UUFF History

Part I

In 1973 Monroe Husbands was given the first Eliot-Scott Award for distinguished service in the extension of liberal religion in the western half of the United states. He was engaged by the Unitarian Association specifically to extend the cause of Unitarianism across the western half of the United States, including Alaska. Between the years of 1948 and 1973 he criss-crossed the continent, meeting with small groups of liberals, inspiring them to organization and action in the name of the Unitarian Universalist movement. Over 700 Unitarian Universalist Fellowships and churches owe their existence to the guidance of Monroe Husbands. The dynamic modes of organization, the pioneering in new procedures and methods of service, and the preparation of creative new worship program resources are all attributed to Monroe Husbands. Many of the new Fellowships are now large flourishing member churches of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Art Bruhn is the only one of the founding members who still belongs to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fairbanks. He and a few other long time members recall a man who came to Fairbanks in 1956, after placing an ad in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, calling for people of a liberal religious persuasion to meet with him. The ad asked “Are You A Unitarian Without Knowing It?”

The very first signatures in the old membership book are dated April 29, 1956:  George Thomson, William W. Mendenhall Jr., Mrs. Jessie E. Pease, Nancy H. Mendenhall, Norma T. Thomson, Ian H. Pickens, Geo. W. Parker, Jesse D. Landru, Vera H. Wright. Art Bruhn was absent on the day the original members signed the book, otherwise his name would be among the founders. On April 29, 1956 the following people signed the membership book: Ione Couch, Jim Couch, Myrtle R. Wright, Florence A. Small.

In November of 1956 Millicent A. Reynolds joined, and in December, Jane Solkorf, (name is illegible) and Herman Slotnick, bringing the total membership up to seventeen.

At first the group met once or twice a month in members’ homes, and later in such rented or donated spaces as the Masonic Temple, the Carpenters Hall, several buildings on the Fairgrounds, and the University of Alaska Home Economics classroom. For twenty-one years the Fellowship alternated meeting in members’ homes and available space in public buildings. Members took turns hosting and planning the meetings. 

Part II

Thanks to the good offices of Nancy and Bill Mendenhall, who succeeded in tracking down George (Hank)Thomson and Norma Thomson, two of the founders of the Fairbanks fellowship, I was able to have a long telephone conversation with them. They remember seeing Monroe Husbands’  ad in the News-Miner in 1956, and inasmuch as they were very active in organizing the new Fellowship, they think they were probably responsible for arranging the first meeting, in the basement of the old  Nordale Hotel,  which burned down long ago. The group elected officers at their first meeting,  and made plans to meet twice monthly in the YMCA. Hank Thomson remembers being president, and may well have been the first president, but he wouldn’t swear to it.

Monroe Husbands supplied the group with materials to help them plan their first meetings, both for the adults and their small group of children.

During 1957 such familiar names as Celia Hunter, Morton Wood, and Lee Gardner entered the book. Del Eberhardt signed the book in 1958. A junior high school teacher, he had been a minister, or had a ministerial background. He immediately became a paid part-time minister to the group. He was still present when this writer first attended the Fellowship on Easter Sunday in 1962. His sermon, “Fertility Rites Throughout The Ages,” made an instant Unitarian of her. That meeting was held in the Masonic Temple, which boasted an old upright piano. Member Lesley Salisbury, a violinist, had recruited Peggy Swartz, cellist, and  Susan (Bullwinkle) Johnson, pianist, to provide special music.

Part III

Del Eberhardt left Alaska in 1962 (according to the membership book). As his junior high school teaching load grew, he’d found it necessary to cut back on his ministerial duties, so John and Helen Tryon, who signed the book in 1958, became mainstays of the Fellowship until their departure from Alaska.  In those early days, there were often children present at the meetings, and Nancy Mendenhall and Norma Thomson provided  religious education.

We have no records except the membership book for this next period in  our history, beginning in 1962,  so I shall skip over to 1982, where we have some good sources, and come back to this earlier segment later. 

The 1982 annual meeting was held at Lois Bruhn’s house on Ski Boot Hill. I, (SHJ), was elected president. The members voted to resume meeting  in a public space and selected the little  Alaskaland Chapel.   They had never met there before, but hoped that with  the exposure of its location, and the presence of an old upright piano, they might enrich their services and attract a few  more members. Also, for the first time,  they’d meet every Sunday.                         

Soon after our first announcement hit the News-Miner, we received a phone call from a chaplain  on Fort Wainwright, a Captain Thomas Schreck, who offered his services, twice a month, for $25 per Sunday. We arranged to meet him, and heard all about his fundamentalist background, and how he had evolved into a genuine liberal, and aspired to be a real Unitarian minister some day.

We engaged him,  and his sermons were very good. He was intelligent, well read, and he held our attention. We had no complaints. However, the Reverend  Mr. Schreck felt a need to demonstrate his liberalism to the world, and there were plenty of opportunities for him to do so. Those were days of  frequent, large ,and very public pro- and anti-abortion demonstrations, and Mr. Schreck always marched in the forefront of the pro-abortion troops, in his full military chaplain uniform, proudly topped off with a huge, very conspicuous silver chalice on his chest. Many other military people marched in the ranks of the pro-life/anti-abortion demonstrators. I soon had a phone call from Mr. Schreck, who sounded very upset. He’d been  reprimanded by his superior officer, who commanded him to cease marching with the pro-abortion demonstrators. He asked me to write a letter to his commanding officer in his defense. 

Part IV

Writing the letter to the Reverend Mr. Schreck’s commanding officer was not easy, and I have no memory of what I wrote, or of several others he asked me to write before the year was out (and for his wife, too!).  A talented pianist, Mrs. Schreck liked to perform in the Officer’s Club. The beautiful platinum blonde was upsetting the officer’s wives. The Schrecks asked me to write still another letter when Mrs. Schreck’s children’s choir executed a military flag routine at Christmas, instead of singing Christmas carols.  During the following summer,  the Schrecks were transferred out of the state.

That same year (‘82-’83), KUAC announced a new program called “A Month of Sundays.” A production crew would be visiting local churches on Sunday mornings to photograph segments of their services. The programs, as they appeared on television, were well done; and we waited expectantly for the KUAC crew to appear at one of our services, but they never did.  So I telephoned KUAC, who were surprised by my call. No one else  had called to volunteer their church, and none of the churches appeared to welcome the crew when they showed up. However, the KUAC crew  would be glad to visit our service.

A few weeks later, they did. Mary McDonald, a talented actress, was presenting a program on Robert Ingersoll, the Great Agnostic. Ingersoll had been not only a popular speaker, he was also a very witty man. As the crew walked into the chapel and quietly set up their equipment, the small congregation all laughed heartily. 

“Yours was the only church that laughed,” said Steve Smith, the leader of the crew. He was leaving the state for a year to do graduate work, but he said he’d come back and he did. The little blond woman you may have seen serving coffee many Sundays is Jane Smith.

During that first summer in the Alaskaland Chapel, we held, at the request of some college students,  a memorial service for a student from Connecticut who was killed when the tractor he was operating rolled over.

I think the next president of the Fellowship was Robert Thorsen. Robert also presided over a memorial service, for a young son of the Drydens who had died tragically in his early twenties. The film Life of Brian was released during Thorsen’s tenure. We had a potluck supper at the Thorsen home, and then we all went to the theatre together. At the time, many churches were very noisily opposing the release of the film.

Our following president was delighted with the prospect of performing weddings. Instead of waiting for Unitarian weddings, she submitted her name to the License Bureau, where she received many calls and was even flown to several villages.  She performed so many weddings that she had time for little else, and the business of the Fellowship came to a halt. Laurel McLaughlin and I called a meeting to ask what the members wanted to do about the state of affairs. I accepted the presidency for the remainder of the year. Jane Williams, who was in Oklahoma at the time, was elected vice-president. (Does anyone remember what happened to the previous vice president? )

I believe we met in the Alaskaland chapel for three years. During the third year some young parents with babies joined, so we removed the mops and brooms from a closet on the second floor—maybe 6’ x 6’—I shall revisit the chapel and check this fact.  We  put blankets and pillows on the floor and hired a babysitter. We were always careful to replace the mops and brooms just as we found them. However, all that moving around of cleaning equipment must have been detrimental to its health. We received a letter from the park commission saying that if we didn’t stop moving the mops and brooms around, we would not be allowed to use the little chapel anymore. We decided to look for another meeting place. 

That  setback proved to be a blessing. Our next meeting place was wonderful. 

Part V

The new meeting place was the Jack and Jill Preschool, one block off University Avenue behind College Utilities. The owner was a liberal non-Unitarian (does anyone remember her name?) who generously let us use her facilities on Sunday mornings. Her only request was that we leave the place as neat as we found it. We often left it better than we found it, and we made a generous donation to the preschool each year that we met in the building.

The school was in a house that had been altered to meet the needs of a preschool. It was so artfully laid out and furnished to appeal to children that our children all loved it. The smaller rooms contained all sorts of child-sized chairs and couches and pillows.

There were shelves loaded with beautiful and appropriate toys and books. The children came to love their Sunday mornings, so much that some actually dragged their parents to the Fellowship on Sunday mornings, instead of vice versa.

The adults met in the former living room, which held the tables and benches where the children ate their lunch. The Fellowship bought the blue stacking chairs, the remnants of which can still be seen in the new building. They had to be carried up from the basement before every service, and carried back down to the basement afterward. Also in that big room was a wonderful wooden cage, rather like a circus wagon, which ran almost the length of the room. It was tall enough for the children to stand, and the slats were far enough apart that the children could poke their noses through, but too narrow for any wild animals to escape. There was a short ladder at each end of the cage, and all through coffee time, little creatures were climbing in and out, peeking through the rungs at the adults. The little people often had to be extracted, kicking and screaming, when parents’ endurance had run out and they wanted to return home.

The building had a nice kitchen that enabled the Fellowship to have morning coffee and potlucks. The atmosphere was pleasant and fresh after all the years we had met in old, musty buildings. There was no piano, so our pianist made do with an electric keyboard.

Unfortunately, our generous patron decided to move to Seattle, so she sold the building to her second in command, who didn’t appreciate our liberal ways. After three happy years, we had to look for another place to meet. But our luck held, and we entered another interesting, and even more challenging, chapter of our history.

Part VI

The members of the Fellowship were naturally disappointed when the new owner of the Jack and Jill preschool announced that we couldn’t meet there anymore. We dreaded going back to musty old buildings and having to abandon our religious education classes for children. Everyone started looking around for a new place to meet, trying to avoid places that we’d inhabited in the past, like the Masonic Temple, the Home Economics room at the university, Carpenters Hall, the Alaskaland Chapel and various buildings at the Fairgrounds. A building that I owned became available about this time when the Frere Jacques French restaurant moved to a new location. It was a log building on Noble Street with a wide open main floor and a finished basement. It seemed to have everything we were looking for; the location was good, and parking in the downtown area wouldn’t be a problem on Sunday mornings.

I offered the building to the Fellowship—rent-free, but with a few strings attached. The Fellowship would have to pay for the utilities the first year, add insurance the second year, and taxes the third year. This would mean more of a financial commitment for the group, but it would also mean that we would finally have a stable meeting place. The Fellowship decided to take the plunge, and we had our first services in the log building that fall.

Ed McLaughlan immediately made a wooden sign to hang on the front of the building. He also built the lecturn, which we are still using today. We bought a few more of the blue chairs—each chair paid for by someone in the Fellowship. Other donations poured in; I remember a large black enameled cabinet Steve and Jane Smith delivered, and people brought chairs, tables, and kitchen supplies so we could continue our newly- acquired coffee habit. We ordered new hymn books - some still have the name of the donor in them - and Jane Williams made a generous gift to start a piano fund. In a matter of weeks we were able to buy the almost new Yamaha piano which is still downstairs in the old meeting room.

The members began to demonstrate the business acumen that they have shown ever since. Before long they had rented meeting space to several groups: the Anglicans, the Jewish community, the World-Wide Church of God, a Native church and a yoga class. At $25 a week each, the proceeds more than paid the utility bill, and excess funds were applied to other needs.

Our growth, which actually began while we were in the Jack and Jill building, was not spectacular, but steady. The stability of having our own place seemed to inspire members to become more involved with Fellowship programs and activities.

Parade weekends were fun. We had our own parade viewing-stand: the front porch of the log building, and if a big crowd of UU’s showed up, we appropriated the curb in front of the building.

Around this time Jane and Red Williams started inviting all of us up to their farm at Central in the spring, usually over Memorial Day weekend. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. We slept in their bunkhouses; overflow slept in tents, campers, motor homes, whatever we had. Jane always took us (the able and willing) for a hike in the hills, and Red always seemed to be towing a trailerful of kids behind his tractor. Then there was a wild game of cops and robbers, or whatever it was, with all the able-bodied grown ups and kids running around and hiding in the woods. They played the same game at the Boy Scout camp several years ago. What was it? Red built a campfire every evening, and we grilled and shared our dinners. The kids, big and little, toasted marshmallows. We told stories.

We had an outdoor service on Sunday morning, with impromptu readings, and hymns sung to guitar accompaniment by Tom Hassler. And we went swimming in the pool at the hotsprings. We finished off the weekend with a mighty pancake breakfast cooked by Jane in the farmhouse. And at least one weekend, we had to drive through a blizzard on the way home.

Part VII

After three years of renting the building, the Fellowship decided they would like to buy the log cabin downtown. The group’s growth had been steady, and members felt ready to take on more responsibility. We hadn’t yet started a pledging program because our resident curmudgeon insisted we not raise money if we didn’t have an immediate need for it. But we had managed to accumulate $2,000. When the Fellowship asked me if I wanted to sell the cabin, I said I would sell it to them for what I had paid for it about five years before, $125,000, less $12,000. With their $2000 down payment, the Fairbanks Fellowship became the proud owners of their first building. At the time, Steve Smith was president and Laurel McLaughlin was treasurer. Ed McLaughlin and Brian Rogers were also active in arranging the purchase.

Immediately after taking title, the Fellowship made some changes to the log building. By then we had acquired member and builder Larry Fogelson, who installed another window and a kitchen counter and cabinet in the basement. Members underwrote the various improvements.

As I look back, I remember many excellent programs that we had during those eight years in the cabin. One Sunday a couple who was strongly opposed to abortion spoke to us. When someone asked if the couple had adopted or found homes for any unwanted babies, they said that was not part of their agenda. They were only interested in preventing abortions.

We had a program on national health insurance, which at that time actually seemed to be a possibility. We had a program on Lying, which engendered so much discussion that the coffee and snacks had to be carried upstairs. No would leave the discussion long enough to go downstairs for a cup of coffee.

We had a memorable talk on Thomas Paine.

Going back a little: I have heard that the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fairbanks once disbanded for a period of time in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The breakup may have been over the Vietnam War. I was living in Anchorage at the time and was not in contact with the Fairbanks group.

While reminiscing with Laurel McLaughlin this past week she mentioned that when she and Ed arrived in Fairbanks, in the late summer of 1972, they couldn’t find a listing for a Unitarian Fellowship. In September there was a notice in the News-Miner of a Unitarian meeting at the home of Paul and Nancy Frith. Ed and Laurel attended, and were not made aware of any breakup that might have occurred. Some kind of reconciliation must have taken place because the Fellowship was having monthly meetings again by that fall of 1972. I would appreciate any further information on this episode in the history of the Fellowship.

Part VIII

By 1992, the UUFF had been occupying the log cabin on Noble Street for five years. Growth had been steady, and we were under pressure to expand into a larger meeting space. Some UUs felt that we should add a second story to the log building rather than move to a less convenient location. An architect was consulted, but the results were not inspiring. Members started looking for a church to buy. Over the next year and a half, various members looked at four or five churches in or around Fairbanks. Mostly they were very old buildings with many add-ons, and probably very difficult to maintain.

For the next two years there were few church buildings on the market, but some of us continued to watch the want ads. I checked out a few pieces of land, but they were too far out of town and not worth considering.

Then one Saturday morning, toward the end of May 1995, there was an ad in the News-Miner describing an unfinished, five-star rated house on two and a half acres across from the Princess Hotel. The price was $113,000. I telephoned Brian Rogers, our incoming president, and asked him if he wanted to look at the property with me. We were at the site within an hour. The property was the estate of a recently deceased airplane mechanic and pilot who had been building the house as his retirement home. He hadn’t quite finished it when he died.

There was an old trailer and wannigan attached to one side of the house; a large, ramshackle, military-type shop building in the corner of the lot facing the Princess Hotel; and on the same side, closer to the house, a great pile of gravel. The house was oddly laid out inside: a lot of small rooms and no apparent living room. But it was very well insulated and the kitchen was quite good—the old gentleman must have enjoyed cooking. The basement was large and unfinished. There was an attached double garage.

The house had some drawbacks, but nothing we couldn’t fix. The grounds were magnificent, with dense spruce and birch trees that could be seen from windows on all four sides of the house. And the river was nearby.

Brian and I both knew immediately that this property could serve the Fellowship well. The price was within reach, the house could be adapted for our use, and someday the group could build a real church on the site.

The following day was the very last spring service, and the Fellowship wouldn’t get together again until September. We had to discuss the property with the members that morning and persuade as many as possible to drive out and look at the property. At $113,000 it would probably sell fast. We had no time to lose.

Part IX

After the service on the last Sunday in May, 1995, our final service before summer break, Brian Rogers, incoming president of the Fellowship, described the property on Pikes Landing Road to the members.  There was much discussion.  A few members didn’t want to consider moving.  Others thought the property was too far out of town.  Those of us who lived in town testified that the trip could easily be made in ten minutes.  Nevertheless, just about everyone present joined a long queue and we all drove out to the property.

The real estate agent was waiting for us at the land.  As we turned into the drive, we could see all the great spruce trees that outlined the property, and that only the 2 1/2 acre undeveloped park separated the property from the river.  The drawbacks were obvious:  the odd design of the house, which was designated five star, and therefore should be well built ; the crumbling wannigan and trailer; the military surplus shed where the old gentleman had repaired his airplanes. . .

The place would take a lot of work.  Besides turning the house into a decent meeting place, the grounds needed a lot of cleaning up.  A ditch running along the drive was full of oily detritus, and in other places there was overflow from neighbors yards.

There was a long discussion, and the outcome was not always guaranteed, but before the afternoon was over, the Fellowship decided to put earnest money on the property that very day.  It was a wise decision.  In her eagerness to claim her inheritance, the heir had grossly under-priced the property.  The agent later told us he had been inundated with phone calls all week.  The heir tried to talk us out of buying the property, but was unable to give us a good reason for doing so.

We put the log cabin up for sale the next day, and borrowed against our equity to start the renovations on the new building, which we hoped to complete over the summer.  The double garage would be made into a room for the children, the large basement room would be made habitable for the adults.  Some would say we never achieved that goal.  Work on renovations lasted all summer, with Larry Fogleson in charge.  I’m happy to say that we were not distracted by any suicidal antics.  He saved them for a later date.

The mismatched garage doors were removed and a wall and windows installed.  A hallway connecting the two outside doors was built.  Meanwhile work was progressing in the basement.  Two (or was it three?) egress windows were installed.  The walls and floor were painted, and storage space was created by installing folding doors across the back of the room.  The unsightly furnace was boxed in, but the effect was mainly aesthetic.  The rumble of the furnace couldn’t be contained by mere walls; its timely turning on and turning off discombobulated many a guest speaker.

I don’t remember who did all of that work, but some of you do remember, and I’m hoping to hear from you.

After a busy summer the new building was almost ready to move into by September 10, 1995.  We held a farewell service at the log cabin, and drove and canoed (if my memory serves me right) to the new land, taking our chairs along with us.  After an outdoor service, we all joined hands and danced and sang our way in and out and around the unfinished building.  The following week we had our first indoor meeting, with the adults occupying the garage room and the children using the small rooms and the kitchen area.  When the basement room was finished several weeks later, the adults moved in, and the children took over the garage room.

I would appreciate the names of all the members who worked on the building that summer:  everyone who picked up a hammer, or a saw, or a paint brush; because everything we did then, poor nomads that we were, enabled us to spend the next ten years growing, developing, and preparing the way for the real church, the larger congregation we would have ten years later. 

Part X

Our Fellowship life became richer as time passed in our new building. John and Jana Peirce introduced the Advent Garden in early December. Strangely, now that we had much more indoor space, we began to spend more and more time outdoors. Regardless of the temperature, we followed a circular evergreen path to the music of the Bowers family band. We sang carols and later went inside to thaw out and have hot drinks and snacks.

We had Winter Solstice bonfires and Michael Servitus bonfires. We had bonfires just to burn scrap wood and dead trees .We had garage sales in the old shop building; we had Christmas Eve services. An active teen group sprang up. We had a nursery for babies and Paige McLaughlin started a preschool group.

We had canoe floats and sang Shall We Gather at the River as as we glided downstream. We rented the Lost Lake Camp twice, and spent weekends swimming and canoeing and kayaking. We played wild games chasing through the woods, and we danced—everybody, big and little—led by Susan and Mari Galereave.

We had annual humor Sundays, which sometimes got out of hand, and play readings, and Walter Benesch gave a series of lectures. We had pledge dinners, two at the President’s house and one in the Dog Musher’s Hall. We had our Mid-life Crisis Chorus, and we all stood up and danced to Always Look at the Bright Side of Life. We’ve got the pictures to prove it.

The Our Village Preschool rented the building during the week. The rent  increased our payments into the building fund.

A steady string of interesting and challenging programs filled our Sunday mornings.  An early service was initiated by a group who wanted a little more spirituality. And we were growing. Latecomers had to search for vacant seats.  Someone who took a head count during a visit by a Buddhist monk claimed that we’d had ninety people stacked in the basement “sanctuary.” The fifty-five chairs were often filled, and when the empty seats were so few that people had to sit in the front row, we sensed that we were reaching a point where we needed to begin to think about planning to add on to the building.

We lowered the basement ceiling, and Brad Snow installed lights. We tired of painting the basement floor and installed carpet.

Larry Fogleson and Ed McLaughlin took emergency calls for everything that went wrong in the building, and lots of things went wrong. The old gentleman who had built the house had been frugal when it came to spending money on mechanical things like plumbing and air exchangers and furnaces. We bought a new furnace. 

Part XI

Christine McGarvin, who was president of the Fellowship in 1997 and 1998, reminded me during her last visit to Fairbanks that on her watch, there were many serious discussions on the subject of building our new sanctuary. Opposition was strong, mainly for financial reasons. We were putting money away steadily — not only from the Our Village Preschool, but also from Whale Coast, the Unitarian tour we bedded and breakfasted twice each summer. Each ensuing year increased the interest in building, as people tired of the inconveniences of the then-present structure. The lack of air exchange was very difficult for several people. The flushing toilet upstairs was annoying, as was the noisy furnace. The facility was not handicapped accessible, and the growing membership was definitely causing crowding...not every Sunday, but often enough to be an issue.

When opposition to the building project appeared to have lessened, or to put it another way, when the interest in building appeared to have increased, Brian Rogers held a fundraising meeting to ask for some serious donations. He hoped for $65,000, but that total was reached so quickly that he continued until he reached $84,000. Other members pledged substantial interest-free loans, should they be needed. Dave Frey, 2003 President, tried to speed things up. We established a building committee, chaired by Brian Rogers, with members Ed and Laurel McLaughlin, Pete Bowers, Susan Johnson, Leone Hatch, and Sherry Modrow. When Brian Rogers found it necessary to resign, Leone Hatch assumed the chairship, which she held until the project was finished. She was also president of the Fellowship during that time. 

Part XII

The first order of business fot the building committee was to interview  architects. All who responded to our call were soon making presentations. None of the architects would give us any preliminary idea of what their design might look like. The only clues we had were existing buildings they’d designed in Fairbanks.

The main differences separating committee members were quite personal.  We all wanted a building we could afford. Pete Bowers wanted a building that harked back to his Quaker back ground.  Ed Mclaughlin wanted lots of storage space.  Laurel McLaughlin wanted a bathroom in the lobby and a meeting room for the teens.  Susan Johnson wanted a building that was beautiful, with an interesting roofline, and which could be added on to, so the Fellowship would never have to move again.

We chose Martha Hanlon to be our architect. It was not an immediate, unanimous decision; we all felt that several of the architects could have met our needs.

Martha soon had drawings for us to look at. Anyone who has ever worked with an architect, or had one in the family, knows that architects are often very quirky people. No matter how much you tell them you want to spend, they’re sure to come up with a design that costs three times as much. Martha did that. Her first design was beautiful. We loved it, but we couldn’t afford it. We reminded her of what our bottom line was, and she created another design . It was only twice as much as we could afford, and it too was beautiful. Surely by the time she came up with a design we could afford she’d have no beauty left in her, but she did. The third design was exquisite. We could almost afford it. We took it.

We started the new building in the spring of 2004.  Larry Fogelson and crew, and many members of the congregation, worked hard all summer. The building was framed and closed in by the time cold weather arrived.

Leone asked Brian Rogers to rejoin the building committee and assume the job of obtaining financing for the new building. He accepted.   

That December our annual Advent Garden, organized by John and Jana Pierce, and usually held out-of-doors, took place  in the unheated building   Meanwhile, an Interior Design Committee began meeting.  Anna Plager, a newer member of the Fellowship, became the chair with Christie Hurd, Lisa Sporleder, Ed and Laurel McLaughlin, Betty Higby, “Nanne Meyers, Peg Bowers, and Susan Johnson. Soon we would put in floor, walls, lights, and finish the beams in that great shell of a building.  

Part XIII

Anna Plager assumed leadership of the Interior Committee after the shell of the building was completed. She has provided me with a more complete list of the members. They were: Kristi Hurd,  Betty Higbie, Lisa Sporleder, Susan Johnson, Ed McLaughlin, Laurel McLaughlin,  ‘Nanne Meyers, Peg Bowers and Pete Bowers.  Larry Fogelson, our contractor, was present in a more or less advisory capacity. We didn’t let him boss us around too much.

Larry was ready to pour the floor. The building committee had decided on a concrete floor some time ago, with the reservation that if we didn’t like it we could always put a carpet over it. We wanted to have the heating pipes in the floor. Kristi Hurd overcame my suggestion that we have a dark green floor, like the floor in Martha Hanlon’s office. Kristi wanted light green, and she was right. The light green actually adds to the beauty of the room. I have never heard a single person say we need to carpet the floor, although occasionally there is a suggestion that we need a red runner for special occasions.

The committee decided to continue the natural theme suggested by the beauty of the grounds: the tall spruces visible from every window, the nearness of the river. They decided on lots of light, earth tones, and simplicity of style. Ed was mostly interested in chairs. He found some chairs he liked  in the  First Assembly of God Church, and he borrowed a sample to show us.  Everyone took a turn sitting on it, and pronounced it sturdy, comfortable, attractive, and affordable. We ordered three different, complementary colors, and have been very pleased with them.

Brian found a rolling cart for the hymnals. Pete oversaw the selection of the sound system. Michael Ream, who had joined Larry’s construction crew, designed the moveable, raised, stage platform. Leone Hatch and Cam Leonard donated surplus carpet from their offices for the platform.  Jana Peirce and Lisa selected hanging lights and side sconces suggestive of our chalices.  Jana organized a group to make the quilted wall hangings for the front of the sanctuary.  It  was  designed by Shane Hurd and quilted by Stephanie Rudig. Other quilted panels, for the foyer, were started with Stephanie’s help and  completed by Jana, Laurie, Marsha, Maia, Anna, and others (who don’t have to remain nameless if they’ll give me their names).

I had hoped to finish this month, and then work at my leisure on organizing my  boxes of old programs, newsletters, etc., before presenting them to the Fellowship, but I didn’t make it. I will try to finish in one more month, and any new information I find in my papers I will add to this  document . 

Part XIV 

On August 30, two days before the dedication of our new sanctuary, it was still full of work benches, ladders, tools, and sawdust.  Larry Fogleson, Michael Ream and others were working hard to finish up.

Our horticulturists were all showing up with beautiful potted house plants. I’d asked for only outdoor plants, but the house plants were a stroke of genius.  They’re still in the building, and more beautiful than ever.

Many wonderful outdoor plants also arrived. A lot of them lasted well into the winter. There were groups of UUs all over the building discussing where and how to place the plants.  They set them on small tables and stools and chunks of logs; they placed them on the front deck, and on the back steps.  They hung them from fences.

A News-Miner photographer arrived in the middle of all the activity. He found the inside and the outside of the building equally interesting, so he took pictures of both: the inside with the carpenters still at work, the outside with all the flowers. Both pictures appeared in the News-miner, with a lengthy story. We hadn’t had so much attention since our founders started the Fellowship fifty years ago.

The new chairs had not arrived, so the McLaughlins rented a hundred folding chairs to add to the thirty or forty chairs the fellowship already had.  They arranged them facing the west wall, so we were able to feast our eyes on the multitudes of plants, the new wall hanging, the new (old) grand piano, and the view through the tall front windows. The Princess Hotel did not obtrude at all.   

The chefs were busy planning, and then delivering a huge spread. For the first time we had tables set up in the new lobby, adjoining the kitchen. After the Dedication, the Bowers family band played for people to dance in the sanctuary.

During the succeeding months, a new bathroom (Laurel McLaughlin’s pet project) was installed off the lobby and was promptly turned into the “prettiest, most inviting loo ever to grace a church” by the Osborns, who added a quilt, curtain, pictures, and flowers. They also hung a beautiful hand-made quilt in the lobby.  

Several new members have told me that they decided to join the Fellowship on the day of the Dedication.  In the two years since, our membership has doubled, we have added a youth group, elementary classes, lots of babies, and a choir.  With streamers hanging from the rafters, the Sanctuary becomes a wonderful dining hall. A couple of organizations rent space for monthly meetings, and the Fellowship shows films once a month.

Several couples have been married in our Sanctuary, and sadly, we have held services for three members who died.

Our new sanctuary is a great accomplishment for a group as small as ours. For fifty years, members took turns presenting programs and filling administrative and maintenance jobs. After our move to the present location, our membership climbed to something over fifty, and it is that small number of people who undertook to build this sanctuary. Mostly it was a joyous undertaking.  Our belief, that if we built it they would come, has been borne out.   

The preceding thirteen chapters have been written mostly from memory, from consultations with long-time members, and with a few newer members. In the upcoming months I shall look through old programs, newsletters and miscellaneous papers I have saved over the years, seeking names and dates that have been omitted. My intention is to include the people and events that helped make the fellowship what it is today.  I hope that anyone with information, suggestions, and pictures, will offer them.

This next stage of the history project will take at least a year. When I no longer need the historical papers I shall organize them and present them to the Fellowship for the archives. During the next year I shall report to the Board once or twice, or more, if they wish. 

Addendum

The last chapter of the UU history should have ended with my heartfelt thanks to Lisa Sporleder, who was so gracious about all the extra work I made for her, and to Rebecca Clack, who came to my house to settle the endless battles I have with my computer. Without you we wouldn’t have had (something of) a history....