Unsung Hero for 2013 — Iska Cole

The UURMaPA Board is pleased to designate Iska Cole this year’s Unsung Hero. Awarded by the UURMaPA Board for the first time in 2012, the Unsung Hero Award goes to one of our UURMAPA members who has not been otherwise recognized for his or her vital contributions to our UU retired movement, along with generous service to others. It honors volunteers who have made an extraordinary contribution to our association, working behind the scenes during their retirement years.

After many years of activity in the ministry of her husband, David Cole, who died after a long illness in 2011, Iska dove into UURMaPA. She was the association’s treasurer for seven years, a program presenter at its Attleboro conference in 1999, the coordinator of its business meeting in 2000, and the organizer of its all-important Happy Hour in 2002 and 2003. For many years Iska made sure that a card or a note went to UURMaPA members unable to attend the Attleboro conference. In 2012 she presented a gripping impromptu Odyssey after the scheduled presenter fell ill. And only recently was it revealed that years ago Iska crafted the handsome banner that UURMaPAns proudly display at the General Assembly parade.

At the District level, for what may be as many as thirty years Iska coordinated the UURMaPA Caring Network in Maine. A colleague recalls:  “Faithfully, every year, she sent her regional captains large packets with every detail to make the job easier, lists with addresses, and usually on a pretty decorative paper she had taken the trouble to buy with her own money. She had gatherings at her house to make us feel like a team.”  Another praised the administrative acumen she brought to her work:  “She organized the volunteers and assigned each volunteer a number of volunteers to call. Her innovation was to send a copy of all the volunteers’ lists to each volunteer. She called the volunteers 2-3 times a year to inquire about the volunteers and spouses on their list.”  A third sums it up:  “She organized a small committee of partners. She kept us going and she kept us all alive.”

For such exemplary service, the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association honors Iska Cole with its Unsung Hero Award for the year 2013, together with the accompanying cash award of $500.