Eleanor and Peter Richardson

The Rev. Peter and Eleanor Richardson retired young in 2002 — he was 62 and she was 55. He had been given an old family house on the coast of Maine, where he built a library that doubled its size, while Eleanor, a retired organ builder, removed and restored all the windows in the 18th century barn. They later replaced the barn roof and installed solar panels.

By 2010, Peter published his fourth book, Sunday Meditations: for Liberal Religious Worship, and Eleanor published her third, Mechanic Street: Uncovering the History of a Maine Neighborhood. They used the UU Sage-ing honorarium for a research trip to Portland, ME.

Eleanor served on the UURMaPA Board as Elderberries editor for 4 years, on the local church Board, and on the Board of the Rockland Historical Society. She ran for UUA Trustee in 2005. In 2008 she purchased and ran a small rental house in Rockland.

Peter presented the Minns Lectures in 2005. He was secretary of the US IARF Chapter and President of Maine Association for Psychological Type. IARF took him to India twice, South Korea and China. Together Peter and Eleanor attended a partner church conference in the Czech Republic in 2001 (Eleanor learned some Czech for the occasion). They chaired the UURMaPA Pan South conference in Fort Myers, FL, for about 5 years. Eleanor played the piano for chapel services at many UURMAPA conferences.

Meanwhile, they were blessed with 13 grandchildren, which kept them busy mailing off birthday presents and hosting family gatherings in the old barn. Peter observes, “Also, my face is wrinkled and misshapen enough to maybe look sage-like.”

Written by Eleanor and Peter Richardson, August 2019.