The Rev. Robert L. “Rel” Davis

Rel Davis

The Rev. Robert L. (Rel) Davis, 75, died Nov. 1, 2011. A native of Gainesville, TX, he was the son of the first Baptist missionary to the Sioux. He graduated from Wayland University, Plainview, TX, and continued with graduate work at the University of Montana. He was ordained by the Unitarian Fellowship of South Florida and served as their minister for 30 years. Prior to that, he had served as assistant minister of the UU Church of Fort Lauderdale. Later in life he became interested in genealogy. He first published his father’s memoirs of some 400 pages, inserting not only photos into the text but also newspaper articles and other material. In recent years he had collected records on his family going back to the 1600’s. He also helped his wife, Edith Sloan, research her family and from this work they published two volumes of 750 pages. His latest hobby had been publishing books for family and friends. He used a POD publisher on the web via “Lulu.” He put in long hours and got good results. At the time of Rel’s death, he and Edith were planning to do further research on her family tree. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, a brother and a sister.

The Rev. Dr. Muriel A. Davies

Muriel Davies

The Rev. Dr. Muriel A. Davies, 103, died December 20, 2009. After leaving their native England, she and her husband, the Rev. A. Powell Davies, lived in ME, NJ, and Washington, DC. She was a founder of the River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda, where she was DRE for 11 years. She served as National Religious Education Consultant for the American Ethical Union and on the UUA Board of Trustees. In 2001 she was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Meadville Lombard. In 2006 she was ordained and named a minister emerita of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation. She was a founding member of the Sugarloaf Congregation of UUs in Germantown, MD. She was predeceased by husband and her daughter, Gwen Offenbacher, and is survived by her daughter, Bronwyn Gordon, four grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

Betty M. Curry

Betty M. Curry, 86, passed away unexpectedly October 19, 2008. She worked at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN, and later, at the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis, where she worked until her retirement. An active UU, she selflessly dedicated her life to the welfare of others and all creatures great and small. She was preceded in death by three sisters, a former husband of 27 years, the Rev. Vernon Curry. She is survived by a son, Mark Curry of Rochester and daughter, Lynne Morin of Minneapolis. Other survivors include nieces and nephews, as well as many loving friends. A memorial services was held October 23 at the Church of St. Edward Chapel Bloomington, MN. Fr. Michael Tegeder of St. Edward’s and the Rev. Kate Tucker of the First Universalist Church officiated.

Drusilla E. Cummins

Drusilla Cummins

Drusilla E. Cummins, 84, wife of the Rev. John Cummins, died Nov. 29, 2009. A graduate of Mt. Holyoke, Breadloaf School of English and Meadville Lombard, she was an English teacher and drama coach. A long-time advocate for equal rights for women, she served as president of the UUWF, trustee and first vice-moderator of the UUA; District Trustee for Prairie Star and Western Canada, and Meadville Lombard trustee and board chair. She enjoyed theater and symphony concerts. She is survived by her husband and their three children, Carol, Christopher and Clyde. In 1991, Dru and John Cummins received the Annual Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism, one of the most prestigious awards given by the UUA. In 2000 Dru was award UUWF’s Women in Ministry Award, which she had helped establish in 1974.

The Rev. Joseph Ira Craig

The Rev. Joseph Ira Craig, 82, died June 11, 2009. He was an aerial photographer in the US Army. Ordained a Methodist, he went on to serve Unitarian churches in Norton and Fitchburg, MA and Augusta, ME. He was a librarian at the Augusta Mental Health Institute for more than 20 years. A civil rights activist, he marched from Selma to Montgomery, AL and served on the Maine State Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights. He was a member of the Unitarian Historical Society, secretary of the Maine Unitarian Association, and on the Board of Directors of the NE District of the UUMA. He enjoyed reading, theology, history, painting, fencing, and music. He played viola in the Augusta Symphony for many years. Survivors include his daughter, Leslie Flores, and her husband, three stepsons and their spouses, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Alexander Lincoln Craig

Alec Craig

The Reverend Dr. Alexander Craig, public school educator and administrator, parish minister, gifted counselor, and dedicated servant of the human family, died on July 22, 2014, aged 76.

Alexander Lincoln Craig was born in Boston on October 22, 1937, to Emily and Edward Craig. Earning a B.Ed. in 1959 and an M.Ed. in 1961, both at Keene State College, he began a 28-year career as an educator, while completing work for an Ed.D. at Syracuse University in 1968. Focusing mainly on special education, he worked in public school administration, college teaching, residential care, and institutional care, serving school districts in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Leaving this career at age fifty to pursue interest in Unitarian Universalist ministry, Mr. Craig completed three years of study at Bangor Theological Seminary and was ordained by the First Universalist Church of Sangerville, Maine, in 1990. After two years of yoked interim ministry with that church and the nearby First Universalist Church of Dexter, he accepted a joint call to settle as their permanent minister and continued with them for another eight years. Moving on to Florida, the Rev. Mr. Craig served the UU Church of St. Petersburg as co-consulting minister (2001-05) and then the Spirit of Life Unitarian Universalists of Odessa as part time minister (2005-12), meanwhile returning to the St. Petersburg church as pastoral care minister (2009-12). He was named Minister Emeritus of both congregations in 2012, but stayed with the Odessa congregation as occasional preacher and pastor for two more years.

Alec Craig

In the Northeast District of the UUA, Alec Craig served as Chair of Extension and Chair of Adult Activities, Disaster Coordinator for the UU Service Committee, and liaison to students at Bangor Theological Seminary. Later he served terms as vice-president and president of Florida’s West Central Cluster of UU Congregations.

Volunteer community work was a central commitment of Mr. Craig’s life, as both educator and minister. In New England, he served as board member and president of the Charlotte White Center (supporting the mentally and physically challenged), on the Fund Raising Committee for Womancare (assisting victims of domestic abuse), and on the Dexter Regional High School Civil Rights team. He was a member of the Interfaith Alliance and the ACLU, worked for Habitat for Humanity, and taught safe driving courses for the AARP. In Florida, he worked part time for the Salvation Army.

Alec had a gift for pastoral care and is described by his wife, Penny, as a “humanitarian” who “enjoyed serving people.” She recalled particularly his devotion to end-of-life pastoral care: “He loved doing funerals, and loved visiting people in nursing homes and hospitals, holding their hands, and making sure their families felt like they were being heard.”

Alec Craig is survived by his wife, Penny Craig; son Geoffrey Craig, daughter Emily Kirk, granddaughters Allora Craig and Hannah Kirk, and brothers Duncan Craig and Edward Craig.

A Scottish Celebration of Life was held in October 2014 in Seminole, Florida, and a second Scottish Celebration of Life was slated for New Hampshire during the summer of 2015.

In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the American Lung Association, 55 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60601 (www.lung.org) and/or to your local hospice organization.

Notes of condolences may be sent to Penny Craig, 9053 Pinehurst Drive, Seminole, Florida 33777.

The Rev. Robert L. Cope

The Rev. Robert L. Cope, 81, died September 1, 2004 in Lebanon, NH. He served churches in Princeton, NJ; Henderson, New York City, and Buffalo, NY; and was a professor of religious education at St. Lawrence Theological School. After retiring from the ministry, he was a vice president of sales for a multi-media production company in New York City. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Bateman Cope of Quechee, VT; a son, Christopher R. Cope, of Hartford, CT; and s daughter, Catherine (Cope) Cavalier, of Boston.

The Rev. Max Alden Coots

Max Coots

The Rev. Max Alden Coots, 81, died in at home March 3, 2009 from lymphoma. He served congregations in New York City, Cortland, Canton and Central Square, NY. His longtime friend the Rev. Jack Taylor writes, “In the late 1980s, Max, whose chief avocation was gardening, shared a poem with his congregation as a Thanksgiving meditation. [His poem appeared in the November 2008 Elderberries.] It became a significant experience for thousands of families and individuals.” Max will also be remembered for his wit and his love of puns. He was a US Navy veteran and a graduate of Bucknell College and Columbia University. He was awarded a Doctor of Sacred Theology at Starr King School for the Ministry. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte Ramsay of Canton, three sons, a step-daughter, step-son, five grandchildren and six step-grandsons.

Susan Elizabeth Cooper

Henry and Susan Cooper

Susan Elizabeth Cooper, 90, widow of The Rev. Henry Cooper, died Oct. 17, 2012, In Burlington VT. She was born on Aug. 13, 1922, in Indianapolis, IN, to Ralph Stephenson and Mildred Hill Stephenson. The family lived in Alabama and Washington before settling in Michigan. Susan graduated from Grosse Pointe High School in 1940 and earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan in 1944.

On April 5, 1944, Susan married Henry Cooper following his return from work as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service in the Middle East. His service in the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army took them to bases in Colorado and Iowa. After the war, they moved to Chicago where Henry attended Meadville Theological School at the University of Chicago. His career as a Unitarian minister led them to parishes in eight communities in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Susan participated actively in church activities.

She taught school briefly and took graduate courses at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. Committed to issues of peace and social justice, she attended the 1963 civil rights march in Washington D.C., participated in the peace movement, and was member of a court diversion board in Springfield. After Henry’s death in 1984, she moved to Burlington where she was active in the Unitarian Universalist Society and the AAUW. She volunteered at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont and met with friends monthly to read plays aloud. During the last three years of her life she participated in a clinical research trial of a drug designed to alter the course of Alzheimer’s disease.

In March 2010, Susan found a peaceful home in the Gardenview unit at the Converse Home in Burlington. She was cared for by gentle, thoughtful people who appreciated her feisty personality, her quirky wit, her remarkable vocabulary, her knowledge of current and historical events, and her concern for the needs of other residents. She was no longer burdened by responsibilities, she was never lonely, and she was engaged in interesting activities. She lived joyfully in the moment, stopping to pick up a fallen leaf, to look at a flower, or to watch a butterfly. Her family is immensely grateful for the refuge which Converse Home provided.

Susan is survived by her daughter, Marga Sproul and her husband, Glenn, of South Burlington; her son, Paul Cooper and his wife, Rebecca Eaton, of Kennebunkport, ME; her daughter, Christine Cooper of Seattle, WA.; her son, Hal Cooper of Moscow, ID; and five grandchildren.

Notes of remembrance may go to Dr. Marga S. Sproul, G-8 Stonehedge Dr., S. Burlington, VT 05403.

The Rev. Dr. David H. Cole

David Cole

The Rev. Dr. David H. Cole, 90, died June 26, 2011 at home in hospice care, after a long illness. A native of Lynn, MA, he graduated from Tufts University and Crane School of Theology. He received an honorary doctorate from Meadville Lombard. He served congregations in MA, IL, MD, OH, CA and NY. He was named minister emeritus by the West Shore Unitarian Church of Rocky River, OH, when he retired there in 1986. A strong proponent of a world community, he was active in the UUSC and the IARF. He was an advocate for Palestinian issues and he helped found the Society for Community Ministries. He enjoyed sailing, carpentry, gardening, tennis, golf and playing bridge or cribbage. He liked meeting with the clergy study group in Sudbury, MA, the Fraters of the Wayside Inn. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Iska (Jurasek-Godsey) Cole and their seven children: Victoria, Steven, Linda, Karen, Cynthia, Kevin and Gloria.