Category: Obituary: S

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.

The Rev. Dwight E. Smith, 76, died April 18, 2007 of an aneurysm. His wife, the Rev. Carol Hilton was by his side. He served congregations, in co-ministry with his wife in Hobart, Indiana; Cedar Falls, Iowa, Clinton, Iowa, and Vista, California. Following their retirement in 2003, the Palomar UU Fellowship in Vista named them Ministers Emeriti. Surviving are his wife and two children from a previous marriage, Mark Smith of Lafayette, LA, and Cara Ferguson of Houston, and four grandchildren. A memorial service was held May 20.

The Rev. A. John Skeirik, 88, died March 7, 2007 in Brewster, MA, of kidney failure. He was ordained in 1947 as a Methodist minister and received UUA Final Fellowship in 1965. John served Methodist pastorates NY and Massachusetts and UU ministries in Sherborn and Reading, MA, Hollis, NY and Middleboro, MA where he was named minister emeritus. After retirement John and Betsey continued to live on Cape Cod. He had a second career as a multi-media specialist and served as an assistant librarian in public schools. John was an exceptional amateur photographer, and enjoyed carving objects with his wood-carving power tools. He and Betsey also enjoyed travel, including a number of trips to Europe. He donated time to the library of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural His-tory. One of his colleagues writes, “John was an uncomplicated, transparently kind, and genuinely liberal minister, one without a mean bone in his body.” He was survived by his wife of 59 years, Betsey, a brother and a sister. A memorial service was held March 24 in Chatham, MA.

Dorothy Simonetti, 95, widow of the Rev. Leon Strock Simonetti died July 7, 2006 in Auburn, IN. They served churches in Athol, MA; and Utica, Barneveld and Little Falls, NY. She was a member of the Unitarian Church in Fort Wayne, IN. Her husband died in 1968. She is survived by a daughter, Donna Russell, in Waterloo, IN.