The Rev. Robert Atherton Thayer

The Rev. Robert Atherton Thayer, 77, died April 5, 2012. He held a BA in history from Harvard College. During college he spent summers as a fire lookout in the Bitter Foot Idaho Wilderness. He earned his BD at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and was ordained as a Presbyterian. At Harvard he met his first wife, Pamela J. Thayer. Bob served the First Presbyterian Church in Framingham, MA. His passion for the civil rights movement moved him to seek fellowship with the UUA. He served First Parish UU in Medfield, MA and was chaplain at Billerica prison. He served Fairhaven Unitarian Memorial Church for 22 years, then served as interim at the Second Congregational Meetinghouse of Nantucket, and then served the Brockton UU Church. He was an avid sailor, woodworker, woodsman, writer and scholar. He was predeceased by his wife of 31 years in 1991. He is survived by Mary-Ellen Tunney, his wife of 16 years, and by his children: Stephanie Pires, Jenifer Thayer and Robert Thayer; two stepchildren, Patrick and James Whittle; and five grandchildren.