Author: Duane Fickeisen

The Rev. Margaret D. “Margo” Tyndall, a director and later minister of religious education, activist for peace and justice, and dedicated servant of the Unitarian Universalist tradition, died at her home in San Rafael, California, on 29 March 2014 at the age of 91.

Margo Tyndall was one who walked her talk. In the aftermath of Tibetan resistance against China in the late 1950s, she and husband Gordon became passionate about the plight of Tibetan children. Together they raised thousands of dollars for the Tibetan Refugee Children’s Education Fund, and housed a number of Tibetan refugees in their Oakland (California) home. Both were active with the Berkeley Buddhist Peace Fellowship and studied Vipassana meditation. Margo’s wide-ranging interests included swimming, hiking, painting, calligraphy, and short story writing. Over the years Margo pursued a somewhat itinerant career in education and ministry, serving wherever Gordon’s career moves took the family.

Margaret Patricia Davies was born on 7 March 1923 in Berkeley, California, to Harold and Kathleen Davies, grew up in nearby Oakland, and attended Anna Head School for Girls (now Head-Royce School). She went on to study at Stanford University and UC Berkeley, where she met teaching assistant Gordon Tyndall; they were married in 1942. Finishing his Ph.D. in economics shortly thereafter, Gordon returned to his native Canada and enlisted in the Canadian army. The newlyweds spent the rest of the war years in various parts of Canada wherever Gordon was assigned. Their first two children were born during those Canadian years. After the war Gordon’s career took the family to California, Ithaca, New York, and Pittsburgh, where Margo was finally able to complete a bachelor’s degree in English from Carnegie Mellon University in 1952.

Early in 1952 and already three months pregnant, Margo with Gordon and their two children set out to Europe on Gordon’s Fulbright Scholarship. Their third child Ben was born that summer in Vienna. Soon after returning to the States, Gordon’s work led them back to the San Francisco Bay Area. They settled in Berkeley in 1953 where they remained for the next fourteen years, except for a sabbatical year in Europe (1965).

It was the stability of these years in Berkeley, during her older children’s teen and young adult years, that gave Margo the opening to develop her interest in liberal religious education. She and Gordon were among the founders of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarians (now Unitarian Universalists) where both taught Sunday school and Margo served as Religious Education Director (DRE) in 1961-62. This led her to study for professional ministry at Starr King School for the Ministry, where she earned her M.Div. in 1968.

Following Gordon’s taking a position at the University of Edmonton (Alberta) in 1967, Margo served the Unitarian Church there over most of the next eleven years, alternating between roles as DRE (1967-71, 1976-78) and associate minister (1971-73, 1977-78). The UUA granted her DRE certification in 1970 and the Edmonton church ordained her to UU ministry in 1971. At various times in her Edmonton years, the Rev. Ms. Tyndall served as membership chair of the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) and as emergency room chaplain at the University of Alberta hospital. Life in Edmonton was interrupted for two years (1974-76) when Gordon’s career took them to Nairobi, where Margo taught English at a Roman Catholic girls school.

After Gordon’s retirement in 1978, Margo was free to lead the way back to her beloved San Francisco Bay Area where she joined the UU Church of Berkeley, volunteered in the RE program, and became active in the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (EBSC), providing assistance to refugees fleeing persecution in Central America. Sr. Maureen Duignan, the Sanctuary’s executive director, remembers Margo as “a very graceful person, [who] associated herself with EBSC for many years . . . and contributed financially to our ministry.” Margo returned to professional work in 1989, accepting a call to the UU Fellowship of Redwood City, and served there as Minister of Religious Education until 1992. In retirement she continued her dedication to working with children as a tutor in the Richmond (Calif.) Reading Project.

Her husband of seventy-one years having died in 2013, Margo is survived by a daughter, Caroline Salcedo, sons, David and Benjamin, grandchildren, Antonio, Ricardo, and Nina, and seven great-grandchildren. Notes of condolence may be sent in care of David Tyndall at 1510 Stallion Court, McKinleyville, California 95519.

The Rev. John E. Trowbridge, 83, died unexpectedly August 30, 2008, of congestive heart failure. He held a BA in Social Studies from University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, and a B.Div. from Meadville Theological School. He was a veteran of the US Navy. He was minister of the UU Society of Bangor, ME from 1954-1958, and then the UU Churches of Sheshequin, Standing Stone, and Towanda, PA, from 1964-1985. While serving the churches, he was a case worker at the General Assistance Department in Towanda. His articles on religion were published in The Unitarian World, Faith and Freedom,and The Christian Century. John was also a talented watercolor artist who exhibited his landscapes wherever he lived. In 1985 he retired and returned to his birthplace, Deming, NM, where he continued to paint and was active in the artistic community. He was designated minister emeritus by the UU Church of Athens and Sheshequin in 2003. He was an active member of the Las Cruces congregation. He is survived by his children, Alina and Ned and two step-grandchildren.

The Rev. Carl F. Thitchener, 75, died Feb. 15, 2008 in Clifton Springs, NY. After a successful business career where he was a pioneer in the early microfilm information retrieval industry, he transitioned to ministry. He earned an M. Div. from Starr King and was ordained at the First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY, where he had been an active layperson for 20 years. He served the UU Church of Amherst in Williamsville, NY. After her ordination his wife, the Rev. Maureen Q. Thitchener, joined him there as co-minister. The congregation honored them as ministers emeriti. Carl also served congregations in Fairfax, VA; Rochester, NY; and Waterloo County, ON. At the time of Carl’s death, he and Maureen were co-ministers at the UU Church of Canandaigua, NY. Carl served as Secretary to the UUA Board of Trustees, and on the Boards of the Buffalo Area Metropolitan Ministries; Starr King; the the UUMA and as President of the St. Lawrence Foundation for Theological Education. He was Vice President on the UURMaPA Board, as listkeeper and webmaster. Survivors include his wife of 53 years; three daughters, Karyn Taylor, Lynn Thitchener, and Susan Levine; a son, Michael Carl Thitchener, and two granddaughters. A service was held March 29 in Rochester.

The Rev. Al Thelander, who served parish ministries in California after an Air Force career, died on October 20, 2014, at the age of 89.

Albert Hill Thelander was born on August 8, 1925 to Margaret and Albert Levi Thelander. He earned a B.S. from Harvard University in 1949, and went on to serve the United States Air Force from 1952 to 1970. He was graduated from Starr King School for the Ministry in 1973.

Mr. Thelander was ordained to ministry in 1977 by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Saddleback Valley of Laguna Hills, CA, (now Tapestry, A Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Mission Viejo, CA) where he served as minister from 1977 to 1979. He then answered a call to the Humboldt UU Fellowship of Bayside, CA in 1979, where he continued until his retirement in 1993, when he was voted Minister Emeritus.

The Rev. Mr. Thelander served his colleagues and the UU movement in a variety of ways. He was a founding member and secretary of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Cooperative, Pacific Central District of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) from 1975 to 1977; Northern California area coordinator to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee from 1975 to 1976; chair of the denominational affairs and communications committee of the Pacific Southwest District of the UUA from 1978 to 1979; Board of Directors of the Pacific Central District from 1983 to 1987; and President of the Pacific Central District from 1985 to 1987.

Al enjoyed chess, carpentry, reading, and spending time with family, among whom he was affectionately known as “GrandAl.” His granddaughter, Emmy, remembers, “GrandAl approached everything in life, including the whimsical and the grave, with the assumption that it was—or could be—meaningful. He was and is a model for intentional living.”

Al Thelander is survived by his wife of 63 years, Mary; children, Carl Thelander, Margo Thelander, and Kate Alvarez; grandchildren, Emmy, Max, Alicia, Alex, Cara and Shane; and great-grandchildren, Davin, Anderson, and Collin.

A celebration of life was planned at a later date. Notes of condolences may be sent to Mary Thelander, 12833 Lake Wildwood Drive, Penn Valley, CA 95946.

The Rev. Robert Atherton Thayer, 77, died April 5, 2012. He held a BA in history from Harvard College. During college he spent summers as a fire lookout in the Bitter Foot Idaho Wilderness. He earned his BD at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and was ordained as a Presbyterian. At Harvard he met his first wife, Pamela J. Thayer. Bob served the First Presbyterian Church in Framingham, MA. His passion for the civil rights movement moved him to seek fellowship with the UUA. He served First Parish UU in Medfield, MA and was chaplain at Billerica prison. He served Fairhaven Unitarian Memorial Church for 22 years, then served as interim at the Second Congregational Meetinghouse of Nantucket, and then served the Brockton UU Church. He was an avid sailor, woodworker, woodsman, writer and scholar. He was predeceased by his wife of 31 years in 1991. He is survived by Mary-Ellen Tunney, his wife of 16 years, and by his children: Stephanie Pires, Jenifer Thayer and Robert Thayer; two stepchildren, Patrick and James Whittle; and five grandchildren.

Lois Armington Thornton Tegarden, 85, widow of the Rev. William “Holly” Hollis Tegarden, died April 18, 2010. She earned a bachelor of science degree at Brown University, where she met her husband. While he was studying at Harvard Divinity School, she worked as a laboratory technician in the Public Health Department of Cambridge, MA. Lois also played second violin in the MIT symphony orchestra. They served churches in MA, ME and NJ. When her husband left the ministry to pursue a career in market research, Lois launched her own successful career in residential real estate. She was an accomplished and spirited sportswoman, who enjoyed playing tennis and was an avid sailor. Lois championed the cause of the mentally ill, taking courage from her personal experience with family illness. She was a sustaining member of the Junior League of NJ, a member of the Princeton Parents Association, and for 30 years an enthusiastic member of the Trinity Church Choir. She is survived by her three children: Deborah Armington Tegarden Bass, William Hollis Tegarden, Jr., and Pamela Adams Tegarden Allen and by three grandchildren.

The Rev. Hollis “Holly” Tegarden, 81, died in May, 2004. He served with Dana Greeley at Arlington St. Church in Boston, and churches in Marblehead, MA, and Portland, ME. His wife, Lois, said that the Unitarian Fellowship sent a beautiful ivy wreath, which was sent with his ashes into Narragansett Bay, RI.

Margret Taylor, 93, the widow of the Rev. Floyd James Taylor, died Jan. 11, 2006 in Norwalk, CT. A graduate of Simmons College, she worked for the Denison Company before marriage. Her life with Floyd included pastorates in Chelmsford, Plymouth, and Lexington, MA. They retired to Ormond Beach, FL, in 1968. During retirement, she learned Braille, transcribing books at home for the Blind. She was predeceased by her husband of 57 years in 1993 and by a son, James Floyd Taylor, in 2005, and is survived by a daughter, Marilyn Hannah; a brother; two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

The Rev. John A. Taylor, 79, died at home July 29, 2011 in State College, PA. He earned his BA from Oklahoma City University and his M.Div. from Boston University School of Theology. During seminary he served as Assistant to the Dean of Marsh Chapel at BU, Dr. Howard Thurman, who greatly influenced his ministry. Jack was first ordained as a Methodist minister but after four years transferred to the UUA. He served churches and student associations in Madison, WI; Amherst, MA; Urbana, IL; San Francisco; and Ithaca, NY. When he retired from Ithaca, after 25 years there, he was named minister emeritus and chaplain emeritus at Cornell University. From 1972-1996 Jack was heard each Sunday morning on radio station WHCU in Ithaca. His book The Unhurried Journey was published in 1991. He served on numerous boards ranging from Planned Parenthood to resettlement of Vietnamese refugees to marketing Foxdale Village, where he was living. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Barbara R. Taylor, their children, Scot R. Taylor and Lyn S. Kalnitz, and their spouses and two grandchildren.

Carolyn Ford Taylor, 74, wife of the Rev. Todd J. Taylor, died August 27, 2013 in hospice care in Taos, NM, after a lengthy illness.

She was woman with many interests and gifts. She operated an art gallery in Knoxville, TN for several years. After her children were grown, she had time to develop her own talents in fiber arts, jewelry making, weaving, music, creative writing and designing children’s “wearable art” clothing.

Carolyn earned an advanced degree in early childhood education and taught pre-school in private schools in Atlanta, GA. She also studied with Diane Stein, author of books on women’s rituals and healing. Carolyn became a Reiki Master, teaching students at home and abroad.

Over the years she led travel groups for church women, which inspired her to start her own travel company, “Women with Wings.” Collaborating with a larger tour company in California, she led groups of women on tours overseas to destinations including Spain, France, Thailand and India. She retired from the travel business in the spring of 2001 and moved to Taos, NM.

Carolyn is survived by her husband of forty years, three daughters from an earlier marriage: Jenifer Valingo, Georgia Atkinson and Michele Marcon; two stepsons, Wannie Taylor, Todd Eliot Taylor and a stepdaughter, Jenai Taylor; eight grandchildren, three great grandchildren; by her brother, Gerald J. Ford, and four nieces and two nephews.

Notes of remembrance may go to Todd Taylor, P.O. Box 658, Arroyo Seco, NM 87514.
With thanks to the Taos News.