The Rev. Arthur Jellis, 80, died May 28, 2004 of a cerebral aneurysm. He served congregations in Northborough, Concord, and Grafton, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Rockville and Lutherville, MD; Houston, TX; and Ottawa, ON. Survivors include five children: Julie Anne Medjanis of Harvard, MA; Jennifer J. Burke of Ayer, MA; Cassandra J. Werthman of Jackson, TN; Joshua C. Jellis of Freeport, ME; and Susan J. Veligor of Portland, ME; four stepchildren; eight grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; a brother, Leonard Jellis of Peabody; and a sister, Christiana E. (Betty) Kirkland of Concord, MA.
Author: Duane Fickeisen
The Rev. William Richard Jacobsen
The Rev. William Richard Jacobsen, 74, died Nov. 2, 2006. As a teenager, Bill began studying to become a Lutheran Minister, and graduated from Concordia College. By then he had found the Unitarian tradition and attended Meadville Lombard. He served churches in Brooklyn, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, Canton, MA, and Bloomington, IL; and Palo Alto, CA. He was executive director of the Humanist Community in Palo Alto. Bill had a keen sense of humor, a true joy for life, and an ongoing enthusiasm for knowledge. He was an avid reader and enjoyed sharing his extensive knowledge. He was a gifted speaker. Bill believed in social change as a way to benefit all of humanity. He loved nature and hiked all over the Bay Area. He was particularly fond of Mount Montara in Pacifica. He is survived by his children, Juli Jacobsen of San Lorenzo and Eric Jacobsen of Pacifica; and by his former wife and dear friend, Dianne Jacobsen, of Palo Alto. A memorial service was held Nov. 19, 2006 at the UU Church, in Palo Alto.
The Rev. Donald J. Jacobsen, Sr.
The Rev. Donald J. Jacobsen, Sr., 85, died on January 6, 2013. Rev. Jacobsen was born in Brooklyn, NY on November 17, 1927 to Mina and Frederick Jacobsen. He attained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hamilton College in 1950. In 1952, he went on to earn a Master of Arts from Columbia University. Finally, he received his Master of Divinity from St. Lawrence Theological School in 1955.
Rev. Jacobsen was ordained at the Unitarian Church of Fort Worth, TX on October 18, 1955. He was first called to serve the Unitarian Church of Fort Worth in 1955 and he stayed there until 1957. From 1962-1965, he served the Neighborhood Church of Pasadena, CA as their Minister of Education. He was then called to the First Universalist Society of Chicago, IL and served as their minister from 1954-1970. Lastly, from 1970 until his retirement in 1987, he served as Minister of Education to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, GA.
Proudly dedicated to the denomination, Rev. Jacobsen was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers’ Association (UUMA), the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation (UUWF), the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), and the friends of Religious Humanism FRH). He also served as Chairman of the Social Responsibility Committee of the Central Midwest District.
Throughout his life, Rev. Jacobsen played an active role in the civil rights struggle. He worked as a volunteer with the NAACP and the American Friends Service Committee Job Opportunities Program; and served as the Chicago Area Coordinator for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He was also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Abortion Rights Action League.
In addition to his ministerial career, Rev. Jacobsen taught elementary school, worked in psychiatric hospitals, and served in the Hospital Corps of the United States Navy.
In an autobiographical piece entitled, “Religious Odyssey,” Rev. Jacobsen writes:
What is important for me religiously is intelligent caring concern – attempting to love more fully and more helpfully to empower others to fulfill themselves, and to attempt to find ways where this kind of caring becomes more of a force in our congregation, in our community, in our nation, and in our world.
Rev. Jacobsen is survived by his wife, Ann Ehrlich; daughter, Karen Jacobsen-Mispagel; son, James Jacobsen; and grandchildren, Heather Mispagel Ganio, Benjamin Mispagel, and Elizabeth Jacobsen. His son, Donald Jacobsen, Jr., predeceased him.
A memorial service was planned for Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, 1911 Cliff Valley Way NE, Atlanta, GA 30329.
Notes of condolence may be sent to Dr. Karen Jacobsen-Mispagel at 1120 Cherokee Circle, Athens, GA 30606.
The Rev. John Branch Isom
The Rev. John Branch Isom, 94, died April 23, 2004 following complications from surgery for a broken hip. He served congregations in Louisville, KY; Wichita, KS; and Des Moines, IA; and as an US Army chaplain during World War II. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Elien Newsome Isom; two daughters, Rose E. Bowser; Mary Elizabeth Isom; two granddaughters; and a sister Annabelle Garrison.
The Rev. Dr. Mwalimu Imara
The Reverend Dr. Mwalimu Imara—UU parish minister and Episcopal priest, distinguished academic, pastoral counselor and hospice chaplain, teacher, mentor, and activist for racial justice—died on 6 October 2015, aged 85.
Mwalimu Imara was born Renford G. Gaines on 21 April 1930 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the only child of Blanche Irene Allen and Cyril Gomez. Moving to Montréal with his family at the age of 5, he was raised in the Episcopal Church, served as an acolyte for many years. and developed a close and formative relationship with church elders who were instrumental in guiding his faith and infusing him with a deep and personal spirituality. After graduation at the top of his class from the High School of Montréal in 1947. Mr. Gaines worked in the printing industry for six years before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1953, where he met his spiritual soulmate, Saburi, whom he married in 1960. With her support he was able to pursue his education full-time. He earned a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 1964 and, despite his Anglican background, chose Meadville Lombard Theological School for further study, taking a D.Min. there in 1968.
While in seminary, Mr. Gaines worked closely with Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, eventually publishing widely in the area of death, dying, and bereavement, as well as lecturing and leading workshops on health and religion, meditation, bereavement, counseling the seriously ill, and exploring the spiritual foundations of counseling, and working in these fields with the University of Illinois, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University Psychological Counseling Center, and the (Kübler) Ross Medical Associates.
“Rennie” was one of four black seminarians to attend an emergency conference called by the Rev. Homer Jack in 1967 in response to widespread racial riots and protests. This pivotal gathering led to his continued activity in the UUA’s ensuing Black Empowerment Controversy. He was a member of the Black Affairs Council and the Greater Boston Black UU Caucus.
Mr. Gaines was ordained in 1968 by the UU Church of Urbana, Illinois, where he served for two years as senior minister before accepting a call in 1970 as senior minister of Boston’s Arlington Street Church. It was during his turbulent and controversial four-year ministry there that he and his wife moved more strongly to reclaim their African heritage and he adopted the name Mwalimu Imara. In 1974, he began to shift his working focus to community ministry and was voted Minister-at-Large to the Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Churches (now the UU Urban Ministries). That same year he founded the Boston Center for Religion & Psychotherapy, serving as its Executive Director until 1979. In recognition of that work, he was named a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors in 1975. Dr. Imara moved on to create a hospice program at the Methodist Hospital of Indiana in 1979, where he served as director, program developer, trainer, and pastoral counselor until 1982. During these years he was drawn back to his Anglican roots and was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in the Indianapolis Diocese.
The Rev. Dr. Imara’s academic career was extensive. From 1978 to 2009 he served on the faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, conducting post-graduate training programs, teaching organizational methods, and leading workshops on grief and loss. From 1983 to 1988 he chaired the Department of Counseling Services and directed the program in Human Values in Medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta with joint professorial appointments in the Human Behavior in the Department of Psychiatry and the Family Medicine Department, including service as institutional chaplain. He continued service in the Episcopal priesthood during his academic career, serving as Priest-in-Charge at St. Stephens’ Episcopal Church in Griffin, Georgia, from 1984 to 1991.
Of the motivation for his life’s work, Dr. Imara, wrote:
“My interest in ‘spiritual intelligence’ is directly connected to my efforts to communicate my transcendent experiences, especially those experiences connected to my working with terminally-ill persons and their families.”
Mwalimu Imara was instrumental in adopting the principles of Maulana (Ron) Karenga’s Nguzo Saba, the seven principles of Kwanzaa. He was a revolutionary leader in the Kazana extended family of Philadelphia, and led his family and community in special celebrations for birthdays, Kwanzaa, births, and deaths.
His daughter Sala Hilaire calls her father “the greatest man I ever met. He was able to meet people where they were at. He was able to sit down with someone and make them feel like they were the most important person in the world.”
Mwalimu Imara is survived by his wife, Saburi, children Sala Hilaire, Hiari Imara, and Akosua Davis, grandchildren Kidist Getnet, Aminah Hilaire, Nzinga Davis, Emeka Davis, Ashe Davis, Amirah Jabbie, and Kabiyesi Davis, nephews Michael Van Smith and Marcus Smith, sister-in-law, Nia Latimore, cousins Bobbie and Charles Pearson, and countless friends and loved ones.
A Celebration of the Rev. Dr. Imara’s life was held on 13 October 2015 at Atlanta’s Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip.
Memorial donations are encouraged to the Imara Center’s Mwalimu IPD Mentorship Program. The Imara Center LLC is a behavioral health agency that provides quality behavioral health services and utilizes a trauma informed approach to empower individuals and their communities. The Mwalimu Imara IPD program provides mentorship to youths in the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The program was created in 2015 as a tribute to Dr. Imara. Please make checks payable to the Imara Center, with “Mwalimu IPD Mentorship Program” in the memo line, and mail checks to The Imara Center, LLC, 3915 Cascade Road, SW, Suite 205, Atlanta, GA 30331.
Condolences may be sent to Saburi Imara, 4550 Orkney Lane SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30331.
The Rev. Kenneth R. Hutchinson
The Rev. Kenneth R. Hutchinson, 95, died April 21, 2005. He served congregations in Edwards, NY; La Crescenta, Pasadena, and Santa Monica, CA; Brattleboro, VT; Dexter, ME; and Cincinnati, OH. Upon his retirement in 1979, the UU Church of the Verdugo Hills in La Crescenta named him minister emeritus. He is survived by his son Stanley of Temecula, CA, and a daughter, Kimberley. He was predeceased by his wife, Pearl Knott Hutchinson, in 2004.
The Rev. Dr. James D. Hunt
James Hunt
The Rev. Dr. James D. Hunt, 79, died January 12, 2011. He was a graduate of Tufts, Boston and Syracuse Universities. His first career was as a Universalist minister. The parts of being a minister he liked the best were studying and preaching. This led him to pursue a second career in teaching. He was a professor of ethics and religion at Shaw University, Raleigh, NC for nearly 30 years. His first major publication was a comparison of the lives of Martin Luther King and Mohandas K. Gandhi. He went on to write about the early life of Gandhi, an interest which culminated in the publication of four books. Jim had a passion for fairness and justice. He worked with Amnesty International, ACLU, Witness for Peace, Peace Action, CITCA, People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, and CORE. A devoted family man, Jim found time to enjoy cycling, reading, hiking, folk dancing, playing the recorder, singing and traveling. He is survived by his wife, his children, their partners and grandchildren.
Carolyn Chance Howlett
Carolyn Howlett
Carolyn Chance Howlett, 89, widow of the Rev. Duncan Howlett, died Sept. 29, 2004 in Fryeburg, ME. She was one of only three females in her class at Yale Law School in 1938. She practiced law in New York City until she married. She was the first woman president of the International Association for Religious Freedom, making a number of trips including communist countries in Eastern Europe. She was honored for this with an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago. She was active in community affairs in Center Lovell, ME. Her husband of 60 years died in 2003. She is survived by a brother, R. Robinson Chance; four children, Susan Hasty of Portland, ME; Albert of Falls Church, VA, Richard of Burke, VA, and Carolyn ‘Lynn’ Korth of Center Lovell, ME; 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
The Rev. Dr. Charles A. Howe
Charles Howe
The Rev. Dr. Charles A. Howe, 88, died August 10, 2010. He earned an AB in chemistry at UNC, Chapel Hill. He served in the US Marine Corps, then returned to UNC to earn his MA & PhD in chemistry. He worked for Merck and then taught at Clarkson College in Potsdam, NY. There the Howes became active members of the Universalist Church in Canton, NY. He went on to earn his BDiv at Meadville Lombard, which later awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. He served churches in TX, NY, NC. He was named minister emeritus by the Wilmington, NC church. He was interim minister for churches in VA, NY and FL. After his retirement, he was a member of the Chapel Hill and Raleigh, NC congregations. He served on the Commission on Appraisal and was a member of the UU Historical Society. He wrote a number of books, including The Larger Faith: A Short History of American Universalism. He was a lifelong advocate for social justice. He is survived by his wife, Ann Howe, his children, Judith Louise Howe and Marjorie Ann Howe Chenery (and their spouses) and David Darrow Howe and four granddaughters.
The Rev. Stephen Davies Howard
The Rev. Stephen Davies Howard, 78, died July 15, 2009, in hospice care, following a brief illness. Born in western Massachusetts, he was educated at American International College and Harvard Divinity School. He served churches in MA, then worked as an interim consultant for more than 18 UU churches. He was recently honored by the UUA for his 50 years of service. Stephen delivered his last sermon to his congregation in Palmer, MA on June 21, Father’s Day. His family says he was an avid reader, writer and outdoor enthusiast. He enjoyed local libraries, bookstores, and loved the beauty of the local countryside. Throughout his years, he enjoyed hiking with his dogs at Highland Pond, Notch Mountain, and the Warwick Swamp. He was inspired by reading the writings of Thoreau, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson. An ardent football fan, he followed Greenfield High School, local college and Patriots games. More than anything else, he said he loved having time with his grandchildren. He is survived by his wife, Ann, to whom he was married for 50 years, their three children, Catherine Howard Nicholas, Elisabeth Davies Howard, Matthew Anson Howard and his wife, by five grandchildren, and his brother and sister-in-law, and a nephew and a niece.