Category: Obituary: S

The Rev. Charlotte Justice Saleska, 77, died of Alzheimer’s disease on December 28, 2012. Rev. Saleska was born in Marion, IN on August 16, 1935 to Olive (Heal) and Enos Edward Justice. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Taylor University in 1957 and a Master of Arts from Hunter College in 1964. In 1988 she earned both a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School. As a student at Meadville Lombard, she helped create and implement the first women’s studies course at the seminary, and led a call for the school to hire female professors to the all-male faculty.

Rev. Saleska was ordained on June 6, 1988. She was first called to serve the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities in Davenport, IA, becoming their first and only female settled minister, from 1988-2000. She then went on to serve as interim minister at the First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, WI from 2000-2001, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, FL from 2001-2002. In 2000, she was bestowed with the honor of Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities.

Rev. Saleska brought her diverse background to her work as a minister. She was a social worker at Head Start Families in Milwaukee, WI from 1968-1975; coordinator of the Milwaukee-area high school Inter-Urban Health Careers program from 1975-1980; and, for many years, a high school English teacher. While her husband, the Rev. Charles Saleska, was serving the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville, FL (1980-1985), she served as the Fellowship’s Director of Religious Education from 1983-1985. She often recalled that, growing up as an Indiana farm girl in the 1940s and 1950s, it never occurred to her that ministry was something a woman could do. When her husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness, though, her women’s group helped her see what had really been her deeper call: ministry. And so, in 1985, at age 50, she entered Meadville Lombard Theological School.

Rev. Saleska’s tenure as minister, as in life, was marked by a love of literature, a commitment to religious pluralism and social justice, and the enduring power of liberal religion in local congregations. While in Davenport, IA, she co-founded the Interfaith Theological Symposiums to bring her Unitarian Universalist Congregation together with Edwards Congregational United Church of Christ and the Temple Emanuel Reform Jewish congregation for religious dialogue and social action. An early supporter of marriage equality, she began performing gay and lesbian wedding ceremonies in the early 1990s. As part of her passion for merging justice and religion, Rev. Saleska also helped guide the church through a building expansion that created more religious education classroom and meeting space.

Rev. Saleska’s passion for women’s issues, and for reclaiming the role of women in human society, began at home as she taught and guided her sons to feel compassion and respect, and to speak out for women and women’s issues; and expanded to include her engagement in seminary and in ministry. She also loved deep discussions of any kind, especially book discussion groups and movie discussions. Because of her background in English literature and her love for Shakespeare, she could quickly recall and expound on literary references, metaphors and poems, giving them voice in her sermons and discussions.

She loved to garden, and in later years, her house was full of green and growing plants of many varieties. Rev. Saleska also loved to travel, and during her years of ministry she took trips to Transylvania, Germany, France, and Italy. When she could, she also traveled to Chicago and New York to visit friends and attend the theater. One of her favorite activities before and after retirement was to drive to Spring Green, WI, to meet her sister and brother-in-law to attend Shakespeare plays by the American Players Theater.

Rev. Saleska is survived by her sisters, Carol Jones and Carmen Wilks; brothers, Warren Justice and Sam Justice; son, Scott Saleska, his wife, Kirsten Engel and their daughter, Helene; son, Kent Saleska, his wife, Heidi Saleska, and their children, Parker and Mirek.

A memorial service took place on Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church West, 13001 West North Avenue, Brookfield, WI 53005.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation (http://www.uuwf.org/donatejoin.html) or to Planned Parenthood (http://www.plannedparenthood.org/) in honor of the Quad-Cities location Rev. Saleska helped establish.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Kent Hemmen Saleska at 210 12th Ave. N., Hopkins, MN 55343; or to Scott Saleska at 2210 E. Hawthorne St., Tucson, AZ 85719.

The Rev. Dr. Wayne Shuttee, 93, died June 22, 2011. He graduated from the University of Missouri and Meadville Theological School with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. He served the First UU Church in Cleveland, OH, where he was ordained; the West Shore UU Church of Cleveland, OH, where he served as their first minister; and at the Unitarian Society of New Haven in Hamden, CT, where he served for thirty years. Following his retirement he served as interim minister for a dozen UU churches. He was named minister emeritus at the Unitarian Society of New Haven, in Hamden, CT, where he was also a member. He was active over the years in several community organizations in the New Haven area such as the Yale-New Haven Hospital, the New Haven Youth and Family Services Association, and New Haven Reads Community Book Bank, where he volunteered three times a week running the front desk and packing book orders. He also served on many association boards. Wayne is survived by his wife of almost 64 years, Patricia (Wuliger) Shuttee. He was predeceased by their son, Timothy.

Mary Margaret Cline Schug, 92, the widow of the Rev. Philip C. Schug, died January 13, 2011. During her college years she worked for Sears and she also built 35 mm guns during WWII. The Schugs served congregations in Urbana-Champaign, IL; Lincoln, NE; and San Antonio, TX. Mary volunteered in the churches Phil was serving while rearing two daughters. In San Antonio she worked as a lapidary and made jewelry. She was a member of the Rock and Lapidary Club, River Art Group, Craft Guild and Fiesta Commission. She is survived by her two daughters.

The Rev. Paul W. Sawyer, 75, died June 23, 2010 from pancreatic cancer. He had just finished his memoir, Untold Story: A Short Narrative History of Our Time. A graduate of Harvard College and Starr King, he served churches in CA, NJ, PA, WA, OR and Russia. The Pasadena Weekly called Paul “a tireless advocate for the dispossessed who often risked arrest in his opposition to war, capital punishment and nuclear energy.” The LA Times described him as “a scholar of American Transcendentalism and ancient Chinese texts, a founder of the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace… [who] served on the boards of the UN Assn. and the Jackie Robinson Center in Pasadena.” He enjoyed jazz, politics and history. He is survived by his wife, Susan, and their son, Alexander, and by his first wife, Carolyn Colbert, and their daughters Sharlyn, Shanda and Katherine Sawyer, and his son Adam Sawyer, and Adam’s mother, Carole Selter Norris.

Betsey Ross Skeirik, 79, widow of the Rev. A. John Skeirik, died in Brewster, MA, January 31, 2010. She taught music in public schools, and directed church choirs and choral groups. She performed as a vocal soloist and served as church administrator in Middleboro, MA, where she arranged for speakers and did a number of services herself. She was an active member of the Brewster congregation and the UU Meeting House in Chatham, MA. She served as secretary to the ministers of the West Dennis Community Church for 22 years. She and her husband actively supported the Partner Church Program. Through their efforts the Brewster Church formed a partnership with the Valea Church in Romania. Betsey was an avid reader of poetry who enjoyed concerts, theater, opera and ballet.

Lois Ann Jones Samsom, 84, widow of the Rev. Dr. Peter Samsom, died Oct. 5, 2009 in Asheville, NC. A native of Indiana, she later lived in San Diego, CA, Cleveland, OH, White Plains, NY, and Asheville. She was a faithful churchgoer, who devoted her life to supporting her husband’s ministry, which included six settled and seven interims. She also was also devoted to caring for her children. Her daughter was born with cerebral palsy and required a great deal of attention. After her husband died in 1992 she and her daughter moved to Asheville. She enjoyed gardening throughout her life. Lois had taken art classes as a young woman and picked up that interest again late in life. She is survived by her son Peter and her daughter Diana and her sister, Mary Jane Myers.

The Rev. Mounir Raphael Sa’adah, 99, died July 25, 2008 at Harvest Hill Retirement Community in Lebanon, NH. Born in Damascus, Syria, he worked as a librarian and taught history and ethics at American University’s Near East School of Theology. He married Marjorie Anne Abrahamian in 1937. The family immigrated to the US in 1947. The American Friends Service Committee recruited the Sa’adahs in 1949 to organize the care of the first Arab refugee settlements in Gaza. Rev. Sa’adah taught history for 18 years at Woodstock Country School in VT and initiated a program in Arabic and Near Eastern Studies at the Choate School in Wallingford, CT. Ordained in 1947, he served congregations in Woodstock, VT, and Mt. Kisco, NY. When he retired in 1976, he was named minister emeritus of the All Souls UU Congregation in New London, CT. He is survived by three children, two brothers, three grandchildren, four step grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and nine step great grandchildren. His wife died in 2002.

The Rev. Laurel S. Sheridan, 67, died May 15, 2008 in Tucson, AZ. Prior to joining the UU ministry Laurel worked as an RN in childbirth education. A graduate of Andover Newton Theological School, she was ordained in 1982. She served congregations in Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts before retiring to Tucson in 2001, due to ill health. She continued to preach part-time, as she was able.  She is survived by her husband Terry Sheridan of Tucson and her daughter Holly Sakariason of Yuma, AZ

The Rev. Martin Skewes-Cox, 80, died in Sonoma, CA on March 16. 2008. He is survived by his three children: Peter of San Francisco, Thomas of Thousand Oaks, and Edith of Montreal, Quebec; and 11 grandchildren.

Monica Adlard Sharp, 98, widow of the Rev. Waitstill H. Sharp, died Nov. 12, 2007, in Pacific Palisades, CA. Born in Saskatchewan, she served on the home economics staff of the Chicago Tribune and later became director of the food staff of the American Meat Institute, Chicago. She lived in Greenfield, MA, from 1972 until 2001, where she was a member of All Souls UU Church; Treasurer of the League of Women Voters; and a member of the Board of Organized Work of the Franklin Medical Center. She leaves a daughter, Barbara L. Schlueter, of Pacific Palisades, CA; a step-daughter, Martha Joukowsky, of Providence, RI; six grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Memorial services were held in Santa Monica Nov. 19 and Greenfield, Dec. 8.