The Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Russell Murry

The Reverend Dr. William R. Murry, Minister Emeritus of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, and former President of Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, died July 6, 2017.

During his 17 year tenure at River Road, Bill Murry had a strong pulpit ministry with a major emphasis on social responsibility. The membership nearly doubled in size and their community service and social justice work increased considerably. In his seven years as President and Academic Dean of the Chicago seminary, Bill led in the growth and revitalization of that graduate professional school affiliated with the University of Chicago and the Unitarian Universalist Association. He appointed six new faculty members, expanded the curriculum and saw the student body increase from 60 to 115 students.

He was the author of numerous articles and three books including: A Faith for All Seasons: Liberal Religion and the Crises of Life, in which he presents liberal religious perspectives on the question of life’s meaning, the problems of pain and suffering, loss and grief, and death and Dying; Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the 21st Century, which articulates a humanism grounded in religious naturalism and responds to some criticisms of humanism; and Becoming More Fully Human: Religious Humanism as a Way of Life, which treats humanism as both a philosophy and a way of living with joy and responsibility.

His work for the Unitarian Universalist Association included serving three years as Chair of the planning committee of the National Social Justice Workshop, six years as Ministerial Settlement Representative for the Joseph Priestley District, and President of the Chesapeake chapter of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association.

Bill was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1932. He held a B.A. from Oklahoma Baptist University, a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Theology and Culture from Drew University. He began his career as a Baptist pastor in Shelton, Connecticut, then accepted a joint appointment as University Minister at The Riverside Church and as the Campus Minister at Columbia University in New York City. Bill served from 1967 to 1970 as Chaplain and Assistant Professor of Religion at Goucher College in Towson, MD, and from 1970 to 1974 he was Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

Bill became a Unitarian Universalist minister in 1977, and was called to the UU Church of Bloomington, Indiana, where he served on the Board of Planned Parenthood and helped to start hospice in that city. In 1980, he was called to the River Road Congregation in Bethesda where he also became active in affordable housing work. He was a founding member and first board chair of the Montgomery (County, MD) Housing Partnership, and also helped found the Unitarian Universalist Affordable Housing Corporation, which continues to serve the D.C. area. In 1995, he was recognized for his work in affordable housing by the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission.

After retiring from the Presidency of the Meadville Lombard seminary he continued his writing, speaking engagements and service as a board member of the UU Humanist Association. While living in Annapolis MD, he was a founding board member of the UU Legislative Ministry of Maryland and in 2012 was honored with the first “Creative Sage-ing Award” by the UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association. More recently he co-edited the anthology Humanist Voices in Unitarian Universalism.

At the 2017 UU General Assembly in New Orleans, the UU Humanist Association honored him as the first recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award “for extraordinary contributions to Religious Humanism and Unitarian Universalism.” Bill Murry was an inspiring teacher and mentor to a great many members of the UU clergy as well as countless laypersons and professed humanists across the country. The influence of his powerful sermons, lectures and books will continue to enrich and enlighten many.

Creative Sageing Award for 2017 — Gordon Gibson

Jim Eller presenting the Creative Sage-ing Award to Gordon Gibson

The Board of UURMaPA is delighted to announce that the 2017 Creative Sageing Award was given to the Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson. Gordon, along with his wife Judy, has been involved in organizing and leading pilgrimages to civil rights sites since 2004, and he is currently involved with the Living Legacy Project () to continue this work. He has published Southern Witness, a book about Southern UUs during the civil rights era.

In announcing the award, the selection committee (Marni Harmony, Makanah Morris and Ellen Brandenburg) lifted up some of Gordon’s accomplishments, noting that he doesn’t seem to have much use for the word retirement and continues to enrich us all by his tireless work on our history.

Ellen particularly remembers that his leadership on pilgrimages to civil rights sites in the South, as well as his other leadership roles with the Living Legacy Project (uulivinglegacy.org) since his retirement have been particularly impressive. Makanah Morris recalls how essential his ministerial presence was to the Knoxville congregation, of which he and Judy are members, when a gunman opened fire one Sunday. His calming presence on that day and the time which followed was very healing for all ages in that church following that tragedy.

Gordon has been organizing and leading pilgrimages to civil rights sites since 2002, bringing his experience of living in Mississippi 1969-1984 when he was the UU minister in the state. In 2015, he received the UUA Presidential Award for Volunteer Service after decades of a ministry that has held racial justice at its core. Upon receiving that honor, Gordon said, “The Living Legacy Project is a circle of people who saw value in an idea my wife, Judy, and I began developing and implementing as I neared retirement. The Living Legacy Project has improved and extended what we had begun, and I have seen our civil rights pilgrimages and the recent Selma conference challenge, change, and empower people. There is something in the process of coming face-to-face with the people, places, and stories of the civil rights Movement that has changed more lives than all 50 years of my sermons.”

Anyone who has heard him speak in any venue knows that Gordon Gibson understands the value of a good story. Gordon has lived his life learning and sharing the stories of others so that, through their example, the good and the not-so-good, we all can be stronger, better, more loving people. At Gordon’s core is a passion for us all to appreciate the gifts in one another and to leave the world a kinder, gentler place.

Gordon is genuinely interested in others, and his beloved wife Judy claims that he “… has always been other-people-focused. He seems constantly ready to reach out, ready to be helpful and supportive to people around him. His favorite situations are when we get involved in interesting conversations, ideally over good food. I cannot think of a time when he retreated into a personal funk! I believe that his choice of ministry was absolutely the right direction for him.”

In retirement, Judy and Gordon live in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gordon has published Southern Witness, a book about Southern Unitarians and Universalists in the civil rights era.

Gordon and Judy Gibson

The Creative Sage-ing Award Committee wishes they could name both Gordon and Judy for this award. But given that Judy is on the UURMaPA Board where she serves as the most amazing secretary any organization could hope for, they felt it was probably not appropriate.

But we want everyone to know that in our hearts this award goes to both Gordon and Judy. And we want to mention that in 2016, the Knoxville Urban League did it right. They bestowed that Whitney Young Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prestigious of all Urban League Awards, on both Gordon and Judy.

May 2, 2017

The Rev. Alfred James Norman Henriksen

The Reverend Al Henriksen—parish minister, anti-racist activist, lover of dance, jazz, theater, and travel—died on 24 June 2017, aged 95.

Early in his ministry the Rev’d Mr. Henriksen showed himself to be a hands-on pioneer in “walking the talk” of social justice rhetoric. During his ministry in Iowa City in the mid-1950s, Al is remembered for accompanying African-American college students to local barber shops that practiced segregation.

Alfred James Norman Henriksen was born in Boston on 21 January 1922 to James and Anna Syversen Henriksen and grew up in nearby Quincy, MA. He attended Baptist and Lutheran churches as a child but in his teens discovered Quincy’s Wollaston Unitarian Church. After a B.A. from Tufts in 1945, he completed his ministerial degree in 1947 at Crane Theological School with a thesis on religious humanism.

In 1946 Mr. Henriksen was called to All Souls Church of Augusta, ME, where he was ordained on 10 October 1946 and served until 1951. He was then settled at the First Unitarian Society of Iowa City, followed by the Unitarian Fellowship of Corpus Christi (TX), and finally at the Pacific Unitarian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes (CA), where he would remain for 24 years. The congregation named its auditorium in his honor and elected him Minister Emeritus in 1987. In retirement, the Rev’d Mr. Henriksen capped his parish career with four interim ministries (1987-91).

Al Henriksen is survived by his second spouse (of 23 years) Georgianne Declercq, three children, six grandchildren, two stepdaughters & their children, and four great-grandchildren. His first spouse, Ruth Baxter Henriksen, died in 1987.

The Rev. Sandra Gillogly Lee

The Rev. Sandra Gillogly Lee died on June 23, 2017 at the age of 74.

She is survived by spouse Don Bell and sister Marsha Green.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to NARAL Pro-Choice America, or to the charity of one’s own choosing.

A memorial service will take place on Tuesday, October 31, 2017 in Grand Junction, CO, at a venue still to be determined.

Notes of condolence can be sent to Don Bell at 315 Ouray Ave, Grand Junction, CO 81501 and at DonWayneBell@gmail.com.

The Rev. Joan Kahn-Schneider

The Reverend Joan Kahn-Schneider—religious seeker, family counselor, parish minister, and organizational consultant—died on 18 June 2017 at the age of 86.

Joan Kahn was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 13 September 1930 to Emanuel “Jerry” Kahn, Jr. and Selma Andorn Kahn. In the Cincinnati area Joan owned and ran a small book store and later took up counseling in private practice. After a mid-life phase that she called her “Madalyn Murray O’Hair Period,” she found a new spiritual home in 1971 at the Northern Hills UU Fellowship (now “The Gathering”) in Cincinnati.

Joan wrote, “My life leading to ministry and beyond came together more like a patchwork…” Studying psychology at Antioch College (OH), she found herself drawn increasingly toward theology and philosophy and enrolled at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH. In earning an M.Div. in 1981, she came to “the realization that everything I had done had led me to the parish ministry.” Ms. Kahn-Schneider was ordained in 1981 by her home congregation. She served congregations in Michigan (1981-85), Ohio (1987-89), and New York (1989-97), with a “hiatus” at the UUA during which “I discovered that I was definitely not a bureaucrat, but rather a parish minister.” With another degree (M.Ed. in organization and management) she took up a series of interim ministries in New Hampshire (1997-99), Connecticut (1999-2000), Tennessee (2000-01), and South Carolina (2001-2002), a settlement in Savannah (2004-09), and a final interim at her old home congregation (2013-14). Along the way she rendered service in multiple roles to the UUA and UUMA.

Joan’s spouse Charlie died in 2006, following a stroke. She is survived by children David Friedman, Jim Friedman, Robin Guethlein, and Jerri Menaul, eight grandchildren, and sister Lu Cohen.

A memorial service took place on 29 July 2017 at the UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, NC. Memorial donations are encouraged to the UUA Living Tradition Fund or to a charity of one’s own choosing. Notes of condolence may be sent to Jim Friedman.

The Rev. Dr. Daniel Greeley Higgins, Jr.

The Reverend Dan Higgins—military officer and chaplain, beloved parish minister, community servant and activist—died on 9 June 2017 at the age of 90.

Daniel Greeley Higgins Jr. was born in Easton, Maryland, on 27 February 1927 to   parents Anna and Dan Higgins. After high school Dan served in the army (1944-46) and   was graduated with a B.A. in political science by the University of Maryland in 1951.   He went on to Temple University (PA), earning an S.T.B in 1954.

With what he called a “religious instinct” since childhood, Dan preached his first sermon at his family’s Methodist church at age 15. After Methodist ordination in 1955, he returned to army service as a chaplain in post-war Korea (1956-59), followed by brief parish service in Methodist churches.

In the early 1960s the Rev’d Mr. Higgins sought UU affiliation, returned to Temple University for an S.T.M. in 1965, and was settled (1965-69) as associate minister to (and ordained a second time by) the First Parish in Lexington, MA. In 1969 he took a call to Lubbock, TX, but left in 1972 to work as BAWA’s programming director (Black and White Alternative/Action, UU). In 1975 Dan was called to the First Parish in Malden, MA, serving there until formal retirement in 1987, when he was named Minister Emeritus. Meanwhile he completed study for a D.Min. at Meadville Lombard Theological School in 1977.

Post-retirement, Dan moved back to the Chesapeake Bay, began pulpit and pastoral work at local UU congregations in Easton and Salisbury (MD) and helped start a new congregation—UUs of the Chester River (MD). A former president of that congregation remembers him as “the most unassuming person, perhaps the most humble person I have ever known. But his presence and dignity immediately filled a room.”

Dan is survived by children Daniel G. Higgins III, Cynthia Westlake, Ann Spicer, and Kim Clark, four grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

The Rev. Dr. Robert “Bob” Charles Kimball

The Reverend Dr. Robert Kimball—Tillich scholar, seminary president, deeply thoughtful and visionary educator, and beloved mentor to a generation of UU ministerial students—died at age 88 on 29 May 2017.

Early in his career, Bob Kimball became a close student of the work of theologian Paul Tillich, who appointed him, at age 31, to be his literary executor, a role Bob filled for nearly thirty years.

Robert Charles Kimball was born on 6 June 1928 in Rochester, NY, to parents Frederick Booth Kimball and Marguerite Steinmiller Kimball. He earned a B.A. in psychology from Oberlin

College (OH, 1951), an M.A. in philosophy from Oberlin Graduate School (1953), a B.D. from Oberlin Graduate School of Theology (1955), and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of religion from Harvard Univ. (MA, 1960).

After service as a religious educator to United Church of Christ congregations while still a student, the Rev’d Dr. Kimball began nearly four transformative decades of teaching theology (but really a formational counselor) on the Starr King faculty (1959–98), including many years as the school’s president (1968–83) and dean (1983–97).

His profound personal influence is legendary in the memory of students. Michelle Tonozzi recalls “the radical YES [that he spoke] to each student for their most authentic self.”

In individual student conferences, recalls Keith Kron, “Bob often saw two layers below the [surface] problem or question.” And Barbara Pescan adds, “He cut out the extraneous. He saw through lies, even when they were self-effacing, or denying some sadness: ‘Do you always laugh when you mean to cry?’”

Robert Kimball is survived by children Seth, Jeanette, Amy, and Paul, plus six grandchildren, and is revered by scores of Starr King School graduates.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Stedman Stephen, Jr.

The Reverend Dr. Charles Stephen—beloved parish minister, eloquent and literate preacher, omnivorous reader, and dedicated civil rights activist—died at home in hospice care on 29 May 2017, aged 85.

Mr. Stephen was a founder of local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. He hosted the show All About Books for Nebraska public radio and reviewed books for the Lincoln Star Journal. On the afterlife, Charles liked to quote Jorge Luis Borges: “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” The local newspaper called him “a connoisseur of words and ideas.”

Charles Stedman Stephen, Jr., was born on 5 February 1932 in Melrose, MA, to Charles Stedman Stephen and Barbara Hill Stephen, and grew up in the Greenwood neighborhood of Wakefield, MA. He was graduated with a B.A. by Northeastern University (MA, 1955) and earned a B.D. from Crane Theological School (MA, 1958). Starr King School awarded him an S.T.D. honoris causa in 1982.

Mr. Stephen was ordained on 15 June 1958 by the Melrose Unitarian Church. After settlement at the First Parish Church of Billerica, MA (1958–61) he accepted a call to the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, Nebraska, where he served for 35 years and was named minister emeritus on retiring in 1996.

His daughter Susan described her father as a “man of letters, man of the Red Sox, hiker of mountains, canoe paddler of oceans, tickler of children, crossword puzzler, lover of opera.”

He is survived by his spouse of 63 years Patricia; children Debra, Susan, David, Karl, and Bruce, plus ten grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and brothers Sanders and Mark.

Lorna Jean Kimball

Lorna Jean Kimball

Lorna Jean Kimball, spouse of the Reverend Dr. Bob Kimball, died 26 May 2017. She was born 8 December 1929 in Bombay, India and spent most of her childhood in India. Her father was a missionary and her mother taught in a school for the deaf. Lorna came to the U.S. as a young woman to attend Oberlin College in Ohio.

While attending college, she met Robert Kimball, and they were married 25 August 1951. They had four children , who kept her very busy while Bob completed his education, became ordained, and began his career. When his career took him to Starr King School for the Ministry and the family was established in California, she returned to university and earned her credentials to teach special needs students. That became her career, which she pursued for many years.

Lorna had many interests which sustained her, aside from her work and family. She loved to play music and for most of their lives together always had a piano or keyboard standing by. Another passion was bird watching. Lorna loved growing things, and had a special gift for growing orchids and getting them to bloom.

After she left her school and Bob retired from Starr King, they moved to Alameda and settled into a quiet life. They took frequent walks and often took their meals in local establishments. They were a team and attended to each other. This became more difficult when she developed Alzheimer’s and struggled with dementia. Her final months were hard, but Bob and their children looked after her until the end.

Lorna is survived by her children; Seth, Jeanette, Amy, and Paul; six grandchildren; her brother, Owen Thomas; and sister, Patricia Becker.