Ann Warren Wheat

Ann Warren Wheat, 80, wife of the Rev. Donald H. Wheat, died Sept. 14, 2015 in South Haven, MI. Born on Jan. 31, 1935 in Leipsic, OH, she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Theo Warren. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1957, the same year she married Don Wheat. They lived in Rensselaer, IN, and then for more than 50 years in the communities of Austin and Oak Park, IL.

Ann studied at the American Conservatory of Music and taught piano to Oak Parkers for 40 years. She was also a longtime community volunteer with the League of Women Voters, the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association, and Chicago’s Third Unitarian Church.

She formerly lived in Oak Park and Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and more recently South Haven, MI. She retired to South Haven in 2013 and most recently volunteered with the American Association of University Women and the South Haven Performance Series. She loved swimming, birds, the outdoors, and sharing her love of nature with her many friends, her children, and her grandsons.

“Ann was a role model for love of family, friends, children, adults, and humanity in general, and also for grace in aging and dying,” said fellow piano teacher Betsy Davis. “She will be both missed and celebrated.”

Ann Wheat is survived by her husband, Don; her children, Mark (Montse), Andrew (Julia) and Sarah (Tim); her grandsons, Micah, Emerson, Nicholas, Foster and Cormac; and her siblings, Kathy and Bill.

A memorial service was held at Third Unitarian Church in Chicago on Sept. 19. Long-time family friends, the Rev. Fred Muir of Annapolis and the Rev. Kent Matthies of Philadelphia officiated.

The service included a Schubert Impromptu, a Chopin Etude, a selection from Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” and the hymns “All Creatures Great and Small,” and “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”

Donations may be made in Ann’s memory to the Sarett Nature Center, www.sarett.com or Alliance for the Great Lakes, www.greatlakes.org, or to PING to promote Oak Park music education, www.sites.google.com/site/pingoprf.

Arrangements were handled by Filibrandt Family Funeral Home at 269-637-0333 and www.filbrandtffh.com.

Condolences may be sent to Don Wheat, 77338 Pinewood Ln., South Haven, MI 29090.

The Rev. Maurice W. Cobb

Maurice Cobb

The Reverend Maurice W. Cobb of West Newfield, Maine — parish minister, religious educator, dedicated community social activist for justice and humanitarian causes, and DIY house builder — died in the Southern Maine Medical Center on 10 September 2015, aged 97.

The mainstay of his ministry was social action. His politics were as liberal as his theology, and ethics for him were situational. His friends attest to his giving and tolerant spirit; he was warm and witty, yet probing and perceptive. During his ministry in Brunswick, if anyone wanted access to help or services that were hard to come by, Maurice was known to be the one with the cosmic connection. He worked with those who back then were not well served by the system. Up until the day of his death he was aware that they are still with us, and they were in his thoughts.

Maurice Wendell Cobb was born on 4 March 1918 in Winchester, New Hampshire, but was raised in Brattleboro, Vermont, by his parents Richard Cobb and Lelia Lampson Cobb. His lifelong love of rural living began as he worked every summer on his grandfather’s farm — making hay, hitching up the horses to go to town, and bringing the cows home in the afternoon. Cold water in a tin cup was always Maurice’s favorite drink.

Mr. Cobb studied at the Crane Theological School of Tufts University and was ordained in 1943 at the White Street Universalist Church in East Boston, Massachusetts, where he had served as student minister the previous year and continued for an additional year. In 1944 he accepted a call to a yoked ministry with three churches in North Carolina’s Clinton Circuit — Hopewell, Clinton, and Red Hill — where he served until 1948. He took on an interim ministry in Derby Line, Vermont, in 1949, meanwhile studying for an M.A. in philosophy at the University of North Carolina, which he completed in 1953. Subsequent calls were to Attica-Belleville, Ohio (1953-57), Dolgeville and Salisbury Center, New York (1957-64), and Brunswick, Maine (1964-76).

The move to Brunswick in 1964 began a 12 year ministry, during which the Rev. Mr. Cobb helped the congregation grow and diversify, reaching out into the community with the social action organizations that meant so much to him: a suicide prevention program, the Bath-Brunswick food coop, and an Amnesty International group. Often at the head of a parade down Maine Street, he protested the wars and racial injustices of the era.

Leaving Brunswick in 1976, he went to New Bedford, Massachusetts, as assistant minister and religious education director (1976-79), and then to Billerica, Mass, as parish minister (1979-83), from which he retired in 1983 as Minister Emeritus. Returning to Maine, Maurice took a course in house design and construction at the Shelter Institute in Bath to prepare himself to build the only house he ever owned with the help of the Log Cabin Kits, in West Newfield. The construction was an adventure he never tired of retelling, and he dearly loved his home. There he remained for the rest of his life, interrupting his retirement just once for a part-time ministry to the nearby Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church (1998-2000).

Maurice Cobb

Throughout his retirement he continued his life work, lending support to Peace Action Maine, Amnesty International, Native American advocacy, and AARP. Gardening, letter writing, and the Red Sox were the relaxing pursuits of a long happy retirement. “He was deeply at peace with himself,” affirms one of his nieces.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Martha Gottlieb: 93 Head Tide Road, Whitefield, Maine 04353, brother Lawrence Cobb, or niece Llynda Bigalow, both of the latter at 77 Cedar Ridge Drive, Shelburne, Vermont 05482.

A memorial service was held in Sanford, Maine at the Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church on 24 October 2015. Memorial donations are encouraged to the charity of the donor’s choosing.

The Rev. Matthew McNaught

The Reverend Matthew McNaught — pastor, teacher, scholar, and religious pilgrim — died on 23 August 2015, aged 77.

Matthew absorbed a love of spirituality and liturgy from his grandmother, and later he preached on “the strangely formative influence of his early childhood where the singing of simple hymns created a lasting effect on [my] life and adult experience.” But he found the dour theology of Scottish Presbyterians rather less appealing. Restlessness led him first to England, to priesthood in the Anglican Church, and then to America, where he found his final professional home in Unitarian Universalist ministry. The Rev. John Manwell remembers him as “always a gracious colleague [with] a reputation both for faithful pastoral ministry and for thoughtful scholarship.”

Love of his native Scotland never left Matthew. Shortly after arriving in America, Matthew found his new city of Pittsburgh to have “a lot in common” with his native Glasgow: “Lots of steel, lots of character, lots of Presbyterians and some perfectly beautiful hills around the city.” Members of the Towson UU Church fondly recall the Scotland tour that Matthew led for them. His Scottish roots were remembered at his memorial service at the Towson church with the traditional “Skye Board Song.”

Mr. McNaught was passionate about adult religious education, and he helped build strong and vibrant programs within the congregations that he served. In the late 1990s, he lectured at John Hopkins University on “The History of Liberal Protestantism,” and on “The Interface of Religion and Psychology.” He also led seminars on “The Quest of the Historical Jesus” and “The Theology of Soren Kierkegaard,” among many others.

Matthew McDonald McNaught was born in Glasgow on 15 November 1937. After military service, during which he joined the Anglican Church, he took a B.A. at Oxford University in 1962 and a Diploma in Theology from Wells Theological College in 1964, receiving ordination the same year. He served two Anglican parishes over the next few years, meanwhile earning an M.A. from Oxford in 1967. Now married to Anna Bennett, whom he had met as an American student in Glasgow, he moved with her to Pennsylvania and served briefly (1969-71?) as rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in the Fields in Gibsonia (near Pittsburgh) as well as on the Board of Examining Chaplains of the Pittsburgh diocese, ironically all the while “struggling with his vocation” and eventually renouncing his Anglican orders.

With brief study at Meadville Lombard Theological School, the Rev. Mr. McNaught received ministerial fellowship with the UUA in 1972 and began a year of interim parish service at the Redhill Universalist Church of Clinton, NC. Accepting a call the next year to the Community Church (UU) of New Orleans, he was ordained again, now under UU auspices, and continued as their minister until 1979. Subsequent calls led to ministries at the First Unitarian Church of Austin, Texas (1979-88) and the Towson UU Church, Lutherville, Maryland (1988-98). There he was named Minister Emeritus upon early retirement, after which he pursued interim ministries: the UU Church of Fort Lauderdale (1998-99); King’s Chapel in Boston (1999-2001); the Unitarian Society of Germantown (Philadelphia, 2001-02); the Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River (Chestertown, Maryland, 2002-04); and the UU Congregation of Sterling, Virginia (2005-07).

During his parish ministries Matthew McNaught served the UUA and UUMA in various capacities. He was program director of the Southwest UU Summer Institute in 1979; secretary of the Southwest UUMA chapter in 1981 and its president in 1982-83; member of the UUMA’s Committee on Continuing Education in 1988; and Minister in Residence at the 1993 Star Island Arts Conference. Community service included chaplaincy at the Orleans Parish Prison (1977-78) and the Bastrop Federal Corrections Institution (1983-86); Unit Chair of the League of Women Voters (1977-79); and Chair of the Community Advisory Councils for New Orleans Public Schools in 1979. In Maryland, Matthew served as President of the Maryland CRC and President of the Towson Ministers Association. He worked with Maryland Against Handguns and cofounded the Maryland Interfaith Conference on Affordable Housing.

Matthew outlived a son Douglas, who died of colon cancer. He is survived by his wife, Anna Bennett McNaught, and a son, Mark Bennett McNaught.

A memorial service was conducted by the Rev. Clare Petersberger at the Towson UU Church on 14 September 2015.

Memorial contributions are encouraged to Smile Train, an international children’s charity that offers cleft lip and palate surgery to children in developing countries. This charity has enabled doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free surgery in their local communities.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Anna McNaught, 742 East Lake Ave, Baltimore, Maryland 21212; or to Mark McNaught, 15 Residence Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, 35000 Rennes, France.

Robin Holzbach Slater

Robin Slater

Robin Holzbach Slater, wife of Reverend Robert S. Slater, died peacefully at home on August 21, 2015. She was born October 7, 1925 in Newport News Virginia into a family long associated with the Newport News Shipping and Drydock Company.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University and taking graduate courses at William and Mary, Robin taught both public and private elementary and middle schools. She was also an instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Baltimore, where Bob Slater was another teacher. They discovered that they shared common interests not only in music and dancing but also in parapsychology, including telepathy and reincarnation. They were married on November 2, 1950.

After Bob became a UU minister, Robin became and remained an active partner in that ministry — teaching Sunday school, working at church fairs, and even preaching a sermon on one occasion.

Robin greatly loved her family, fellow church members, and her students; and was a wonderful friend — both to people and animals. She especially sought to reach out to others who, like her, had suffered from mental illness. She worked to make her family’s home a place that was beautiful, artistic and filled with love, and they attest to her success. With Bob to help her, she courageously endured over 20 years of Alzheimer’s disease and continued to be a part of her community and to be the light of her family’s life.

Notes of condolence can be sent to Tracy Slater at 151 Tremont St 25G, Boston, MA 02111. The family suggests that memorial gifts could be directed to any local humane society, or group that works to reduce animal suffering.

The Rev. Christine Hillman

The Reverend Christine Hillman — student, teacher, mentor, lover of learning, religious educator, chaplain, preacher, feminist, Facebook frequenter, Canadian curling enthusiast, social justice promoter, and “a colleague’s colleague”—died peacefully from colon cancer on August 7, 2015, in Royal Oak, Michigan. She was 65.

Christine was curious, studious, and truly learned; conscientious, with a soul that ached at injustice; courageous and empathetic, having been schooled in the heartbreak of her own losses; kind, encouraging, and generous of heart and mind. The Rev. Richard Nugent declared, “Ministry was in . . . [her] blood years before her ordination.”

Christine Edith Morr, born in Kokomo, Indiana, 29 September 1949, was the eldest child of Melba and Eugene Morr. Initially drawn to nursing, Christine discovered she was meant to teach. Following marriage to Arthur Hillman, and the arrival of their children, Christine brought her passion as an educator to motherhood, raising three “teacher’s kids.” As a UU religious educator she led Renaissance Modules, was a trainer for the “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” thealogy curriculum, and served on the RE Committee of the UUA’s Michigan District. She also worked as a chaplain and adjunct professor before earning her M.Div. in 1999 at age 50. Thereafter, as a parish minister, Christine served the UU Church of Olinda (Ruthven, Ontario) from 2001 until her death. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Unitarian Council, and she chaired the Council’s Theological Education Funds Committee.

Christine is survived by her husband, Arthur Hillman, daughters Courtney, Lee, and Blythe Wood; granddaughters, Kaylee and Anaka Wood; sisters, Anne Morr and Susan Bienz; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial services were held at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church, Southfield, Michigan and the UU Church of Olinda, Ruthven, Ontario.

The Rev. Dr. John Alexie “Lex” Crane

Lex Crane

The Reverend Dr. John Alexie “Lex” Crane — long-time parish minister, social activist, and mentor to aspiring colleagues — whose dry and acerbic wit complemented a persona at once gentle and curmudgeonly, died on August 7, 2015, at the age of 93.

Lex was a voracious reader, a talented writer, and an impressive polymath. His children fondly recall his intelligence; his son, Jack, writes: “He developed a love of study, stayed abreast of thinking in literature, the arts, liberal theology, philosophy, and social sciences. This passion coupled with his oratorical skills, made Lex unusually able to communicate the big ideas to folk who didn’t have the leisure or luxury of regular study.” These wide-ranging interests led Lex and his wife Ginny to travel throughout the world, venturing to Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Especially memorable was a semester in China with Santa Barbara City College in 1989, where they witnessed the student protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Lex Crane

The Rev. Mr. Crane became a minor celebrity in 1962 when the fear-mongering agenda of the John Birch Society (then recently founded) came to his attention, and he responded with a prophetic sermon against the organization’s ideology and activities. Shortly thereafter Santa Barbara’s local newspaper ran a special edition with a front page anti-Birch editorial and a reprint of Mr. Crane’s sermon text on the inside. The Associated Press picked up the story, and a CBS-TV crew with newsman Harry Reasoner showed up to film Lex redelivering his sermon from the Santa Barbara pulpit. Although pro-Birch vandals spray-painted a hammer and sickle on the church’s exterior and threw rotten vegetables at the parsonage, the episode eventually contributed to crippling the Birchers’ influence across the country. For his role, John Alexie Crane was awarded an honorary doctorate by Starr King School for the Ministry. His sermon text closed with a reflection of notable empathy:

“We ought to try not to hate them [local Birch activists], be disgusted with them, shout and snarl at them, for this will only drive them deeper into their relation with the group, for there they will find acceptance and confirmation. We ought to be as patient as we can, realizing that the people are doing what they feel they must do. They are as much to be pitied as censured. They are terribly frightened. Everywhere they look they see Communists. They don’t know whom to trust, to depend on. Don’t condemn them. Don’t threaten them. Let them talk about their views. Question them closely. Sometimes just hearing their own words spoken in the presence of someone who is calm and rational will help them to feel their absurdity. Be patient. Be firm. This too will pass, if we are alert and watchful.”

John Alexie Crane was born in Baltimore on January 14, 1922 to John A. and Minnie E. Crane. He was graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1939 and served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945 in both the South Pacific and Europe, suffering severe wounds during the Battle of the Bulge. He returned to earn a B.A. in English in 1949, an M.A. in creative writing in 1950 from Johns Hopkins University, an M.Div. from Starr King School for the Ministry in 1951, and—midway through a long pastorate in Santa Barbara—a second M.A. (in social psychology) from the University of California in 1971, leading to his licensure as a California Marriage and Family Counselor.

Mr. Crane began his career in parish ministry in 1951 with a call to the First Unitarian Church in Vancouver, BC, where he was ordained the next year and served until 1955. He moved on to ministry at the (now UU) Community Church of Park Forest, Illinois (1955-58), the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, California (1958-77), and the Jefferson Unitarian Church of Golden, Colorado (1977-81). After two years as the UUA’s Director of Ministerial Education (1981-83), the Rev. Mr. Crane returned to the parish with a call to UU Church of Yakima, Washington, serving there until his retirement in 1987, upon which he was named Minister Emeritus. Unwilling to relax his commitment to UU parish service, he spent the next fifteen years of his “retirement” serving interim ministries in Southern California. After a final retirement in 2002, he was voted Minister Emeritus to the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara.

Lex Crane

In addition to social service and activism outside congregational walls in communities where he served, the Rev. Mr. Crane lent his support to the wider UU movement. He served three terms on the Executive Board of the UUMA (1963-65, 1973-75, and 1991-92), editing the UUMA newsletter during his first term. His passion for ministerial education and personal mentoring was deepened by this experience. He went on to serve as a Trustee of Starr King School for the Ministry (1968-74) and on the faculty and staff of UU leadership schools (1984-87, 1993-95). In 2008 he received the annual Creative Sageing Award of the UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association.

In addition to a booklet “Developing an Extended Family Program” (1972) and a number of articles and scholarly papers, Lex Crane published several books, including Keeping in Touch: Self, Sex and Society (1975), Love, Sex and the Human Condition: Getting a Life (2006), A New Perspective on the Philosophy of UU Religion (2008), and To the Best of My Recollection…a memoir (2012).

Ginny and Lex Crane

Lex’s wife, Virginia (“Ginny”), survived him by only a few months. Other survivors include sons John (“Jack”) Crane III and Douglas L. Crane, step-daughter Claire Beery, step-sons Evan and Eric Blickenstaff, grandchildren Molly and Allie, Alex and Kirra, Willow, Mira and Zoë, John and Alex, and two great-grandchildren. Lex was preceded in death by a son, David L. Crane.

A memorial service was held on November 22, 2015, at the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara. Contributions in Lex’s memory are encouraged to Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, 1535 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara, California 93101 (http://www.ussb.org). Letters of condolence may be sent to Jack Crane, 239 1/2 Olive Ave., Long Beach, CA 9O8O2 or jabungusintl@gmail.com.

The Rev. Madelyn Catherine (Harnish) Barber

Madelyn Barber

The Rev. Madelyn Catherine (Harnish) Barber, 93, widow of the Rev. Charles Otis Barber died Jan. 31, 2015.

Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, on May 13, 1921, she was the daughter of Robert and Leona (Croft) Harnish. She was reared in Boston and educated in the public schools there. She married Charles Barber in 1943. They reared a son and a daughter.

Sheearned her bachelor’s of science in education from the former State College of Boston and earned her master’s degree in educational administration from Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, she was eligible for honors and was elected to the Pi Lambda Theta honor society for her scholastic accomplishments.

She taught social sciences, mathematics, English and general science for more than 20 years. Madelyn was the first woman elected to the Dolgeville (NY) District Board of Education. She also served as the vice president of the Herkimer (NY) County School Board Association.

From 1962 to 1966, she was the executive director of the Doolittle Nursing Home in Foxboro. MA. Both she and her husband studied the needs of the aging by attending institutes and seminars. She earned her achievement certificate for management, advanced administration and medical economics from the American Medical Association and the American Nursing Home Association.

An active UU, she was a member of the Ballou Channing Religious Education Committee and the Ballou Channing Women’s Association. While in the St. Lawrence District, Madelyn served as the president of the District Women’s Federation.

She was involved in all phases of church life wherever her husband and she served. She was religious education director at the Salem (MA) UU church and at the UU Fellowship in Durham (NH). At the Salem church, Madelyn was a board member of the Woman’s Friend Society and chairperson of the Outreach Committee and president of the Salem Church Women United.

Her son, Jack, reports that in the 1980s she was ordained to the UU ministry by the South Parish Unitarian Church of Charlestown, NH. The congregation recognized her service providing her own ministry to several small churches. And they acknowledged her contributions to religious and civic organizations during her long and fruitful career.

She and her husband retired to Deland, FL. Then, after he died there in 2006 she returned to North Attleboro, MA and lived in long-term care from 2009 until her death.

In earlier years Madelyn enjoyed camping, then later she could be found gardening, reading, being outdoors and clipping articles from newspapers. She remained true to her longtime roots in farming and had a deep appreciation for that hard work and the role farmers play in society.

She leaves a daughter, Susan E. Murphy and son-in-law, Robert Murphy of Deland, FL.; a son, John R. Barber and daughter-in-law, Charlotte Barber of Plainville, MA; nine grandchildren, many great-grandchildren and several great-great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her parents and her brother, Larry Harnish.

A celebration of her life and faith was held Feb. 7 at the Chapel at Madonna Manor, MA, with the Rev. Kelly K. Thibeault, pastor of the First Congregational Church, North Attleboro, officiating. She says that a number of Madelyn’s writings were shared at her service.

Memorial donations in Madelyn’s name may be made to Lenore’s Pantry, 43 South Washington St., North Attleboro, MA 02760.

Notes of remembrance may be sent to: John Barber, 10 Cliff Dr., Plainville, MA, 02762.

The Rev. Stanley J. Aronson

The Reverend Stan Aronson, who was active in a broad array of service to the UUA, UUMA, and local community organizations, died on January 12, 2015, aged 81.

Stanley Aronson was born on June 5, 1933 to Abraham and Tillie Aronson. He attended Temple University, earning a Doctor of Podiatry in 1958, then worked as a podiatrist and a disc jockey before heeding a call to ministry. He took mid-year graduation from Starr King (M.Div., January 1982); in November, 1982, he was ordained by the First Unitarian (now UU) Church of Berkeley.

After a series of time-limited parish appointments in Texas; Detroit MI; Albany, NY; and State College, PA, he was called to settled ministry in 1990 to the UU Society of Stamford, CT, where he served until retirement in 1999, when he was named Minister Emeritus.

Mr. Aronson co-chaired the UUA’s Urban Church Coalition and the board of the UUA’s Michigan District. He also served in a variety of volunteer positions for the District and the Michigan UUMA chapter, and for such community organizations as the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, the Interfaith Conference on Liberal Religion, the Interfaith AIDS Advisory Committee, the Pacific House Shelter for the Homeless, the Council on Churches/Synagogues, and the Interfaith Dialogue Task Force.

He had a wide range of interests, including writing, music, exercising, film, and Harley Davidsons. He was also very social, and according to his son Brad, “died having had more friends than most could only dream of having.”

Stanley Aronson is survived by three sons, Brad, Greg and Kevin; two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Notes of condolence may be sent to Brad Aronson, 1262 Truchard Lane, Lincoln, CA 95648.

The Rev. Ted Webb

Ted Webb

The Rev. Ted Webb, parish minister, Universalist scholar, and lifelong activist for civil rights, economic justice, and abolition of nuclear weapons, died on October 6, 2014, aged 96.

Already in his younger years, Mr. Webb actively promoted and worked for peace, justice, and public education. During a student pastorate in the little town of Sherman Mills, he organized a committee to establish a community library and “worked tirelessly on this project” throughout the remainder of his brief time there, though the vision took another fifteen years to be realized. In the 1950s he and his wife Marguerite provided sanctuary in their home to demonstrators opposing United States nuclear arms in the cold war with the Soviet Union. He spoke out against the Korean War and later counseled young men on avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War. In 1965 he traveled to Selma, Alabama, for the interfaith peace and voting rights witness that followed the infamous “Bloody Sunday” massacre. With others he went back for a month that summer to sustain an ongoing UU presence in Selma, writing that he returned north from this experience a more “confirmed progressive and committed Democratic Socialist.” In later years, during his ministry in Sacramento, Mr. Webb hosted a peace fair that drew Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, served as president and board member of the local chapter of United Nations Association, and in 1988 received a distinguished life achievement award from California State University, Sacramento. He was still protesting at age 85 when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Ted Webb

Theodore Albert Webb was born in Bangor, Maine, on 23 August 1918 to Harold and Annie Cushman Webb, but spent much of his teen years in Norway, Maine, where he contributed to family support by working in a shoe factory, rather quickly concluding that the industrial arts were not what he was cut out for. In the fall of 1938, at age twenty, he enrolled for concurrent college and ministerial studies in a program offered jointly by Bangor Theological Seminary and the University of Maine. While there he served successive student ministries in nearby towns: at the Union Congregational Church in Ellsworth Falls (1940-41), the Universalist Church of Old Town (1942-43), and the Washburn Memorial Church (Congregational, now UCC) in Sherman Mills (1943-44). Ted sang in the seminary chorus and discovered a soulmate in its pianist, Marguerite Elfreida [sic] Wilson, from nearby Calais, to whom he was married in 1943. He finished course work for his B.D. at Bangor in 1943, but the degree was contingent on completion of his baccalaureate studies. Mr. Webb moved to a pastorate at the First Universalist Church of Stafford, Conn (1944-47) and was ordained there on 22 January 1946. Meanwhile, with transfer of his undergraduate credits to the University of Connecticut, he earned a B.A. in history and government in 1948, at which time his B.D. was finally awarded.

The Rev. Mr. Webb continued in parish ministry at the First Universalist Church of Dexter (1947-51), the First Universalist (now UU) Church of Canton, New York (1951-56), and the Universalist Unitarian Church of Haverhill, Mass (1957-62). An eight-year stint as the first Executive Director of the Massachusetts Bay District of the UUA (1962-70) then intervened before he resumed parish ministry with a call to the UU Society of Sacramento, California, in 1971, where he remained until 1983 and was named Minister Emeritus in 1985. Beginning in 1984 Mr. Webb took up a series of interim ministries in Iowa City, Baltimore, Minneapolis (First Universalist), and Atlanta (Northwest) before his final retirement in 1990.

Ted Webb was committed to the wider UU movement and its public presence in a number of roles. He served many years on the UUA Program Committee and as President and Board Member of the Pacific Central District of the UUA. In conjunction with his ministry in Stafford, he founded and edited a short-lived journal, The Connecticut Universalist, an “official organ” for the Connecticut Universalist Convention. While serving the UU society in Sacramento, he spearheaded a program of lectures—The Forum—by local intellectuals, government officials, and religious leaders.

Ted Webb

Ted Webb spent much of his free time researching the lives of the prominent and politically active (and mostly Universalist) Washburn family, especially Israel Washburn and his seven sons, who numbered among themselves, in the 19th century, two state governors, two U.S. senators, four congressmen, a Civil War general, an envoy to Paraguay, and an ambassador to France. He was invited to speak about this research at the UUA General Assembly in 1984 and published a preliminary sketch of it in Men of Mark: The Washburn Brothers of Maine (Boston: UU Historical Society, 1985). After retiring, the Rev. Mr. Webb collected this research more fully in two further books: Seven Sons: Millionaires and Vagabonds (Trafford Publishing, 1999) and Impassioned Brothers: Ministers Resident to France and Paraguay (University Press of America, 2002).

Ted was a world traveler, and shared this interest with his daughter, Christine. He was also an avid reader and a great communicator. He enjoyed conversing about politics and current events, and he hosted a series of such conversations in his living room. Because of the group’s growing size, it was moved to the UU Society of Sacramento, and much to his embarrassment was lovingly dubbed “Ted’s Web.”

Of her father, daughter Christine Webb-Curtis remembers: “He walked the talk. But he rarely expressed his own personal humanist convictions from the pulpit. He never wanted to impose himself on others in terms of their spiritual beliefs.

Marguerite, Ted’s wife of sixty-two years, died in 2005. Ted Webb is survived by daughters Bobbie Webb and Christine Webb-Curtis, sons Theodore Ford Webb and Noel Webb, grandchildren Rob Gilbert, Renee Cahill, Randy Gilbert, Seth Forester, Patrick Curtis, Sam Curtis, Justin Codinha, Tucker Ford Webb, Parker Ford Webb, Jessica Webb, and Alexandra Webb, six great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild, Penelope, born on Ted’s 96th birthday.

A memorial service was held 13 December 2014 by the UU Society of Sacramento. Memorial donations are encouraged to the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd, Sacramento, California 95825. Notes of condolence may be sent to: The Family of Ted Webb, 1137 Amberwood Road, Sacramento, Calif. 95864.

Terry Sheridan

Terence Sheridan, 78, widower of Reverend Laurel Sheridan, passed away September 6, 2014 in Tucson AZ.

As a young man Terry was inspired by an uncle. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, rising to receive top secret clearance, and becoming a courier between Quantico and DC. He later joined the Coast Guard and served until being honorably discharged with 22 years of service. He was a long time member of the American Legion.

He was educated at Roger Williams University and University of Rhode Island, and spent many years teaching English Literature and Grammar at State Colleges, Jr. Colleges, and other schools. He was a student of Shakespeare, whom he frequently quoted, and a published poet. He was also noted as a water color artist, and was a devoted bridge and cribbage player.

Terry was married several times, but his last and longest marriage was to Laurel, whom he met when they both attended a group therapy session in Providence RI. She was an RN who had felt a call to ministry. Terry supported her through her theological education and accompanied her as she served congregations in Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. He continued to teach when he could find a position, and participated in congregational life as well — singing in the choirs and helping with property maintenance. Laurel retired after suffering a stroke in 1998, and they moved to Tucson. She passed away on May 15, 2008.

Terry is survived by his son, Kevin J. Sheridan and wife Joanne of Smithfield RI; his step children, Julie Romero and husband Bob of Kingston RI, Alison Sakariason of Tucson AZ, and Holly Sakariason and wife Bethie Stoller of Yuma AZ; his sister, Katherine Sheridan and brother, William Sheridan and wife Mary, all of North Providence RI.