Category: Obituary: E

The Rev. Carl Larsen Esenwein, 72, died Nov. 4, 2006 in Normal, IL, of cancer. He served congregations in Benton Harbor, MI, and Norfolk, VA, and Bloomington, IL. He then started his own company. Known for his opposition to the Vietnam War, Carl was instrumental in helping numerous conscientious objectors find sanctuary in Canada. He was also active in the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and organizations for prison reform. During retirement, he restored his historic home and rekindled his love of magic. Those who knew him were impressed by the courage and dignity with which he faced the end of his life. A service took place Nov. 15 in Normal. Mr. Esenwein is survived by his wife, Willemina; four children, Marc of Louisville, CO; Steve, of Dacono, CO; Lori Hoffman of Bloomington, IL; and Willem Knibbe of Alameda, CA; a son-in-law and daughter-in-law, his mother, Eleanor, of Bloomington IL; and three grandchildren.

Edward William Ewers, Jr., 69, husband of the Rev. Margo J. Ewers, died Jan. 1, 2012, in Nashua NH after a long struggle with renal failure and cardiac issues related to diabetes. A native of Culver City, CA, he graduated from California State University, Fullerton. He served in the California National Guard. After the Ewers relocated to NH, Ed worked as chief financial officer at Harbor Homes in Nashua. This organization helps homeless and mentally ill people find housing and other services. He helped raise funds to expand the facility and he supported other staff. His friends and colleagues said Ed was an inspiration to them as he dealt with his own limitations and attendant pain while contributing so much. One of his great joys in life was taking driving trips to explore most of the U.S. He also served on the board of directors of Camp de Beneville Pines. He is survived by his wife, his mother, sister and brother and their families.

Mary Hood Evans, wife of the Rev. Marvin D. Evans, died Sept. 30, 2004 after a long illness. She earned a BA degree from Duke University and an MSW from the New York School of Social Work. In 1953, she married Marvin, and reared two sons. She worked for the Children’s Aid Society in Richmond, and was active in Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, the League of Woman Voters, the Richmond Committee to Save the Public Schools and the First Unitarian Church in Richmond. Following Marvin’s ordination, they moved to Victoria, BC, then Seattle. She was predeceased by her son, Kent. She is survived by her husband, and her son David and her daughter-in-law. She was a dedicated member of University Unitarian Church of Seattle, where A Celebration of her life was held Oct. 31, 2004.

Kenneth English, 81, life partner of the Rev. Robert Wheatley, died Sept. 13, 2006, in Stoneham, MA. He was a decorated veteran of World War II. For the past three decades of his professional life, he worked as a professor at Boston University, Radcliffe College, and at Harvard’s Business School. He is survived by an older brother and sister in New Jersey, and was pre-deceased by his life partner in 2002.

The Rev. Carol Edwards died on August 22, 2013 in an Abingdon, Virginia hospice. Carol was born in Pacific Palisades, CA, three days before Christmas, 1924. Her love of children drew her to teach, then direct an early education children’s program in Santa Monica. She received her formal training in human development and education at the Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena.

An active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Santa Monica before being hired as their Director of Religious Education, they later ordained her as Minister of Religious Education. In 1988 she was called as Minister of Religious Education to the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, CA.

In 1991, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Starr King School for the Ministry for her outstanding work as a pioneering Minister of Religious Education. She served as President of the Unitarian Universalist Liberal Religious Educators Association from 1985-87.

After retiring from professional ministry in 1994, Carol moved to Abingdon, VA in 2003, where she helped develop an intentional co-housing community and became one of its first residents. Over the years Carol’s declining energy created a growing desire for simplicity in her life, and “Keep it Simple” became her motto. This extended to her spiritual life and during her last few years she became a Quaker.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Carol’s name may be made to Heal the Ocean, P.O. Box 90106, Santa Barbara, CA 93190; or the Head Start Program, c/o the Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara, 5638 Hollister Ave. Suite 230, Goleta, CA 93117.

The Rev. Ora Wilbert Eads, 94, died September 5, 2008 following a lingering illness. Sixty years ago when his children were toddlers, he served the First Universalist Church of Sampson County at Red Hill in Clinton, NC. After several years of parish ministry, his failing eyesight caused him to leave his church. He then offered mail order Bible correspondence courses, so that he could support his family. Throughout his life, his passion was writing poetry. He was a prolific writer, who won critical acclaim for his work. He also enjoyed walking, which inspired his poetry. He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Ivaree Cochran Eads in 1999. He is survived by his five children: Ora W. Eads, Jr. of Nashville, TN; Wayne B. Eads of Chapel Hill, NC; Carol Ball of Williamsburg, KY; Janice and Janet Eads (twins) also of Williamsburg and five grandchildren.

The Reverend Jan Evans-Tiller—avid reader and gardener, remembered well for her great devotion to children and religious education—died in Syracuse, New York, on 20 September 2016 at the age of 85.

Jan’s second marriage, to the Rev’d John E. Evans, unexpectedly brought her to a kind of vicarious public advocacy for death with dignity after John became terminally ill and sought the assistance of Dr. Jack Kevorkian to end his life on his own terms. In the course of attendant notoriety in the news media, the Rev’d Ms. Evans-Tiller was quoted in the New York Times for praising her spouse as “a courageous man who had the courage to do what is right.”

Jan Lowe was born in Alabama on 20 August 1931 to Alfred and Alma Lowe, but grew up in upstate New York. She was the valedictorian of her Herkimer (NY) High School class of 1949 and earned a B.A. cum laude in English literature from the University of Rochester (NY) in 1953.

Her religious education career spanned work as a Director of RE, district consultant, Minister of RE, and curriculum author, serving congregations in New York & Michigan. She was ordained 31 May 1987 by the Birmingham Unitarian Church of Bloomfield Hills MI, and retired in 1996.

The Rev’d Alida DeCoster particularly recalls Jan’s “passionate, humorous personality, and her feistiness,” plus the aptness of her own choice to add “Tiller” to her surname. (“She did like to steer the ship.”)

Jan is survived by her daughter Katherine Rugh, to whom notes of condolence may be sent: 102 Milton Ave, Syracuse, NY 13204. Memorial donations are encouraged to the Alzheimer’s Association.

The Reverend “Mac” Elrod, who pursued parallel careers in parish ministry, library science, and social activism, died on 16 June 2016, aged 84.

Jefferson McRee Elrod was born in Gainesville, Georgia, on 23 March 1932 to Angus and Lona McRee Elrod. After a B.A. magna cum laude in history (1952), he pursued dual studies in library science and ministry, doing fieldwork in local black churches and receiving ordination in the AME Church in 1954. Mac and his new spouse, Norma, then spent five years as educational missionaries in Korea.

Back in the U.S., Mac served library positions in Tennessee, Missouri, and Ohio (1961-67). Active in the civil rights movement, he and Norma became more progressive politically and religiously, with mounting distress over U.S. Vietnam war policy, and thus happily moved to Vancouver, BC, where he served as head of the University of British Columbia’s library cataloguing division from 1967 to 1978. After leaving the Methodist church, Mac received UUA ministerial fellowship in 1970 and served churches in the Vancouver area for 12 years until retirement from the parish in 1982. Upon departing UBC, he founded his own company and achieved international renown in the field of library cataloguing.

While raising six children in Canada, Mac and Norma’s home became a center for anti-war activism and a stopping point for hundreds of war objectors. He came out as gay in the 1970s and personally paid for the Canadian Unitarian Council to intervene in the 2004 Canadian Supreme Court hearings on same-sex marriage.

A longtime friend remembers Mac as “an unforgettable character, a committed humanitarian, never afraid to share his opinions nor speak on behalf of social justice and the environment, a friend who made me a better person through knowing him.”

He is survived by spouse Norma, five children, many grandchildren, and one great- grandchild. Memorial donations are encouraged to Doctors Without Borders. Condolences may be sent to Norma Cummins Elrod and/or their daughter Lona Manning.

The Reverend Alan Egly, parish minister, humanitarian activist, and philanthropic fund-raiser, died on 31 January 2016 at the age of 84.

Alan L. Egly was born 19 July 1931 to Jesse and Ida Egly. He earned a B.S. from Illinois State University in 1952, an M.Div. from Anderson College in 1956, and a graduate degree in Religious Education from Union Theological Seminary in 1967.

Mr. Egly was ordained to the Church of God in 1959 and served various parishes in Brooklyn before moving to All Souls Church of Brooklyn, NY in 1965. After entering ministerial fellowship with the UUA in 1972, he served several briefer ministries in New York before taking a call to the UU Church of the Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa) in 1979. After eight years there, the Rev. Mr. Egly moved on to community ministry as Executive Director to the Doris and Victor Day Foundation, serving from 1987 to retirement in 2014, while holding a part-time pastorate with the Unitarian Fellowship of Burlington (Iowa) until 1995 when he was named Minister Emeritus.

Alan and his wife Pat expanded their family of four children with the addition of foster children. Together they worked with many neighborhood organizations toward a dream of maintaining safe and affordable neighborhoods, personally renovating homes on the block where they lived. Alan’s daughter, Lorrie, remembers her father as one who “spent his life in service.”

Alan is survived by his wife, Patricia, children, six children and six grandchildren, and one brother.

Memorial gifts to Final Exit or Compassion and Choices are encouraged. Condolences may be sent to Patricia Egly, 701 Iowa Street, Davenport, IA 52803.

 

The Reverend Marvin Evans, parish minister and devoted servant of the wider UU movement, died on 9 January 2016 at the age of 90.

Marvin Davis Evans was born on 2 December 1925 to Olaus Bowdoin Evans and Pearl Hutchinson Evans. After high school he joined the U.S. Army, serving in the liberation of Europe. He earned a B.A. from Randolph-Macon College in 1949, and a B.D. from Meadville Lombard in 1963.

After ordination in 1963 by the First Unitarian Church of Richmond (Virginia), the Rev. Evans served the Unitarian Church of Victoria, British Columbia, until 1967. Leaving the settled ministry, he took up a string of interim ministries along with a stint as UUA Director of Church Staff Finances (1978-81), finally retiring as Minister Emeritus to the Bellingham (Wash) Unitarian Fellowship in 1988. During these years, he served many active roles with the UUA and UUMA.

Marvin and his wife, Mary Hood Evans, moved to Seattle in 1967 and were dedicated members of University Unitarian Church for thirty years. After Mary died in 2004, Marvin became active in the Cedars Church (UU) on Bainbridge Island, from 2006 until his death.

His son David wrote: “Beyond family and a love of books and sailing, the Unitarian Church was very much in the center of my father’s life. He greatly enjoyed the service he gave to the church, who in return have been very supportive of him in his ‘radiant twilight years.’”

The Cedars UU Church hosted a memorial service on 13 February 2016. Condolences may be sent to the family at: David Evans & Alexis Johanson, P.O. Box 377, Keyport, WA 98345.