Author: Jaco ten Hove

This is the season of endings and beginnings. Commencement exercises in various institutions mark the end of years of study and the beginning of a new stage in life. Some of our UU congregations are calling or hiring new leadership staff, and ministries are beginning and ending. Here in UURMaPA we are welcoming newly retired ministers and partners or spouses into this community and into a new stage in their lives.

A quick way of describing UURMaPA is to highlight its role as a hub of connection. It is a rather loosely based community that is made up of people automatically enrolled in it by virtue of their statement of retirement from active ministry. What you do with your membership in UURMaPA is totally up to you. But I, for one, hope you will find some way to be active in it—by being part of a Zoom-based group, or attending conferences, or taking part in planing those conferences, or just every so often being in touch with fellow UURMaPAns.

As I’ve thought more about the themes presented in our conference this past April, I’m reflecting on the idea of being an elder. As I noted in my words for the conference ingathering, I wonder how we embrace being an elder in a culture that, as best I can tell, has not prepared us for this.

I know that I see myself as something more than the “senior citizen” caricature or stereotype prevalent in our culture. In that ingathering text I found insight in words from David Whyte’s book Consolations: the Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words (Many Rivers Press; Revised edition, 2021). There’s a reflection on “maturity,” which I know is technically not the same as “elderhood,” but it resonated with me.

“Maturity,” he writes, “calls us to risk ourselves as much as immaturity [does], but this risk is for a bigger picture, a larger horizon, for a powerfully generous outward incarnation of our inward qualities—and not for gains that make us smaller, even in the winning.” So as we navigate what it means to “be retired,” we might also consider how we are consciously engaging being an elder. And this might mean embracing risk.

Maybe we thought we were done with all that. Risk and adventures may be left behind as we settle into times of rest and reflection. Maybe such wildness is meant for those of younger years. But I think here the “risk” is not so much a moment of danger or one of unsure returns. Rather, we may be asking ourselves to risk being who we’ve been becoming over all these long years. Embracing elderhood is inviting us to be open, enlarging ourselves to that possibility.

Wherever we are on that journey toward embracing and becoming elders in whatever setting we find ourselves, UURMaPA can be an important part of the story for many of us. This is a community unique in the way it exists between and among other communities—between our families, our home communities, our religious affiliations (if we are still active in some kind of religious organization or congregation) and other places where we find connection.

So as we move into the summer season, shifting from one mode of being to another, may we find renewal, and perhaps energy to risk being who we are becoming. And it is my hope that whatever path you’re on, you’ll make UURMaPA a part of your journey!

Yours, in the faith, Susan
Susan Veronica Rak (retired but not retiring!)

Job Description
(approved by the Board on 4/25/24)

Rationale:  The Vice-President fulfills the role of the President when that person is not available and assumes additional responsibilities as outlined below.    

Expectations:  

• The VP serves as liaison to the annual UUA General Assembly, and should plan to attend GA (UURMaPA covers expenses).  They participate in the following events that involve UURMaPA:  
• The VP attends the Service of the Living Tradition (SoLT) to sit with survivors of members who are honored. 
• The VP attends the Survivor’s Luncheon following the SoLT.
• The VP takes a lead role in proposing and implementing any workshops offered by UURMaPA during Ministry Days and/or the program segment of GA. 
• If approved by the Board, the VP makes arrangements for a UURMaPA member luncheon that gathers members and hosts and welcomes new retirees and partners. [Note: In recent years, this event has proven prohibitively expensive, especially since it involves a relatively small number of new members who attend GA in person.]
• The VP oversees the selection of a welcome gift for new members (ministers and partners) and the distribution of these gifts in May or June each year.  
• The VP selects and chairs a sub-group of at least three volunteers to choose a recipient for the annual Creative Sageing Award, to be presented at the Fall Conference.  The VP writes the citation for the presentation, which is also edited for publication in Elderberries. 
• The VP attends monthly Board meetings and may undertake other tasks as they present themselves. 

Compiled by  VP Phyllis Hubbell and Judy Gibson for Nominating Committee – 1/2020
Revised by Ned Wight, 4/2023 

Job Description
(approved by the Board on 4/25/24)

Rationale:  Maintaining a web presence with current content serves UURMaPA members as well as other Unitarian Universalists. The website serves as a means of welcoming new members, explaining UURMaPA’s programs, providing access to the newsletter (Elderberries) with current and back issues available, providing access to member directories, promoting conferences, and maintaining an archive of obituaries for deceased retired UU ministers and partners. The primary audience and users are UURMaPA members and UU ministers considering retirement. The Webmaster is responsible for maintaining the web presence.

Expectations:  

• The Webmaster is responsible for maintaining the website. This involves posting text and images, sometimes prodding others to provide materials, often converting a word processing file into pdf-format, updating or posting new materials to “pages” and “posts” that comprise the content of the website, including creating new pages and posts as needed.
• The Webmaster coordinates design with a contracted web designer who is available for troubleshooting. (Currently vacant.)
• Once the “Rainbow History Project” website’s initial design and content are completed, responsibility for maintaining it is expected to become a part of the Webmaster’s portfolio. That is expected by 2024.
• The Webmaster is responsible for maintaining a number of e-mail forwarding addresses for ___@uurmapa.org.
• In addition, the Webmaster assures that UURMaPA’s Domain Name Registration is renewed on time and that fees for the server are paid on time.

Typically this volunteer position requires about two to four hours a week on average, but is not uniform, with some weeks busier than others.

Skills and Access Needed:

• Moderately comfortable skills in applications of computer technology, including file manipulation, uploading, word processing, formatting text and links, cropping and adjusting images. Most content and change requests come by e-mail, so the Webmaster must have an e-mail account and check it often.
• Familiarity with the basics of maintaining a WordPress site. These can be learned by someone who is moderately adept with technology and refined by trial and error.
• General familiarity with websites, domain name registry.
• Ability to troubleshoot issues with the site and/or find other help to do so.
• Must have access to the Internet through a standard web browser. Need to have at least entry-level photo processing software and ability to crop and make basic image adjustments. Must have a word processor capable of exporting encrypted pdf files, e.g., Preview in the MacOS can do this.
• Should be available to respond within a week to post Obituaries and other materials.

Prepared by Duane Fickeisen, Dec 9, 2019. 
Updated by Jaco ten Hove, 3/30/2024.

Appendix to Webmaster Job Description

Specifics:

The website (www.uurmapa.org) is a WordPress site. The site consists of about seven main pages, with links from them to other pages and posts. Some pages and posts have specific pre-formatted types (e.g., Obituaries, What’s New, Board Minutes). Updates to the site are accomplished through a WordPress on-line system that is accessed through common browsers. Hence maintenance is independent of the operating system used by the Webmaster and no special web design software is needed.

The Webmaster is keeper of passwords for the WordPress site and the server and should ensure that at least one other person has access to them. (Currently the previous webmaster.)

In addition to updating general content, there are several recurring items that need attention:

Board Minutes and Reports: As the board approves minutes and Treasurer’s Report at its monthly meeting, the Secretary forwards them to the Webmaster. If the file is not already in pdf format, the file should be converted to pdf, uploaded to the WordPress Media Library, and posted as a new “post” with the type “Board Minutes.” These automatically appear as links from the sidebar on the Governance page, in chronological order.

Directories: Soon after the first of each month, the Membership Coordinator sends two pdf files, the Membership Directory and the Area Connections Directory. The Webmaster opens these and saves (exports) them as encrypted pdf files. The encrypted files are uploaded to the WordPress Media Library and the links to them from the Publications page are updated.

Elderberries: The Newsletter Editor sends a pdf file of Elderberries at the same time it goes to press. The Webmaster saves a jpg file image of the first page, uploads the full pdf file and the jpg file to the WordPress Media Library, and posts them on the Publications Page. In addition, a new “What’s New” post is created announcing availability. What’s New posts automatically appear on the home page side bar. When they have been posted, the Webmaster sends a notice with the link to the page (not the the file in case a correction is later made!) to the Editor with a reminder to alert the Membership Coordinator to send out a notice of its online availability to the Announce List.

Obituaries: When notice of the death of a member goes out to the Announce List, a new ‘post’ is created of the Obituary type with the subtype of the first letter of the deceased person’s last name. The publication date is edited to the date of death. The content of the notice is edited for format and posted in the body of the post. If there is no photo of the person, the UURMaPA logo is inserted at the top of the post as a place holder for an eventual photo. The most recent ten Obituary links (in order of death date) automatically appear in a list in the sidebar of the Home page and the Obituaries page.

When a full obituary is complete and submitted by the Obituary Coordinator, the text (and if available image) are updated. Sometimes two or three images are used.

Conferences: Descriptions and links for information about conferences arrive from the Conference Coordinator and are updated on the Activities page with a link to a pdf file of the registration form. A new What’s New post is created to announce the conference.

Governance Changes: The Governance page includes photos and brief biographical sketches of Board members and the names of incumbents who fill other leadership positions. These need to be updated whenever there is a change. In addition there is page with the names and images of Area Connections Coordinators which is updated when changes are brought to the Webmaster’s attention by the Connections Coordinator.

A note about images:  In general images of a single person are cropped to 150 x 200 px, with preference for the 150 width even if that requires a somewhat different height. Tight headshots are generally preferred. An image with two people in it is typically cropped to 200 x 200 px. Captions of the person’s name are included with the image file.

A note about name use: We eschew “Rev. First-Name,” preferring “The Rev. Title First-Name Last-Name” In obituaries, we have put nicknames in quotes rather than parentheses.

Formatting (Duane’s conventions): Never any double spaces after periods. Always use Oxford commas. Avoid euphemisms for death (a person dies, not passes away or leaves). Links are typically hidden in the text that indicates them (not added after as the URL).

The “Rainbow History Project” website (https://uurainbowhistory.net/) is under development and is also a WordPress site. When it is time to hand off management of it to the Webmaster, it can be moved to the server that hosts the main UURMaPA web presence. That may take place by 2024. 

The e-mail Forwarders are maintained by our server host. As incumbents change, or there is a need for a new forwarder, the Webmaster makes those changes to maintain the list.

Resources:

Web Designer. We had been working with Greg Bear (Greg Bear Media) of Carlisle, PA, as our web designer. He designed the basic layout and the specific post and page types that automatically populate portions of the site. Greg had beenreadily available to assist with troubleshooting and problem solving. From time to time WordPress issues updates and Greg assured that those are installed. When they caused problems with any of the plug-ins that we rely on for portions of the site, he resolved the issues. He has since declined to assist us any further and we are currently (2024) without such assistance.

Materials come from the Secretary, Newsletter Editor, Obituary Coordinator, Connections Coordinator, and others.

The Rainbow History site was initially developed by Gretchen Ohmann in coordination with Greg Bear and overseen by then Rainbow History Project Coordinator, Judy Welles. Its current handling is unclear, but has not been transferred to our site (or webmaster).

Passwords for the server and WordPress site are maintained by the Webmaster and by Greg Bear (maybe). Passwords for the server and WordPress site of the Rainbow History project are maintained by Gretchen Ohmann.

Bluehost is our server host. Their fees seem modest and they have a strong reputation for good support service. They automatically take care of domain name renewal and basic site security. We pay around $150/year for hosting and domain name registration, usually on a three-year contract. Fees are currently billed to the Treasurer upon submission of the invoice.

Prepared by Duane Fickeisen, Dec 9, 2019. 
Updated by Jaco ten Hove, 3/30/2024.