Category: Obituary: L

JEFFREY D. LIEBMANN

The Rev. Jeffrey “Jeff” D. Liebmann died on August 7, 2024, at the age of 68 (1956-2024).

Jeff is survived by his spouse, Jody Liebmann; children: Emily Lemke (Sean); Marcus Goleman; Ashley Stack; Tyler Liebmann; grandchildren: Wolfgane and Scarlett Lemke; brother: Jon Liebmann; as well as numerous nephews.

A celebration of his life will be/was held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, 2024, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland, 6220 Jefferson Avenue, Midland MI 48640.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of one’s own choosing or the family of Rev. Jefferey D. Liebmann.

Notes of condolences may be sent to Jody Liebmann, 18293 Sorrento St, Detroit MI 48235.

A more complete obituary will follow.

The Rev. Clarence “Pete” J. LaSonde died on March 29, 2022, at the age of 93.

Pete is survived by his son, Christopher LaSonde; daughters, Mallory LaSonde and the Rev. Andrea LaSonde Anastos; and son-in-law, the Rev. George C. Anastos; as well as three grandchildren and one great-grandson.

A memorial service was held on April 6, 2022, in Marlborough, MA.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hudson Community Food Pantry, 28 Houghton Street, Hudson, MA 01749. UURMaPA will contribute $50 to the UUMA Endowment Fund in honor of our colleague’s ministry.

Notes of condolences can be sent to the Rev. Andrea LaSonde Anastos, 6842 Pine Arbor Lane South, Cottage Grove, MN 55016.

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

The Reverend Gertrude Lindener-Stawski—singer, pianist, scholar, and passionate gardener, whose interest in music led her to Unitarian Universalism and eventually to her calling to ministry—died peacefully on 12 June 2020 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, aged 89.

She was a longtime member of the Prairie Group of UU ministers (1974–2003). In retirement, she became known around Columbia, MO, as an “orchid guru.”

Gertrude Vutz was born on 4 April 1931 in Racine, Wisconsin, to Wilhelm and Mathilde Vutz. After a family move, she grew up in Ohio. and at high school graduation was ranked as the top student in the state.

After earning her B.Mus. in piano at Oberlin Conservatory, OH, in 1952, she and her husband Arthur Lindener lived near Montréal, Canada, but divorced in 1961. She became active in the Lakeshore Unitarian Congregation (SE of Montréal), and eventually earned her ministerial degree from Crane Theological School (Medford, MA) in 1968.

After parish settlement at the United Church of Bethel, VT (1968–73), where she was ordained on 27 October 1968, the Rev’d Ms. Lindener moved to the First Unitarian Society of Madison, WI, as Minister of Education (1973–80). She was called to the UU Fellowship [now Church] of Columbia, MO, in 1980, but took early retirement in 1986, having met and married Conrad Stawski during her tenure there. Twenty years later the church elected her minister emerita.

That church’s present minister, the Rev’d Molly Housh Gordon wrote, “Gertrude was a brilliant woman and a scholarly minister… a kind and welcoming colleague… [Her] legacies to our congregation and to Unitarian Universalism are profound.”

Gertrude Lindener-Stawski is survived by daughter Margo Lindener, son Peter Lindener, and stepdaughter Nina Stawski.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are encouraged to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001.

Notes of condolences may be sent to Margo Londoner at 5908 Pine Hill Crescent, Halifax, NS Canada B3H 1E5.

Ruth Langhinrichs

Ruth Helen Langhinrichs, widow of Reverend Richard Alan Langhinrichs, died peacefully on 16 April 2019. Born 30 October 1922 in Chicago, Illinois to the late Susan Smith and Roy Imler, Ruth was the first in her family to graduate from college, receiving her Bachelor of Science in English from Northwestern University in 1944.

Upon graduation, Ruth set out for New York City. She was successful as a writer and editor, working for several magazines. Eventually, she moved to Philadelphia to become an Associate Editor of the Ladies Home Journal. Here she wrote a teen-focused advice column called “Dear Gay Head” that had an estimated 6 million readers in the 1950s.

Ruth was a poet, published author, and playwright. She wrote and produced, “Mermaids in the Basement,” “The Heart of the Limberlost,” “A Night on Walden Pond,” and “Feathers.” At the time of her death, she was working on her memoir, titled An Intricate Life: Almost One Hundred Years in the Making.

After coming to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1965 with her husband and two daughters, Ruth worked tirelessly to promote art, music, movies, drama, and writing. She worked both as an Instructor of English on the Purdue Campus and as a writing consultant at the Writing Center. For many years she was on the editorial board of The Windless Orchard and City Limits. She was also a founding member of Cinema Center, the Fort Wayne Women’s Bureau, Great Women of Sunday Afternoon, and Sisters over Seventy.

Ruth was also a feminist and advocate for all women. She was a board member for the Women’s Center, and she was a proud delegate to the International Women’s Conference in Beijing, China. She served as the Mayor’s representative to the Area III Council on Aging. She participated actively on many other boards and never shied away from new challenges. She enrolled and graduated from clown school when she was in her 70s, bringing “Lottie” to life. Her lifelong interests included art, mental health, philosophy, religion, and women’s issues. Poetry, cinema, theatre, drawing, and contemporary literature were among her favorite pastimes.

Additionally, she has been deeply engaged with Unitarian Universalism for more than 50 years, and she regularly attended and served the UU Congregation of Fort Wayne in many capacities.

Ruth was the mother of two daughters, Julie (Ben) Langhinrichs of Cleveland, Ohio and Jenny (Marty) Langhinrichsen-Rohling of Mobile, Ala. She was blessed with six grandchildren, Her surviving friends, biological family, and family-by-choice members were abundant and essential to the full life she led.

Memorial gifts may be made to the UU Congregation of Fort Wayne, the Fort Wayne Cinema Center, or to the Women’s Center.

Nick Livingston

Nick Livingston — architect, artist, pianist, writer of novels, screenplays and poetry, and spouse of Reverend Ellen D. Livingston — died peacefully on New Year’s Day 2019 at Oak Park Manor in Claremont, California. He was 87 years old.

Nick was born in 1931 in Aurora, Illinois to Olga and Burt Livingston. He graduated from Ripon College in Wisconsin with a degree in history, then served in the US Army at the end of the Korean War. After receiving his architectural degree from the University of Illinois, he worked in Africa, Texas, and the Chicago suburbs, designing residential and commercial buildings.

He met his wife, then Ellen Harvell Dohner, in Park Forest, Illinois, where she was serving as lead minister to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Suburbs. They met when he played the piano for services at that congregation and would bring his band for social events.

At the time the congregation had to rent space for their services. Mr. Livingston offered to design and build a modern cedar-framed building on land the church owned in the woods in Park Forest. He not only volunteered his services but followed through on helping to raise money for the project. Three years after the dedication of the new building, he and Ellen became engaged. They were wed in 1982 at the new church building which offered views of the forest through the large windows Mr. Livingston had designed.

Four years after they were married Ellen accepted the call of Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Montclair, California. In August 1986, they moved to California. The Livingstons soon fell in love with the state and have lived here ever since.

Nick transferred his architectural license to California and worked as a freelancer and builder in the inland valley until he retired in 2012. He designed many additions and improvements at the congregation, and served as its maintenance person. As the church’s programs expanded, he designed and built a classroom wing dedicated to and named after him, Livingston Hall.

He was a true Renaissance man, with many talents and accomplishments.

Nick often played the piano for church worship services and social events. He enjoyed playing favorite songs, while friends sang. Sometimes he was accompanied by other musicians with stringed instruments and drums.

As a painter, he had several shows over the years, both in the Chicago area and in California, where his work was shown at the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona, galleries in Laguna Beach, at the Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation, and most recently at Claremont Village Green. All of his works were painted in California and Mexico, where he was inspired by nature’s variety of gorgeous landscapes.

Four years ago he published a novel, Stained Glass Warrior. In it he portrays a young artist from the Chicago inner city who is drafted into the army, and his struggles to survive injuries sustained on the battlefield in World War II. The protagonist developed artistic projects to encourage alternatives to a culture of war.

Although he served in the US Army during the Korean War as a teacher of enlisted men in Germany, he was a man of peace and was passionate about civil rights and the founding tenets of our democratic republic.

The Livingstons enjoyed traveling and had three places they considered their spiritual homes: Cambria, California; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and Ms. Livingston’s birthplace, Boston. They especially enjoyed Hispanic people, culture and places, and traveled to Mexico often.

His family shared that even with his many accomplishments, it was his love of life and people that was his most outstanding gift. A friend said “Nick knew how to have fun, not take life too seriously. He made me and others around him feel important. To him, all of us were. He made me a better person for having known him.”

He leaves behind his wife, the Reverend Ellen Livingston; three stepchildren, Markus and Luke Dohner, and Katherine Dohner Acenas; five grandchildren; his niece Karen Jenneke, her brother David Jenneke, his wife Sandy and their son, Nickolas. Messages of condolence can be sent to Ellen Livingston, Apt 9A, 630 W Bonita Ave. Claremont CA 91711.

Ruth Lawrence

Ruth Elizabeth Lawrence, age 76 died July 30, 2017, in Morrisville, VT. She was the widow of the Reverend Thomas Ahlburn.

Ruth grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and attended Connecticut College, where she majored in English. She was hired by the Providence Public Library as a children’s librarian and earned her Masters in Library Science. She remained a librarian throughout her professional life, mostly in the Woonsocket, Rhode Island school system. She and her husband collected a personal library of over 10,000 titles, which included religion, poetry, biblical archeology, zoology, and astronomy. They read every book.

While living in Rhode Island, they spent their summers in Vermont, where they bought some land and built a cabin. They spent two months every summer there for 20 years. They loved the peaceful life, grew a lot of their food, cooked on a 2-burner Coleman stove, hauled water, and used kerosene lanterns.

Ruth’s home was filled with animals in need, many of which were brought in by her elementary school. Over the years, she cared for a three-legged dog, goats, a squirrel, geese, a starling, a blue jay and an ancient box turtle named Gino.

Tom and Ruth retired to Greensboro in 2000. After Tom died in 2002, Ruth invented a new life for herself in Greensboro. She was active with the Greensboro Free Library and her many new friends became a family. She moved to the Craftsbury Community Care Center several years ago, and was happy there.

Ruth is survived by her stepdaughters, Heather Emerick and Megan Ahlburn, her son-in-law, Donny Emerick and her grandchildren Winnie, Charlotte and Phoebe Emerick. She is also survived by her sisters Marjorie Seabury and Virginia Buttrum and their children.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Craftsbury Community Care Center, 1784 E. Craftsbury Road, Craftsbury, VT 05827, or the Greensboro Free Library, 53 E. Craftsbury Road, Greensboro, VT 05841.