Author: Jaco ten Hove

June, 2026… We’re thrilled to announce the newest title from Skinner House: Defiantly Joyful: Unitarian Universalist LGBTQIA+ Histories, edited by Diana K. McLean and published by Skinner House Books.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association (UURMaPA) launched what would become the UU Rainbow History Project, convening in 2019 two in-person conferences and creating a new digital archive to preserve LGBTQIA+ Unitarian Universalist history. This landmark collection grows out of that important effort to honor and reckon with that history.

Edited by Diana K. McLean, Defiantly Joyful brings together personal stories from LGBTQIA+ Unitarian Universalists, both laypeople and religious professionals, across a wide spectrum of identities and experiences. Rich with insight and anchored by a timeline of Unitarian Universalist LGBTQIA+ history more thorough than any previously available, Defiantly Joyful honors the trailblazers who came before, while challenging and inspiring readers to consider the work still ahead and continue the fight. 

We have had another very successful conference, this time with a keynote address and concert by Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout. He gave us a lot to think about as we face a troubling future in this country. We had deep Odysseys given by Barry Finkelstein and Diane Miller, sharing their life journeys with us. Along the way, we had small group conversations with each other. Our worship services helped set the stage for our conference and the Remembrance Service is always a highlight where we remember and celebrate those members who have died in the past six months. Barbro Hansson has led this effort for the past few years and has built a strong core of a planning team. Jeff Briere chaired the conference planning team, and Cynthia Becker kept the Zoom fire burning quite ably.

Here is a list of all who were involved:
• Jeff Briere – Convener, Publicity, Slide Show & Soundtrack Creator
• Alison Stephens – Scribe
• Tom Schade – Worship Coordinator
• Anita Farber-Robertson – Connecting Rooms Coordinator
• Ned Wight – Connecting Rooms Coordinator
• Sonya Sukalski – Pod Promotion & Support, Themed Breakout Rooms
• Jef Gamblee – Tech Assistant
• Barbro Hansson – UURMaPA Board Conference Coordinator, Registrar
• Cynthia Becker – Zoom Master

Not on the Planning Team, but helped:
• Kathleen Rolenz – Opening Worship
• Wayne Arnason – Opening Worship
• Joan vanBecelaere – Advisory to Worship Coordinator
• Lilia Cuervo – Worship Team
• Rosemarie Smurzynski – Worship Team
• Gretchen Weiss – Worship Team
• Sarah Pearson – Worship Team
• Ibrahin Sarmiento, Jr. – Worship Team – recording services
• Emily Browder – Worship Team – played piano for Remembrance Service and closing worship
• Lydia Robertson – Worship Team – edited recordings (daughter of the late Rev. Frank E. Robertson)
• Jan Carlsson-Bull – Remembrance Service Narratives
• Anne Marsh – Remembrance Service Narratives
• Richard Speck – Moderator
• Christine Robinson – Conference Chaplain
• Marni Harmony – Conference Chaplain

In addition to all of these people were over 20 facilitators. Here are their names:
Ellen Johnson-Faye, Marta Flanagan, Richard Gilbert, Nina Grey, Bruce Marshall, Janet Newman, Ken Read-Brown, Sarah Richards, Maddie Sifantus, Rosemarie Smurzynski, Terry Ellen, Phyllis Hubbell, Susan Rak, Mary Moore, Anita Farber-Robertson, Judith Campbell, Dan King, Suzie Matranga-Watson, Frieda Gillespie, Lisa Schwartz, Jonalu Johnstone, Jim McKinley, Meredith Garmon, Anne Hines , Norman Horofker, Ned Wight, and Richard Speck.

By now, hopefully, you have received the notice that we are eliminating the spring conference and will only offer one conference a year. Our planning teams have done tremendous work to pull off two full conferences a year since the pandemic forced us into virtual gatherings. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work to create these conferences. It has been harder to recruit willing volunteers to put in the hours necessary to make a conference successful. Just read the names above and you have a sense of the work that goes into creating our conferences. The board debated the merits of continuing two conferences or creating alternative events that are less time-consuming in the planning. We felt that the efforts were more than we can continue to mount in the format of two full conferences.

While people have truly enjoyed participating in the two conferences, going to one in the fall is an opportunity to try different types of programming that will still bring us together over the internet. We will still offer two remembrance services each year and two sets of Odysseys to hear about our very interesting lives. The difference will be that one fall conference will have all those elements, and spring will have each of these as stand-alone entities. Stay tuned as we develop these new ways of being together.

The Rainbow History Project is almost finished. We have heard from Skinner House that the book will be printed this spring/summer. For those of you who do not know about this project, it was started back in 2019. Here is the description:

“UU RAINBOW HISTORY PROJECT 2019 is the Golden Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising 50 years ago. UURMaPA is honoring this anniversary by sponsoring two conferences and launching the UU Rainbow History Project. The UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association is collecting and highlighting the stories of LGBTQIA ministers, their partners and allies who influenced and were affected by the sometimes-uneven trajectory of LGBTQIA issues within the UUA. Here’s how: 

• In two conferences, east and west, led by LGBTQIA colleagues
• In video interviews with LGBTQIA colleagues, partners and allies, sharing their experiences.
• In a book capturing the historic challenges and contributions of UUs from the beginning of the gay rights movement.
• In a website, social media, and archives to keep alive the stories of a significant turning point in UU history.”

You can access the website, https://uurainbowhistory.net/, and read video interviews, read stories of our LGBTQIA pioneers in the Unitarian Universalist Association, and hear through their stories the struggle for equality in our ministry and our faith. I plan on buying the book when it comes out and I encourage you to also buy it. I hope it will be required reading on the Ministerial Fellowship Committee list of required books for ministerial formation.

When next I write, I will have returned from a trip to visit our Transylvanian Unitarian coreligionists. Janet and I are joining a small group on a 10-day pilgrimage to the home of Unitarianism. I’ll post a picture of the places we visit.

Until then, enjoy spring in all its glory. An old Irish blessing for us all:
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields,
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Yours in the Faith,
Richard Speck, UURMAPA President

The Creative Sageing Award is given to a UURMaPA member for their outstanding service and creativity in pursuing new or continued ventures after retirement and building on one’s experience in creative ways. This might involve, for example, mentoring, public service, fostering spiritual growth, writing/publishing, creating and or participating in community and denominational service projects and organizations. 

The 2026 Creative Sageing Award was presented to Betty Stapleford in recognition of her persistent volunteer service on behalf of immigrants and marginalized people during her years of active ministry and retirement in Southern California.

Betty initially embraced Unitarian Universalism in the 1960s in Atlanta, GA, because UUs were walking their talk concerning racial justice and civil rights. This established a trajectory of championing those experiencing social injustice throughout her ministerial career. About 15 years ago, when Betty was serving as minister at the UU Fellowship of the Conejo Valley near Thousand Oaks CA, some members of the congregation initiated a project to transport visitors to the Adelanto Detention Center, which houses immigrants in the Mojave Desert over two hours away. Many family members of those detained had no way to travel to the facility.  

Betty was moved by the plight of people held in detention not because they were criminals but because they lacked the necessary papers. She began driving people out to Adelanto each month to visit detainees and support their family members in doing so. The project now also posts bond, when possible, or provides assistance when people are released from detention. After release or deportation, some former detainees have kept in touch with Betty, whom some of the younger ones call “Ma.”

Betty is active in other service organizations in her area northwest of Los Angeles, including Ventura County CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), working for racial justice and affordable housing, as well as 805 UndocuFund, and IOOVC, committed to getting ICE out of Ventura County. She has regularly attended, and sometimes spoken at press conferences and immigration rallies—and even made sure to be there in a wheelchair when she had a broken foot.

After retiring from ministerial leadership at the Conejo Valley congregation, Betty served the UU Church of the Verdugo Hills in La Crescenta and then as the affiliate Community Minister for Social Justice at the UU Church of Santa Paula, whose Social Concerns Action Committee has continued to increase its activity with food banks and other programs for this diverse community. She regularly drove for the Adelanto project in the years leading up to the COVID epidemic, during which the 1400-person Detention Center emptied out. After the COVID hiatus, she has resumed her monthly trips out to Adelanto.  

“Visiting can be heartbreaking, hearing stories of how detainees got there,” she observes.  “Many are asylum seekers. Medical care and food are terrible; all creature comforts are missing. At least we can offer compassion and listening ears—and see what’s going on at the Center.”

The churches in Betty’s community have become central to resistance and to supporting one another. At age 83, Betty continues her lifelong commitment to advancing justice through continuing visitation to the Adelanto Detention Center and to advocacy for immigrant justice in Ventura County in the face of increasing anti-immigrant activities by the federal government. For consistently walking her talk and living out her UU values and commitments, we are pleased to honor Betty Stapleford with our 2026 Creative Sageing Award. 

Award Recipients receive a $500 honorarium from UURMaPA. We encourage all UURMaPA members to consider who you might want to suggest for these awards in the future, possibly including yourself. UURMaPA is a talented group of retired ministers and partners. There are many individuals within our membership who are worthy of recognition, but too often organizations fail to recognize their valuable participants. 

Over the years, the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association has instituted these awards in order to highlight the contributions of our members to UURMaPA and to the larger world. We invite you to go to our website to read about past award recipients.

Respectfully submitted by Charles J. Stephens, UURMaPA Vice-President

The Unsung UURMaPAn Award is given to a UURMAPA member who has not been recognized for their vital contributions to UURMaPA or for their generous service to others. The award honors a volunteer who has made an extraordinary contribution to our association, working behind the scenes during their retirement. The successful nominee will not have been recognized in this way elsewhere.

The 2026 Unsung UURMaPan Award was presented to Sonya Sukalski…

…for sustained, steady leadership, compassionate service, and tireless behind-the-scenes commitment. After retiring from active ministry in 2022, Sonya joined UURMaPA through friends and small groups. She quickly moved from participant to dedicated volunteer: coordinating connecting rooms for the spring and fall 2023 conferences, guiding Odyssey presenters in spring 2024, serving as convener for the fall 2024 conference, and sharing convener duties for both the spring and fall 2025 conferences.

Along the way, she recruited and trained facilitators, kept plans, presenters, timelines, and deadlines on track, and shaped team culture—always opening meetings with check-ins and helping create virtual relationship guidelines that strengthened the planning team.

When her husband, Mitch, faced two rounds of leukemia treatment and bone marrow transplants, first in the fall of 2024 and then in the fall of 2025, Sonya’s resilience and devotion never wavered. Even while balancing caregiving and urgent medical demands, she continued to contribute—transitioning into the pod connector role last fall—and remained a calm, steady presence who kept people connected and supported.

Sonya’s work exemplifies the spirit of this award: humble, essential service; leadership through listening; and a generosity that kept UURMaPA gatherings running smoothly and compassionately. 

Award Recipients receive a $500 honorarium from UURMaPA. We encourage all UURMaPA members to consider who you might want to suggest for these awards in the future, possibly including yourself. UURMaPA is a talented group of retired ministers and partners. There are many individuals within our membership who are worthy of recognition, but too often organizations fail to recognize their valuable participants. 

Over the years, the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association has instituted these awards in order to highlight the contributions of our members to UURMaPA and to the larger world. We invite you to go to our website to read about past award recipients.

Respectfully submitted by Charles J. Stephens, UURMaPA Vice-President

The Creative Sageing Award is given to a UURMaPA member for their outstanding service and creativity in pursuing new or continued ventures after retirement and building on one’s experience in creative ways. This might involve, for example, mentoring, public service, fostering spiritual growth, writing/publishing, creating and or participating in community and denominational service projects and organizations. 

The 2026 Creative Sageing Award was presented to Betty Stapleford in recognition of her persistent volunteer service on behalf of immigrants and marginalized people during her years of active ministry and retirement in Southern California.

Betty initially embraced Unitarian Universalism in the 1960s in Atlanta, GA, because UUs were walking their talk concerning racial justice and civil rights. This established a trajectory of championing those experiencing social injustice throughout her ministerial career. About 15 years ago, when Betty was serving as minister at the UU Fellowship of the Conejo Valley near Thousand Oaks CA, some members of the congregation initiated a project to transport visitors to the Adelanto Detention Center, which houses immigrants in the Mojave Desert over two hours away. Many family members of those detained had no way to travel to the facility.  

Betty was moved by the plight of people held in detention not because they were criminals but because they lacked the necessary papers. She began driving people out to Adelanto each month to visit detainees and support their family members in doing so. The project now also posts bond, when possible, or provides assistance when people are released from detention. After release or deportation, some former detainees have kept in touch with Betty, whom some of the younger ones call “Ma.”

Betty is active in other service organizations in her area northwest of Los Angeles, including Ventura County CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), working for racial justice and affordable housing, as well as 805 UndocuFund, and IOOVC, committed to getting ICE out of Ventura County. She has regularly attended, and sometimes spoken at press conferences and immigration rallies—and even made sure to be there in a wheelchair when she had a broken foot.

After retiring from ministerial leadership at the Conejo Valley congregation, Betty served the UU Church of the Verdugo Hills in La Crescenta and then as the affiliate Community Minister for Social Justice at the UU Church of Santa Paula, whose Social Concerns Action Committee has continued to increase its activity with food banks and other programs for this diverse community. She regularly drove for the Adelanto project in the years leading up to the COVID epidemic, during which the 1400-person Detention Center emptied out. After the COVID hiatus, she has resumed her monthly trips out to Adelanto.  

“Visiting can be heartbreaking, hearing stories of how detainees got there,” she observes.  “Many are asylum seekers. Medical care and food are terrible; all creature comforts are missing. At least we can offer compassion and listening ears—and see what’s going on at the Center.”

The churches in Betty’s community have become central to resistance and to supporting one another. At age 83, Betty continues her lifelong commitment to advancing justice through continuing visitation to the Adelanto Detention Center and to advocacy for immigrant justice in Ventura County in the face of increasing anti-immigrant activities by the federal government. For consistently walking her talk and living out her UU values and commitments, we are pleased to honor Betty Stapleford with our 2026 Creative Sageing Award. 

Award Recipients receive a $500 honorarium from UURMaPA. We encourage all UURMaPA members to consider who you might want to suggest for these awards in the future, possibly including yourself. UURMaPA is a talented group of retired ministers and partners. There are many individuals within our membership who are worthy of recognition, but too often organizations fail to recognize their valuable participants. 

Over the years, the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association has instituted these awards in order to highlight the contributions of our members to UURMaPA and to the larger world. We invite you to go to our website to read about past award recipients.

Respectfully submitted by Charles J. Stephens, UURMaPA Vice-President