UU Runs in the Family

By Judy Winchester

We recently had a Sunday service during which seven people told their story of how they got to Westside. In putting together the facts for my story, I had the revelation that I am one of four generations of UU's. I think four generations is unusual. The Unitarians and Universalists merged May 12, 1961. Before that there were U's and U's. There were no UU's.

I started attending the Brooklyn UU church in January 1962.

I think that being brought up as UU's meant that my two daughters and their children were ready to step into leadership positions in their congregations. What about that fourth generation? The first came last. My widowed mother, Maxine, married a UU who had been a long time Universalist before the merger. Looking at the big picture, this one family has had quite an impact.

The UU church in Brooklyn Heights, NY played a role in getting my deceased husband, Jim, and myself together. That set a precedent. Our daughter, Christine met her husband-to be, David, at The Folk Factory coffee house at the Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. Our daughter, Lynn, met her husband-to-be, Thomas, at First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY at their Twenties and Thirties club.

5 stories, 5 ways to connect: A harmonious blend of activities: a choir performing in a church, a business meeting in session, a desk with a newsletter, a tablet among plates of food, and a cozy coffee setup, with a water communion bowl, reflecting diverse aspects of daily life.

At the Church of the Restoration, Christine ran the Young Adult Network, and she was secretary of the board. She sang in the choir. Currently, Christine and David are active in the Thomas Paine Fellowship in a suburb of Philadelphia. She was secretary, vice-president and then president of the Board of Trustees for one year. Christine was the music director from 2019 to 2022. In addition she has been chair of membership and "ran the Hospitality Teams for many years." Both she and David are frequent contributors to the Sunday music as soloists or in duets. When Covid shut down live gatherings, they produced videos to be played during Zoom meetings. In 2020 they did a whole service about their own story and involvement with the UU church, with music. Christine wrote a great song for UU's to sing called, "'Til Justice Comes."  

Daughter Lynn has been a member of her church for 37 years. Most recently she completed five years on the Board of Trustees, two of them as President. She has always sung in the choir, sometimes singing solos. She attended the General Assembly in 2023 in Pittsburgh, PA where she sang in the choir. She also attended the last one in Baltimore, MD. When the General Assembly was in Rochester in 1998, she sang in the choir and was involved as a host church. First Unitarian has a drama group called FirstLight Players. She has been in many of their productions for the public. She co-wrote a play that they put on. When her children were little, she taught RE. When her son, Devon, was teenager, she supported his participation in the high school youth group by being a chaperone to their events around the state.

Devon was a leader in the UU youth group for high schoolers. In college he was just an occasional attendee of the UU church in Buffalo, NY. When he went to Glasgow, Scotland for school for nine months, he regularly attended the Unitarian Association. After graduation he got a job, and was soon involved in First Unitarian Society of Syracuse, NY. He recently completed two terms as president of the Board of Directors. He is involved in all things "tech." First Unitarian has had a unique involvement with Beloved Community Beyond the Binary Conference since 2017. This was a creation of the UU Congregational Life staff. Devon's church is the host for an annual convocation with a keynote speaker and workshops. It has been expanded with remote participation coordinated by the Congregational Community staff. They are hoping to go nationwide. As well as doing the "tech stuff," Devon writes the application for grant funding to offset the local costs.

Maxine became very active in the UU church in East Lansing, MI that Paul introduced her to. They met in an old fraternity house that Paul had helped make the arrangements to buy. She sang in the choir and helped mail the weekly newsletter. She was often in charge of putting on dinners. She would do whatever seemed like it needed to be done. In 1980 a group calling themselves the "Women and Religion Continental Convocation" used this building to host their meeting. To symbolize their coming together from different places, they put water in a bowl. From this one event the widely spread practice among UU's of having a water "communion" at the end of the summer, evolved. For all we know Maxine picked the bowl they needed.

I think the lesson we can learn from this is that being brought up in the UU church makes you ready to step up and say, "I can do that." because you have already seen it done. This story illustrates what I mean. My granddaughter, Allison, Christine's daughter, grew up watching coffee hour after each church service. When she was a young teenager she told her Mom "I can do that." and she started signing up to be incharge of coffee hour.