The Reverend Cynthia Ward—religious educator, parish minister, lover of arts and learning, and mother of five, three of whom are themselves UU ministers—died at the Brooks-Howell retirement home in Asheville, North Carolina, on 9 May 2017 at the age of 88.

She wrote of her commitment to “enabling persons to the challenge of creating a community of faith, hope, justice, and love,” and is remembered as a mentor to many women called to ministry at a time when so many were still meeting resistance.

Cynthia’s daughter, the Rev’d Lisa Ward, recalls that her mother “drank in poetry, and wrote it well. She loved art and deeply engaging conversations. Ever searching spiritually, she expressed her findings to the delight of others.”

Cynthia Johnson was born to Charles and Alice Libby Johnson on 11 August 1928 in Auburndale, MA. She reported feeling a call to ministry even as a five-year-old child. After college she worked as a journalist and editor (1950–53), and with spouse Jack Ward found a religious home for their growing family in UU churches. Cynthia then became active in religious education, eventually earning an M.Div. in 1984 and being ordained the next year by the UU Princeton (NJ) congregation.

Over the next 15 years, the Rev’d Ms. Ward served several parish and RE ministries in the greater New York area—Westchester, Brooklyn, and Orange (NJ). After retirement in 2000, she remained active with UU church membership in Florida, New Jersey, and lastly at the UU Congregation of Asheville, NC.

Cynthia’s spouse, psychiatrist Jack Ward, died in 2005. She is survived by children Mark, Keith, Terry, Lisa, and Scott, as well as by seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.