Chris Backus and Judy Welles
The Unsung UURMaPAn Award annually honors a volunteer who has made an extraordinary contribution to UURMaPA, working behind the scenes during their retirement years. This year’s deserving winner, chosen by your Board, is Chris Lilly Backus.
Reading the citation that accompanied the $500 award, Judy Welles noted that Chris has served for decades, before and after retirement, as an articulate and committed advocate for ministers’ partners, “the often under-recognized element of UURMaPA’s membership.” She was a founding member of UUMPs (the UU Ministers’ Partners) in 1980, and has been chosen as the spokesperson for partners on several different UUA, UUMA, and UURMaPA task forces.
Chris served as the editor of Elderberries from 2008 to 2012, then moved to the Nominating Committee as another way to serve our organization.
The citation concludes, “When Chris and Andy retired and moved to Bellingham, Washington, they realized with some sadness that they could never be laypeople again, and thus would never find religious community within a UU congregation. To some degree, UURMaPA has met that need for them. Chris has given generously and with great skill and commitment to UURMaPA, and we are delighted to give something back to her by recognizing her as UURMaPA’s Unsung UURMaPAn for 2016.”