Category: Obituary: J

The Rev. Patricia “Patty” Jiménez died on November 14, 2021, at the age of 74.

She was predeceased by her husband, Krishna Seshan.

UURMaPA will contribute $50 to the UUMA Endowment Fund in honor of our colleague’s ministry. 

Notes of condolences can be written here.

A more complete obituary will be forthcoming after biographical research has been completed.

The Reverend Dr. Kay Jorgensen—beloved and dedicated community minister, professional street & theater performance artist—died peacefully on 15 January 2018 in Berkeley, CA, aged 86.

Walking through San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, Kay was led, at age 66, to her deepest and truest calling. With Carmen Barsody, OSF, she founded the Faithful Fools, inviting thousands of others to make “street retreats,” walking through the neighborhood, open to the homeless and marginalized people they encountered.

Kathryn Alice Johnson was born on 9 January 1932 in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Detlof Emanuel Johnson and Alice Otilia Palmquist Johnson. She earned a B.A. in 1953 from St. Olaf’s College (Northfield, MN). Turned down as a woman for Lutheran ministry, she married Ronald Leland Jorgensen, a medical student, in 1955 and they had three children.

After a divorce in 1974, Kay moved to Minneapolis, discovered the First Unitarian Society there, and plunged more deeply into mime and theater. This led her to California for further work and study in mime and clowning. But by the 1980s she once again felt the pull of ministry, now as a UU, and received her M.Div. from Starr King School in 1987.

Ms. Jorgensen was ordained on 16 October 1988 by the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis shortly after beginning extension ministry (1988–93) to the nearby Northwest UU congregation. By 1996 she had returned to California, later secured ministerial affiliation with the San Francisco UU Society, and in 1998 began the Faithful Fools ministry for which Starr King School awarded her an S.T.D. honoris causa in 2004. In 2010 Kay was named minister emerita by her church and in 2015 she received the Patti Lawrence Distinguished Service Award from the UUA’s Pacific Central District.

At her death, Kay was survived by her children Andrea, Joel, and Erik, and her Faithful Fools co-founder and partner in ministry, Carmen Barsody. A memorial service, complete with clown noses, was held on 11 March 2018 at the First UU Society of San Francisco.

The Rev. Alfred D. Judd, 81, died February 6, 2007 of a heart attack. He spent three years in the Army in Europe during World War II before graduating from St. Lawrence University and Theological School. He served churches in Fall River, MA; Clarklake and Horton, MI; Claremont, NH; East Greenwich, RI, and Lubbock, College Station and Houston, TX, where he was named Emeritus in 1985. Al and Patricia moved to Santa Fe, NM in 1987. Al is remembered as a man of moderation, good will, good cheer, and simple goodness. He loved steam trains and for many years worked as a volunteer on the Cumbres and Toltec Restoration Project in the Southwest. He built model trains, a creative designer and builder. One of Al’s great pleasures was being a mentor at the Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Santa Fe. He is survived by his wife, Patricia; three children: Karen, Rebecca and Taylor; three stepsons: David, Jeffrey and Gregory White and their families; four grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A Memorial Service was held March 2.

The Rev. Dr. William Ronald Jones died on July 13, 2012 at the age of 78. Rev. Jones was born in Louisville, KY on July 17, 1933 to Henry and Lannie (Brogsdale) Jones. Rev. Jones attained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Howard University in 1955. He then went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Harvard University in 1958, and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University in 1969.

Rev. Jones was ordained by the Unitarian Society of Wellesley Hills, MA on June 15, 1958. From 1958-1960, he was the Assistant Minister and Director of Religious Education at the Church of the Mediator (now the First Unitarian Universalist Church) in Providence, RI. From 1977-2012, he served as a community minister at Florida State University. Notably, he was a member of the UUA Board of Trustees from 1993-2000, and worked with the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) to develop resources for professional religious educators.

Rev. Jones authored articles regarding oppression and the church’s role in social change. His work has been the subject of a vast number of newspaper and journal articles as well as dissertations. In 1978, he co-edited Black Theology II, and in 1973, Beacon Press published Rev. Jones’ controversial piece, Is God A White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology.

In his seminal work, Is God A White Racist?, Rev. Jones introduced the thesis for his life’s work:

“It has often been said that asking the right question is as important as supplying the correct answer. Whether correct or incorrect, this generalization describes the purpose in the following pages. To paraphrase Kant’s admonition, my objective is to force the black theologians and their readers to pause a moment and, neglecting all that they have said and done, to reconsider their conclusions in the light of another question: Is God a white racist? My concern throughout is to illuminate the issues this pregnant question introduces into the arena of black theology and religion. The black theologian, I contend, cannot avoid this issue of divine racism, because it is implicit in his theological method, purpose, and content.”

An internationally recognized and celebrated activist, scholar, philosopher, theologian, and educator, Rev. Jones dedicated his long career to the analysis and methods of oppression, and to working with others in their anti-oppression initiatives. A fundamental part of his work was the exploration of religious humanism and liberation theology.

Rev. Jones’ academic and professional endeavors were broad and vast. He helped found and became the Director of the Department of African-American Studies as Florida State University. He was also an associate professor at Yale Divinity School, a visiting lecturer at Howard University, and a visiting professor at Brown University, Princeton University, and Union Theological Seminary, among others. Some of his professional affiliations included the American Academy of Religion, the American Humanist Association, the American Philosophical Association, the Religious Education Association, the Society for the Study of Black Religion, the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics, and the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA).

Rev. Jones received a vast number of awards over the years including the Urban League Family of the Year Award (1963), the Richard Allen Award (1972), Yale’s A. Whitney Griswold Award (1974), the Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Scholar Award (1986), the Bragg Humanist of the Year Award (1989), the American Humanist Association Humanist of the Year (1992), the UUA’s Holmes Weatherly Award (1995), and the African American Culture and Philosophy Award (1996), to name just a few.

Rev. Jones is survived by his former wife of 35 years, Lauretta H. Jones; sons Jeffrey Jones, Esq. and Darrell Jones; brother, Cecil Jones; sister, Gilmer Jones Callender; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

A celebration of the life of the Rev. Dr. Jones was held on August 19, 2012 at 2 p.m. at the Nancy Smith Fichter Theatre in Montgomery Hall at Florida State University, 130 Collegiate Loop, Tallahassee, FL 32306.

Notes of condolence may be sent to The Jones Family, 2410 Limerick Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32309.

The Rev. Dr. Jones is, perhaps, most lovingly remembered for a principle by which he lived: “You show your love through actions, not words alone.”

The Rev. Walter Royal Jones, Jr., 90, died April 30, 2010. He earned degrees from Brooklyn College and Union Theological Seminary. As a conscientious objector, he served a year in prison rather than go to war. His ministry included churches in MA, NY, VA and CO. Among his many accomplishments he chaired the UUA Commission on Religion and Race and participated in the civil rights March on Washington and in Birmingham and Selma, AL, and McComb, MS. Roy chaired the UUA’s Committee on Purposes & Principles. He was given the Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of UUism. His volunteer work included ACLU, Planned Parenthood. He loved music, and trains. He was predeceased by his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Lyons, and his second wife, Eliza Craddock East, and two children, Catherine Ellen and Thomas Philip. He is survived by four children: Walter Royal Jones III, Christine Elizabeth Jones, Carol Ann Jones Conley, and Linda Susan Jones Bothe, their spouses, three stepsons, ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Elizabeth S. Jones, 79, died April 14, 2006 of hepatoma. She received a Master of Divinity at Starr King and a Doctorate of Ministry at San Francisco Theological Seminary. She was ordained by the Unitarian Church, Santa Barbara CA, and served the UU Church in Idaho Falls, ID. She was named minister emeritus by the UU Church of Livermore, CA. Surviving are her husband Jeffrey P. Lambkin, and four children: Stephen, Nancy, David and Susan, all of California. A memorial service was held April 25 in the Atrium of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkley, Kensington, CA.

Eliza Jones, spouse of The Rev. Walter Royal Jones, died June 3, 2004 of complications following surgery. Roy and several family members were at her bedside in her last moments. A memorial service was held in early in July at the Foothills Church in Fort Collins, CO.