Author: Duane Fickeisen

The Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Houff, dedicated parish minister, activist against war and racism, devoted husband, and lover of the farming life and land from his youth, died, aged 85, on 26 January 2014 in hospice care at the Rockwood South Hill retirement facility in Spokane where he and his late wife, Patty, had lived for several years.

Growing up in very modest circumstances on a Shenandoah Valley farm during the Great Depression, Bill could remember his boyhood allowance of one penny a month and the coming of electricity to his family’s farm as a memorable event. In a very conservative religious environment, he recalled that there was little display of family affection or emotion and that his father was “a man of few words.” At his graduation from an unaccredited high school, Bill began driving a local school bus, having no clear sense of direction for his life. But when he heard by chance about a state-wide competition for a four-year chemistry scholarship at the College of William & Mary in “far away” Williamsburg, a native curiosity and a sense of adventure led him to enter . . . and to win! Against the hope of his parents that he would inherit the farm, they reluctantly helped him pack up his modest belongings in the family Hudson and drove him 160 miles to his new college home. Bill plaintively recalled that the moment when his parents said goodbye and headed their Hudson west back across the Blue Ridge to their farm was the moment when he became an “orphan.” Years later he spoke to a future ministerial colleague of the pain he still felt for the despair of his parents, who were sure that their son’s adult religious path had doomed his soul to eternal hell.

Even after breaking away from his austere boyhood environment, moving on through eighteen years of study and work in the field of chemistry, and finally serving thirty-five years in Unitarian Universalist parish ministry, Bill never lost the sense of deep connection to the land and to the life of self-sufficient independence. When the opportunity came in his forties to recover some of his childhood pleasure in farming and carpentry, Bill acquired acreage near Spokane, which he named “Still Point Farm,” and on which he constructed, by his own hands, a main house and several other outbuildings—work and ownership in which he took great pride and joy.

William Harper Houff was born on 27 April 1928 near the village of New Hope, Virginia, the only son of Harper P. Houff and Anna Elizabeth Wilberger. He took a B.S. in chemistry with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the College of William and Mary in 1950, earning living expenses by working all four years as a waiter at the Travis House, one of the colonial-style restaurants operated by Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. Despite a strong academic record, he always said he learned more in his Travis House experience than in his college course work. A brief marriage during his undergraduate years ended when his wife Lucille returned to the New Hope area with their infant son, Konrad, never more to be a part of Bill’s life. Mr. Houff went on to Michigan State University for graduate study in chemistry, earning an M.S. in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1955. In Michigan he met and married Donna Hall, who became the mother of his second and third sons, Gregory and Robert.

Eschewing an academic career for the better-paying corporate world, Dr. Houff stayed on in Michigan for a first job out of school, but then took a new position in Albany, New York, where, driving around one day, he chanced upon a “Wayside Pulpit” sign in front of the local Unitarian church. Intrigued by its liberal message, after having had no church involvement since leaving home ten years earlier, he made some Sunday morning visits, quickly joined, and soon became an active lay leader. By the early 1960s, he had moved on to a research job with Shell Oil in the San Francisco Bay Area and to membership in the Mount Diablo UU church in Walnut Creek, where the ministerial leadership of the Rev. Aron Gilmartin and the proximity of a UU seminary led him toward serious interest in parish ministry. Mr. Houff earned his B.D. from Starr King School for the Ministry in 1964. Meanwhile his marriage to Donna ended in divorce.

Ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1964, the newly Rev. Mr. Houff served the UU Fellowship of Redwood City, California, from 1964 to 1968, the UU Church of Shoreline, Washington, from 1968-1973, and then the UU Church of Spokane, Washington, in his longest settlement from 1973 to 1988, during which the congregation’s membership doubled. It was in Spokane that Bill finally met his soul mate, Patricia “Patty” Meagher McTigue, to whom he was married for more than thirty-five years until her death in 2012. In retirement, Bill and Patty enjoyed world travel.

Leaving the Spokane congregation as Minister Emeritus at age sixty, Mr. Houff moved on to a series of interim ministries at the First UU Church of Winnipeg, Manitoba (1988-89), the UU Church of Greensboro in Jamestown, North Carolina (1989-90), the UU Congregation of Asheville, North Carolina (1990-91), the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, British Columbia (1991-93) and the University Unitarian Church of Seattle, Washington (1997-99), having along the way qualified himself as an Accredited Interim Minister in 1992.

Mr. Houff was also active with the wider Unitarian Universalist network and with his colleagues in the UUMA. In 1964-65 he served as president of the Bay Area Ministers Association and as chair of the Pacific Central District Personnel Committee, and from 1967 to 1970 he chaired the Student Affairs Committee at Starr King School. In the early 1970s he served as the Ministerial Settlement Representative for the Pacific Northwest District, in which role he so impressed the ministerial search committee of the Spokane church that, at their request, he resigned that position to become their candidate for the Spokane pulpit.

In his Spokane ministry, he began preaching about spiritual growth and mysticism in what he called a “theological metamorphosis”—not abandoning but expanding his earlier scientific humanism—a journey on which he became a frequent workshop leader for ministerial colleagues and laypeople over the years. It was as a theme speaker for the Eliot Institute in 1984 with the title “Through the Eye of the Needle: Toward Oneness” that he began thinking about putting these insights into writing. The resulting book, Infinity in Your Hand: A Guide for the Spiritually Curious (Melior Publications, 1989), was republished under the UUA’s Skinner House imprint in 1990 and was widely used for adult study in UU congregations.

Bill Houff had a deep and long-standing commitment to social justice, which he in time came to see in a profoundly spiritual perspective. Early in his ministry he joined a huge turnout of Unitarian Universalist ministers in traveling to Alabama for the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Later he marched in a San Francisco protest of the Vietnam War and the use of napalm on Vietnamese civilians. In 1984, at the Spokane church, Bill delivered a sermon titled, “Silent Holocaust,” in which he described life-threatening negligence in the nuclear industry. The sermon served as a catalyst for his founding and leadership of the Hanford Education Action League (HEAL), a grassroots nuclear concern group, focused especially on dangerous practices at the nearby Hanford nuclear facility.

In later years, Bill and Patty were both active in community activities and Bill was honored for his service as a volunteer chaplain for Hospice of Spokane. For a time they shared a home with Patty’s mother, making it possible for her to live out her years, to the age of nearly 100, in the daily embrace of family.

The Rev. Marvin Evans, a long-time friend, offers this perspective:

“Bill at the Unitarian Church of Spokane and Bill at the Still Point Farm were in a very real sense not the same Bill Houff. When he spoke from the pulpit at the church and when he spoke at the feed store in Newport, you were experiencing two very different versions of William Harper Houff. These two versions blended together made for one of the most interesting people I have ever known.”

Bill Houff is survived by sons Konrad Crist, and Gregory and Robert Houff, by grandchildren Torin, Marina, and Trevor, and by several stepchildren, one of whom, Patty’s daughter Kathleen McTigue, is also a UU minister. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Anna Lee, and his wife, Patty.

A memorial service for the Rev. Dr. William Houff was celebrated on February 12, 2014, at the Unitarian Church of Spokane. Memorial gifts may be made to the Inland Northwest Land Trust, 33 W. Main Ave. Spokane, Wash, 99201-1017. Notes of condolence may be sent in care of Greg Houff, 1002 Golden Hills Drive, Cheney, Wash. 99004.

[Editor’s note — Some of the material in this obituary is drawn from a memoir written by the Rev. Marvin D. Evans, one of Bill Houff’s closest and longest-time friends. Mr. Evans’ full memoir may be found at this link.]

Patricia Ann (McTigue) Houff, 81, died on September 16, 2012. Patty was born September 24, 1930. She was a life-long resident of Spokane, born as the first of three children to Mary and Tom Meagher. A graduate of Lewis and Clark High School and Stanford University, she worked as a fundraiser for Eastern Washington State College and as a residential realtor.

Patty was a persistent advocate for civic engagement and environmental preservation. She was active for many years with the League of Women Voters, the Spokane Mountaineers, the Spokane Unitarian Universalist Church, the Peace and Justice Action League and the Inland Northwest Land Trust, as well as many other civic associations. For nearly thirty years she was an active volunteer with the Dishman Hills Conservancy, and one of her proudest accomplishments was assisting in the creation of the “Dream Trail” in preservation of the Dishman Hills.

Patty was effective far beyond what her modesty admitted. She cultivated deep, enduring friendships; she was an exceptional mother and grandmother; and she was profoundly beloved.

Patty was married to James E. “Jim” McTigue for 21 years and the Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Houff for 36 years. She is survived by her husband, Bill Houff; her four children, Peggy McTigue, Kathleen McTIgue, Mike McTigue and Tom McTigue; sons-in-law David Miller and Nick Nyhart; three granddaughters, Hannah and Maris Nyhart and Annie McTigue; stepsons Greg and Rob Houff; her siblings Michael Meagher and Dr. Mary Meagher, sister-in-law Joan Meagher, niece Shannon Meagher and nephews Colin and Sean Meagher.

A Memorial Service in Patty’s honor was held on Friday, October 26, 2012, at 3:00pm at the Spokane Unitarian Universalist Church, 4340 W. Fort George Wright Drive, Spokane, WA 99224. Memorial gifts in Patty’s honor may be made to the Dishman Hills Conservancy for extension and preservation of the Dream Trail.

The Rev. Dr. Raymond Charles “Ray” Hopkins, a Universalist minister who worked tirelessly for Unitarian and Universalist consolidation and served the merged Unitarian Universalist movement in several capacities thereafter, died peacefully in his sleep, aged 93, at his home in Saco Maine, on April 21, 2013.

Deeply devoted to his liberal religious tradition and beyond, Ray Hopkins served on every merger-related committee from 1946 until AUA-UCA consolidation was finally formalized in 1961, when he was appointed executive vice president of the newly created Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), serving in that position until 1974. During these years he was heavily engaged in the anti-war, feminism, and civil right movements, and served briefly on the Executive Committee of the International Association for Religious Freedom in 1969. His work on consolidation and later tenure at the UUA offered him the opportunity to meet some of his heroes, including Albert Schweitzer, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Raymond Charles Hopkins was born in Danbury, CT on July 29, 1919 to Clarence and Mary Halstead Hopkins, and was raised in the Universalist church there. He began teaching Sunday school at age 15 and soon rose to local, statewide, and then national youth leadership positions. Drafted into the army as a conscientious objector in 1942 and honorably discharged with disability in 1944, Ray immediately began ministerial study at Tufts University. There he became a charter member of the Humiliati, a somewhat “maverick” but eventually influential group of Tufts students and recent alumni, who gathered in 1945 for study, fellowship, and Universalist renewal. Sometime after the group disbanded in 1954, Mr. Hopkins joined the Fraters of the Wayside Inn, an older study group of Universalist clergy on which the Humiliati had modeled their own organization.

Mr. Hopkins was graduated from Tufts with a B.A. in 1947 and S.T.B. in 1949. While still a student, he served ministries at Universalist churches in Canton (1944-45), Medford (1945-46), and Brockton, beginning the latter in 1946 and continuing on after graduation, where he was ordained in 1949 and served until 1961. In 1964, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Starr King School for the Ministry.

Ray Hopkins began a new chapter in 1974, when he became executive director of the Ferry Beach Park Association in Saco, Maine, providing that center for retreat and renewal with skillful leadership for ten years. (The image at right was taken there in 2012.) The Rev. Mr. Hopkins also served as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Saco & Biddeford from 1975 to 1984. He was honored with the title of Minister Emeritus upon his retirement in 1984.

A memorial service was planned to be held in the summer of 2013 at Ferry Beach. In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the Ferry Beach Park Association, 5 Morris Ave, Saco, Maine 04072.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Linda Hopkins at 8 Morris Ave., Saco, Maine 04072.

 The Rev. Barbara E. Hollerorth, 82, died April 14, 2009. A pastoral counselor and therapist, she studied sociology at the University of Iowa and University of Chicago before earning a master’s degree in theological studies from the Federated Theological Schools of the University of Chicago. She served with her husband, the Rev. Hugo J. Holleroth, as co-minister of education at the Union Church of Hinsdale, IL. She was serving the Lexington, MA church, when she created the well-known The Haunting House curriculum. She earned her D.Min.at Andover-Newton Theological School. She helped create the UU Pastoral Counseling Center of Greater Boston and became its first director. The Center provided a resource for UU ministers to refer parishioners for long-term therapy. She was a therapist at the Homophile Community Health Service and the Gender Identity Service. After retiring she studied photography and exhibited her work in the Boston area. Barbara is survived by her husband, and her daughters, Rachel Buerlen and Rebecca Hunter, and three grandchildren.

Rachel Thorpe Hoagland, 92, widow of the Rev. Robert S. Hoagland, died November 30, 2010. She was a lifelong Unitarian. Rachel attended the Rhode Island School of Design. She shared her talents by teaching art classes to neighborhood kids, by sewing her family’s clothes, running her business Individuality (custom-made clothes), and designing outfits for her beloved modern dance group. After Robert died, the adventurer in her came out. Her travels took her camping and canoeing throughout the US and Canada and cruising around the world. She lived vigorously and with immense curiosity and wonder. Rachel was a role model for her many friends and colleagues, young and old alike. She was preceded in death by her husband and their daughter, Martha Hoagland. She is survived by her other three children: Alice Erickson, Anna Hoagland and Evan Hoagland and their spouses; by five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

The Rev. Donald Manning Hinckley, 88, died October 13, 2008 in Augusta Maine. He served parishes in Waterville, Pittsfield, West Paris, Auburn, Houlton and Worcester, MA, and most recently All Souls UU Church, Oakland, ME. He played tennis into his 84th year and was a student of opera and classical music. His wife, Rosalyn (Ingalls) Hinckley of Augusta, ME survives, as does a daughter, son, grandson and four granddaughters.

The Rev. Stewart E. Hild, who devoted a life of service to parishes, local communities, and the wider UU movement, died on July 12, 2014 at the age of 90, after a brief illness.

Stewart E. Hild was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on March 3, 1924 to Edward and Grace Hild. He earned a B.S. degree at the University of Delaware in 1948 and an M.Div. degree at Drew University in 1951. He served in the Army Specialized Training Program during World War II.

Mr. Hild was ordained to the Methodist ministry in 1952 and served the Community Methodist Church in Massapequa, Long Island, from 1951 to 1956. After shifting to Unitarian ministerial fellowship in 1956, he filled two long pastorates, first at the Unitarian (now UU) Congregation of Franklin, New Hampshire (1958-75) and then at All Souls UU Church in Watertown, New York (1975-89), where he was named Minister Emeritus upon retirement in 1989.

The Rev. Mr. Hild served the larger UU movement in several capacities: on the board of the UUA’s New Hampshire/Vermont District, as chairman of that district’s Extension Department, and as Selma Presence Representative for the UUA.

During his parish ministries, Mr. Hild was actively devoted to the work of many local and regional agencies. While in Franklin, he served as vice president of the New Hampshire Council on World Affairs, co-chair of the Mayor’s Committee on Drugs and Drug Abuse, director of the Lakes Region Mental Health Association, and assistant at the Peabody Home for the Aged. In Watertown he served on the boards of the Family Counseling Service of Jefferson County, the Women’s Center of Jefferson County, Project Children North in Watertown, the Urban Mission, and as president of the Community Action Planning Council of Jefferson County.

Stewart enjoyed travel, reading, and sports. While living in New Hampshire, he taught several classes in the History of Religion at Proctor Academy.

He is survived by his wife, Alma H. Hild, sons Edward and Thomas, grandchildren Jared, Cora, and Wyatt, and many cousins.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Alma H. Hild, 274 Schley Drive, Watertown, NY 13601.

Jean L. Higgins, 85, wife of the Rev. Dr. Daniel G. Higgins, Jr., died January 9, 2014, with her family by her side. She was born August 4, 1928 in Baltimore, MD, to Eugene and Pearl Scheufele. She attended the University of Maryland, earning a degree in social work, and later served as a social worker in Baltimore. While at the university, she met Dan and they were married September 11, 1954. They were married 59 years.

The Higginses served congregations in Lubbock, TX; Malden, MA; Easton, MD; and Salisbury, MD. In addition to parenting and church work, Jean enjoyed reading and art appreciation. She also was a bird watcher.

After retiring in 1987, they moved to Georgia, to be closer to their daughters, Cynthia and Ann. Jean lived at a memory care facility and Cynthia took Dan to see her every other day, since he no longer drove.

In addition to her husband, Jean is survived by her sister, Leslie Everheart of Kensington, MD; and her children: Cynthia Westlake of Marietta, GA; Daniel G. Higgins III of Milton, MA; Ann Spicer of Atlanta, GA; and Kim Clark of Houston, TX. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Shane and Aubree Clark, Caitlin Higgins and Skyler Westlake. She was predeceased by her parents; her brother, R. Wayne Scheufele; and her grandson, Austen Westlake

Jean donated her body to medical research. A celebration of life was held this past summer in Easton, MD.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggested that donations be made to: Cure Alzheimer’s Fund (www.curealz.org), Anatomy Gifts Registry (www.anatomicgift.com), or the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Easton, 7401 Ocean Gateway, Easton, MD 21601.

Condolences may be sent to: Dan Higgins, 100 Whitlock Ave., Sullivan #1220, Marietta, GA 30064.

Margaret Hewett, 82, wife of the Rev. Phillip Hewett, died March 26, 2006 in Vancouver, BC. She was a birthright Unitarian in England, where she was national president of the Unitarian youth organization. A teacher and pre-school educator, she was active in peace, disarmament and international understanding, and received an outstanding service award from IARF. She was secretary to the board of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. She was a strong contralto, and also a vigorous hiker. For the last 25 years of her life she struggled courageously with the increasing ravages of rheumatoid arthritis. Margaret is survived by her husband of 55 years, two children and four grandchildren.

The Rev. Robert M. Hemstreet  — UU Humanist, creator of the Thanksgiving cider and cornbread communion, and lifelong searcher — died on February 11, 2015 at the age of 84.

Church life and work were early influences in Bob’s life. His grandfather was an Episcopal priest, with a ministry to the deaf. Mentored by a local Episcopal priest, Bob served as an altar boy in the church. But he was also was exposed at a young age to broader theological education, being raised in Canton, New York, where his grandmother rented rooms to students at the nearby St. Lawrence University Theological School. Ever curious and eager to learn, the story goes that young Bob spent many evenings with his ear pressed to a bedroom door, intently listening to the students’ theological discussions, all of which no doubt influenced his later religious journey.

Robert Merrill Hemstreet was born on May 25, 1930 to Albert B. and Beatrice Merrill Hemstreet. He earned a B.A. from New York University in 1952, and was drafted into the U.S. Army, receiving an honorable discharge in 1955. He went on to study at Crane Theological School of Tufts University, graduating with a M.Div. degree in 1964.

Ordained by the First Unitarian Church at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1964, he served there from 1964 to 1968. From 1969 to 1972 he served as Minister-at-Large to the Greater Wilmington Council of Unitarian Universalist Societies, ministering half-time to fellowships in West Chester, PA and Newark, DE. Moving to full time ministry in Newark from 1972 to 1975, he also served as weekend minister in York, PA in 1973-74. He went on to serve as minister to the UU Church of Flushing, NY from 1976 to 1995, where he was elected Minister Emeritus in 1999.

Always active within the wider community and UU movement, he served as President of three UUMA Chapters (St. Lawrence, Joseph Priestley, and Metro NY), member of the Board of the Metro NY District, Trustee of the St. Lawrence Foundation for Theological Education, and member of the Flushing Interfaith Clergy Group. He founded and was elected President (1988) of Unitarian Universalists for Socialism, and was a faithful attendee at the annual Institute for Religion in an Age of Science at Star Island. The Thanksgiving Cornbread and Cider Communion that he wrote has been widely anthologized and is now a feature of many UU congregations across the continent.

Bob got his start in the anti-racist and socialist movements in his mid-teens, as a follower of C.L.R. James, an activist and author from Trinidad and Tobago, remaining an activist for the disenfranchised for his whole life. When the call came from Dr. Martin Luther King in 1965 for clergy to go to Selma, a former congregant of Bob’s felt it was so important for him to go that he emptied the cash register in the store he owned and gave Bob the $300 — Bob answered the call.

He was also dedicated to bettering his community and the world as an active member of the International Association for Religious Freedom, serving as the IARF American Chapter President from 1981 to 1984, and traveling to Europe several times.

Closer to home, he founded the original Queens chapter of Amnesty International during the 1970s, and served on the boards of the Queens Historical Society, the Queens Council of Churches, and the Queens Network for Intergroup Harmony.

Olav Nieuwejaar remembers Bob as “a wonderful man with a keen intellect and a great sense of humor, especially in the form of a practical joke.” Once, in an attempt to prove the uselessness of the self-proctored psychology test then used by the UUA for screening prospective ministers, he and some fellow Crane students together took the test as one person, creating a character with a real name but a totally fictionalized history. Olav recalls, “…before very long, the test was removed from the list of hoops we had to jump through and the Department [of Ministry] got serious about psychological screening.”

Bob’s interests were deeply embedded in his work. He found joy within social justice work and preaching; was an avid article-clipper; and appreciated reading, writing, and music. His wife Wendy remembers Bob as one who was “always searching,” even in his final days.

He is survived by his wife, Wendy Moscow, to whom notes of condolence may be sent at 25-18 Union Street, #5E, Flushing, NY 11354. His memorial service was held on March 21, 2015 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens. Contributions in his memory are encouraged to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, 689 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA  02139-3302 (http://www.uusc.org).