The Rev. Katherine “Kay” Anne Greenleaf

The Reverend Kay Greenleaf—a late-career parish minister who became a fierce and widely celebrated advocate for marriage equality—died on 19 January 2018, aged 78, after a long illness.

Social justice was one of Kay’s lifelong passions. In 2004 Kay enlisted local clergy to help marry many same-sex couples, drawing widespread public attention. She and the Rev’d Dawn Sangrey were arrested for this work but the charges were later dismissed.

Katherine Anne Greenleaf was born on 23 December 1939 in Orlando, Florida, to Helen and Richard Greenleaf. At Ball State Teachers College (Muncie, IN) Kay earned a B.S. in education in 1962. Initially she taught high school drama and worked in criminology and social service but then moved to a small farm in Wooster, OH, where she renovated and lived in an 1820s log house and raised geese, chickens, and goats. During this time she began attending the UU Fellowship of Wayne County.

Kay moved to Columbus, OH, in 1987 to join her newfound life partner, Pat Sullivan. The couple became actively involved in the city’s First UU Church. With an ever-stronger call to ministry, she enrolled at the nearby Methodist Theological School and completed work for her M.Div. in 1996, meanwhile supplying many local UU pulpits.

Ms. Greenleaf was ordained on 20 April 1997 by the First UU Church of Columbus. After brief contract ministries, she was called to the UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, NY, where she served from 1998 until her retirement in 2009 and was later elected Minister Emerita.

At her death, Kay Greenleaf was survived by her wife of 31 years, Pat Sullivan, three cousins, and a sister-in-law. Of her beloved spouse, Pat wrote, “Kay took people at face value and always saw the good in them.”

Dec 13, 2017

The Rev. Kathryn “Kay” Alice Jorgensen

The Reverend Dr. Kay Jorgensen—beloved and dedicated community minister, professional street & theater performance artist—died peacefully on 15 January 2018 in Berkeley, CA, aged 86.

Walking through San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, Kay was led, at age 66, to her deepest and truest calling. With Carmen Barsody, OSF, she founded the Faithful Fools, inviting thousands of others to make “street retreats,” walking through the neighborhood, open to the homeless and marginalized people they encountered.

Kathryn Alice Johnson was born on 9 January 1932 in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Detlof Emanuel Johnson and Alice Otilia Palmquist Johnson. She earned a B.A. in 1953 from St. Olaf’s College (Northfield, MN). Turned down as a woman for Lutheran ministry, she married Ronald Leland Jorgensen, a medical student, in 1955 and they had three children.

After a divorce in 1974, Kay moved to Minneapolis, discovered the First Unitarian Society there, and plunged more deeply into mime and theater. This led her to California for further work and study in mime and clowning. But by the 1980s she once again felt the pull of ministry, now as a UU, and received her M.Div. from Starr King School in 1987.

Ms. Jorgensen was ordained on 16 October 1988 by the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis shortly after beginning extension ministry (1988–93) to the nearby Northwest UU congregation. By 1996 she had returned to California, later secured ministerial affiliation with the San Francisco UU Society, and in 1998 began the Faithful Fools ministry for which Starr King School awarded her an S.T.D. honoris causa in 2004. In 2010 Kay was named minister emerita by her church and in 2015 she received the Patti Lawrence Distinguished Service Award from the UUA’s Pacific Central District.

At her death, Kay was survived by her children Andrea, Joel, and Erik, and her Faithful Fools co-founder and partner in ministry, Carmen Barsody. A memorial service, complete with clown noses, was held on 11 March 2018 at the First UU Society of San Francisco.

The Rev. Berkley Leroy Moore

The Reverend Berkley Moore—environmental engineer, musical scholar and hymnodist, settled and peripatetic preacher, and versatile polymath—died in Springfield, Illinois, on 4 January 2018, aged 85. Berkley was known for his scholarly curiosity and broad knowledge, from history to genetics to religion, and particularly music. He composed hymns and was an active member of the Illinois shape note singing community.

Berkley Leroy Moore was born on 7 August 1932 in Youngstown, Ohio, to James Berkley Moore and Lillian V.B. Moore. He earned a B.S. from Grove City College (PA) in 1954. After three years in chemical engineering research, he enrolled at Harvard Divinity School, earning an S.T.M. in 1960.

Mr. Moore was ordained by the All Souls Unitarian Church in Windsor, VT, on 14 April 1961. He continued serving that church along with the nearby First Universalist Church of Hartland until 1965, when he took another yoked call to Minnesota UU congregations in Virginia and Duluth.

Leaving full-time settled ministry, Berkley moved to Springfield, IL, in 1970, and began working as an engineer for the state’s Environmental Protection Agency. But he joined Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln UU Congregation and soon informally assumed many ministerial roles—preacher, pastor, and priest—until the church formally settled a new minister in 1981. The church remembers the Rev’d Mr. Moore’s arrival as a “turning point” in its history. After 25 years of such membership and service, the congregation named him Minister Emeritus.

At his death, Berkley was survived by his former wife Kathryn VanBuskirk, their sons James and Erik, his former wife and longtime friend Barbara Moore, and several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life was held on 10 February 2018 at the Abraham Lincoln UU Congregation.

The Rev. Elizabeth “Bets” Wienecke

The Reverend Bets Wienecke—deeply admired as a collegial mentor, especially to young women in ministry—died peacefully at her home in Carpinteria, California, on 28 December 2017, aged 81.

She was “a pioneer … who inspired six of us to become ministers and counseled countless among us in her many years in the parish,” recalls the Rev’d Carolyn Price. “She modeled for us what it is not only to live, but to die with intention, beauty, courage, and most of all, with love.”

Elizabeth Wienecke was born on 22 December 1936 in Evanston, Illinois, to Eliza Maurine Rittenhouse and Robert Henry Wienecke. As an army brat, Bets attended 19 schools before graduation from George Washington High School in Alexandria VA. Moving with her family to Okinawa, Japan, shortly thereafter, she met and married William C. Gourley Jr. (1955). The couple settled in Santa Paula, CA, where they had three children: Ann Michelle (deceased), William, and Elizabeth Ann.

Bets eventually resumed her own education, earning a B.A. in law and society from UC Santa Barbara in 1975 and an M.A. in educational psychology counseling from Cal State Northridge in 1980. Her marriage ended in 1976, and in 1982 she married Peter Haslund. With growing commitment to religious life in the Santa Paula UU congregation, and inspired and mentored by the Rev’d Marjorie Leaming, Bets headed off to the Claremont School of Theology, earning her M.Div. in 1985.

Ms. Wienecke was ordained on 25 May 1986 by the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara. After three years (1987–90) as extension minister to the Live Oak UU Congregation (Goleta, CA), that congregation settled her permanently in 1990. In 2004 they named her Minister Emerita.

At her death, Bets was survived by spouse Peter Haslund, sister Lynnie Wienecke, children Elizabeth and Bill, stepchildren Melitta and Christina Haslund, and five grandchildren.

Dr. Marshall Emanuel Deutsch

Marshall Deutsch

Dr. Marshall Emanuel Deutsch, 96, spouse of the Reverend Judith Deutsch, died on December 23, 2017. He was born in New York City, and was a graduate of DeWitt Clinton High School and the City College of New York. After serving in the Army Air Force during World War II, Marshall received a PhD in physiological studies from New York University in 1951.

Marshall had a varied career, but considered himself primarily an inventor of medical diagnostic tests, and held 60 patents, including two patents referred to in hundreds of subsequent patents by others, which introduced a simplified automatic system of assay that later was applied to home pregnancy tests.

An extremely witty person, Marshall was a solver of difficult puzzles including The Nation’s puns and anagrams puzzles and the New York Times diagramless ones. He was a folk dancer, a linguist, and a lover of Mozart operas. He had traveled to 25 countries (some while working for the US Agency for International Development and the UN Capital Development Fund.)

Marshall was editor of the Boston Mycological Society’s Bulletin for more than 12 years, and the author of many scientific and non-scientific articles and letters. He was especially proud of his letters in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He produced and presented more than 200 radio shows on nutrition and wrote on the topic for The Realist. He was a Life Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1955, he helped found a Unitarian Fellowship in Morristown NJ, which still flourishes. After living in New Jersey, New York, and Michigan, Judith and Marshall remained in Sudbury MA for 51 years. They recently moved to Corrales, NM.

Marshall believed in exercise and worked out on a stationary bicycle for an hour each day up to December 6th, the day before he suffered two strokes.

He is survived by Judith, his wife of 70 years, and their three adult children; Pamina Margret Deutsch and son-in-law Dr. Michael Baron of Corrales, NM; Dr. Ethan Amadeus Deutsch of Seattle WA; and Dr. Freeman Sarastro Deutsch and his daughter-in-law, Jessie Saacke of Cambridge, MA; and his granddaughter Melina baron Deutsch.

Memorial services will be 1:00 PM on April 21 at Unitarian Universalist Westside Congregation, Rio Rancho NM, and 3:00 PM on April 28 at First Parish Church, Sudbury MA.

Messages of condolence may be sent to the Rev. Judith Deutsch, P.O. Box 2848, Corrales, NM 87048.

The Rev. Dr. Peter Lee Scott

The Reverend Dr. Peter Lee Scott—long-time parish minister, singer and musician, student of UU history, and charter member of the Charles Street Meeting House in Boston—died on 20 December 2017, at the age of 84.

Peter loved table tennis and model railroading, and was also a “very cautious” sailor, claiming that his sailboat, Chicken of the Sea, described him as a skipper. He maintained a near life-long relationship with the Ferry Beach Association and, following his Universalist minister father, regularly celebrated Groundhog Day with sermons, liturgies, and carols.

Peter Lee Scott was born on 6 November 1933 in Peoria, Illinois, to Mary Slaughter and the Rev’d Clinton Lee Scott. From St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY) he earned a B.D. in 1955 and an M.Div. in 1957. He would later earn an M.A. in religious education from Hartford (CT) Seminary (1962) and a D.Min. from Lexington (KY) Theological Seminary (1972).

Mr. Scott was ordained on 8 September 1957 at the First Universalist Society in New Haven, CT, where he served for five years. Parish settlements followed in Massachusetts, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Virginia. He then took a call to the First Universalist Church of Southold, NY (1987–96), followed by a one-year interim ministry at the UU Congregation of York, PA.

Finally, the Rev’d Dr. Scott was called to St. Paul’s Universalist Church in Little Falls, NY, where his spouse Faith was ordained and served with him as co-minister. After retirement in 1999, he continued with supply preaching at St. Paul’s and at the First Universalist Society in Salisbury Center, NY. In 2013, he was elected Minister Emeritus by both congregations.

At the time of Peter’s death, survivors included his spouse and colleague, the Rev. Dr. Faith Grover Scott, children Michael, Rebecca, and Steven, stepchildren Robert, Elizabeth, and Margaret, and fourteen grandchildren, step-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren

Nov. 15, 2017

The Rev. Sarah Barber-Braun

The Reverend Sarah Barber-Braun was above all a scholar of women’s history. And wherever she lived, she surrounded herself with women’s art, including her own fabric art. Her stoles are worn by many colleagues.

Sarah especially devoted decades of scholarship to the life and work of early Universalist minister Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford. Her long-time friend and colleague, the Rev’d Carol Hepokoski, said that Sarah’s “heart seemed to live in the 19th century.”

In August 2017, colleagues and area ministers gathered, with Sarah in attendance, to celebrate her life. Four months later, 17 December 2017, she died, aged 92.

Sarah Elizabeth McGrew was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Dallas Dayton Lore McGrew and Elizabeth Barber McGrew on 23 October 1925. She earned her B.A. in political theory and government from Radcliffe College, MA, in 1947.

Sarah settled with husband Harold Braun in Missoula, MT, where they eventually raised three adopted children. She worked as a religious educator at a local United Church of Christ church (1956–60), and then turned to the crafting of jewelry as an entrepreneurial artist and served also as an art consultant to the local Head Start program.

Sarah as Radcliffe senior — Sarah as a young mother

After divorce in 1976, Sarah reclaimed her mother’s birth name as part of a new surname. In 1978 she discovered the Humboldt UU Fellowship, and in 1981 she was on her way to Starr King School, where she completed her M.Div. in 1984. She was ordained on 17 February 1985 by the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, CA.

The Rev’d Ms. Barber-Braun began her parish career as an extension minister at the UU Congregation of Erie, PA (1986–89), followed by a mix of contract and interim ministries at the Saltwater UU Church (Des Moines, WA, 1989–90), the First Universalist Society in New Haven, CT (1994–96), the Mattatuck UU Society in Woodbury, CT (1996–97), and finally at the First Universalist Church of Southold, NY (1997–2002).

Sarah is survived by her children, Paula Braun, Julia Roth, and Daniel Braun, grandchildren Tegan Spangrude, Carl Spangrude, David Braun, and Andrea Braun, and brother John McGrew.

The Rev. Eugene William Kreves

The Reverend Gene Kreves—greatly admired for passionate preaching on humanistic liberalism and social justice and remembered by his daughter Joy for his “impish sense of humor”—died on 11 December 2017, at the age of 96.

Eugene William Kreves was born on 24 May 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Mary and Joseph Kreves. While at Ohio Wesleyan University he met fellow student Corrine Strong, to whom he was married in 1942. He earned a B.A. in English in 1945 and a B.D. from Hartford Theological Seminary in 1949, and was ordained in the United Church of Christ.

During his service to the First Congregational Church in Lisle, IL, the church became riven by debates over “Freedom of Conscience” and its records report “disunity becoming rampant in the church.” In early 1955 the Rev’d Mr. Kreves resigned, having meanwhile been admitted to American Unitarian Association ministerial fellowship. He took with him a substantial number of “followers” who chartered a Unitarian congregation (now the DuPage UU Church) in the nearby town of Naperville. Gene served that church for 24 years, was active in both the local ACLU and the DuPage Valley Peace Center, and was a proud signer of the second Humanist Manifesto (1973). On retirement he was named Minister Emeritus; in 1994 the church dedicated its new Kreves Hall in his honor.

At the time of Gene’s death, survivors included children Tim, Dawn, and Joy, four grand- children, and two great-grandchildren. Spouse Corinne died in 2000. Memorial donations are encouraged to the Lakota People’s Law Project and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.