordained on 28 September 1958 by Christ Church, Unitarian in Dorchester, MA. Parish settlements followed in Norwell, MA (1959–62), Capetown, South Africa (1962–67), Philadelphia (1968–76), Boston (Arlington Street, 1976–87), and San Francisco (1987–93). His final settlement was at the First Church in Belmont, MA, where he was elected minister emeritus on retirement in 2002.

At his death, Victor was survived by his spouse of 60+ years, Cathe, children Tyler and Melissa, grandchildren Simone and Milo, and brother John. His daughter Gracia had died earlier.