History of the Fellowship

This history combines excerpts from two separately written histories. The first is for the period 1952-1978 whose source is Fellowship: The First Twenty-Five Years of The First Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale, Illinois As Recalled by Some of its Members.  This is the product of a History Committee chaired by Carolyn Forman Moe. Other members were Lillian Adams, Will Gay Bottje, Lenore Brooks, Cameron W. Barbutt, Gladys R. Jones, Wilbur C. McDaniel, Willis Moore, David and Jean Ray, Russell F. Trimble, and Rachel Wendt.  The second history was for the period 1978-1993. Its source is Fellowship Continuing: A Sketch of the First Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale, Illinois from 1978 to 1993 to Commemorate Its 40th Anniversary, edited by R. F. Trimble.  Copies of both publications are available at the Fellowship. This version has been edited for electronic presentation by Dave Clarke.  A condensed history can be viewed at http://www.cuuf.net/history/default.html.

Included in this combined history are:

Foreword to Fellowship: The First Twenty-Five Years
How Did the Founders Get Together?
The First Quinquennium: 1952-58
The Second Quinquennium: 1958-63
The Third Quinquennium: 1963-68
The Fourth Quinquennium: 1968-73
The Fifth Quinquennium: 1973-78
Talks from 1952-78: A Sampler

Foreword to Fellowship Continuing: From 1978 to 1993
The Sixth Quinquennium: 1978-83
The Seventh Quinquennium: 1983-88
The Eighth Quinquennium: 1988-93
Talks from 1978-93: A Sampler
Morris Library Archives: Addresses to the Unitarian Fellowship

Officers and Board Members, 1953-93

Planning for the Move to a New Building, 1993-95

How Did the Founders Get Together?

In 1951 Noble and Ethel Kelley and their son Allen came to Carbondale, Illinois. Professor Kelley was chairman of the new Department of Psychology at Southern Illinois University; he was also the secretary for the National Board of Examiners of Clinical Psychologists. The Kelleys had belonged to the First Unitarian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and they hoped to find a Unitarian church in Carbondale. When they found there was none, they went to the Presbyterian Church, but they were not satisfied.

It was not too long before they met Jesse Kennedy, a historian, and his wife Carolyn at one of the many "coffees" that were being held. At this particular "coffee" Ethel Kelley and Carolyn Kennedy met, and during their conversation the topic of going to church came up. Ethel told Carolyn that she, Ethel, was a Unitarian. Since both Jesse and Carolyn Kennedy were interested in "looking for an organized religion that got away from the fantasies of most Christian theologies and focused attention and commitment [on] man and his problems here and now," and thus were interested in Unitarianism, they decided to see whether they could find others who were interested in starting a fellowship.

Once the nucleus was created, it was not long before other faculty people became interested. Morton Kenner, a mathematician, joined and was followed shortly by Robert Muller, the head of the university library, and his wife Martha. Morton Kenner and Noble Kelley decided to search through the cards which gave the religious preference of each faculty member and were kept on file in the university president's office. From this search they found Cameron and Mary Garbutt, who had listed Unitarian as their church. Garbutt was in the Speech Department.

Other early members were Virginia Spiller, who worked for the Free Press (the name of the Carbondale newspaper at that time), and Emmet Harris, who was a retired postal clerk. Harris joined the group when, through another "coffee," his wife learned that Ethel Kelley was a Unitarian. Mrs. Harris told Mrs. Kelley that her husband had always been an admirer of Robert Ingersoll and was much interested in joining a religious group that was liberal. The Kelleys invited Emmet to one of the early meetings, and he became a staunch member of the Fellowship.

In 1952 a group consisting of the Kelleys, the Garbutts, the Mullers, the Kennedys, Mort Kenner, Virginia Spiller, and Emmet Harris were joined by the Wilbur McDaniels, the Charles Kelleys, and the William Shacklefords in gathering together at Giant City State Park for a picnic and a meeting to formulate plans to organize a Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship.

The First Quinquennium: 1952/53- 1957/58

In 1952 the city of Carbondale had a population of 8,000 and more than fourteen churches. This would appear to be a great sufficiency, if not a superfluity, of churches, but yet there were those among the 8,000 who were not satisfied. For the most part these dissatisfied ones were employed by Southern Illinois University (whose 3,000 students are not included in the population figure of 8,000) and had come to Southern Illinois from other parts of the country. The strong fundamentalism which colored all the local congregations deterred these few and prevented their needs from being met.

In September of 1952, at the founders' picnic breakfast in Giant City State Park, an organization was formed with the idea that it would become a Unitarian fellowship. Jesse Kennedy was named temporary chairman and Noble Kelley temporary co-chairman. The group began holding informal discussion meetings at the members' homes and occasionally in a room at City Hall or at the Student Christian Foundation.

In 1953, probably January, the temporary officers were replaced by William Tudor and William Shackleford as chairman and co-chairman. In addition, Martha Muller was made secretary and Dawn Shackleford, treasurer. The mailing list had twenty-five names. On March 13, 1953, the group was recognized as a fellowship by the American Unitarian Association, and this date may be taken as the official birth date of The First Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale, Illinois.

Many of the members had children, and a religious education program was started for them in the fall of 1954, when arrangements were made for the use of the cafeteria building at Brush School on Sundays at a cost of five dollars a month. Books for the program were bought from the AUA. There were probably ten to fifteen children who attended the church school on Sunday mornings. The adults continued to meet on Sunday evenings, either at members' homes or at Brush School. The adult programs usually consisted of a member or guest presenting a talk on some topic followed by a general discussion accompanied by coffee and refreshments. There was a good deal of resistance to anything that smacked of orthodoxy and this included formal prayers, collections, and hymns. Although this attitude has softened over the years we still, for instance, do not end hymns with the traditional "Amen."

Although centrally located, with a playground and easy parking, the Brush School cafeteria had disadvantages. A temporary wooden building (probably a war-surplus barracks), its single room made it awkward for multiple classes, and a very noisy heater made it difficult for even a single class or an evening discussion group. The lack of storage facilities meant that all the church school materials had to be carried back and forth each Sunday. Paradoxically, the low rent created a guilt feeling in some members because they felt that such an unrealistic figure constituted a subsidy from public funds and violated the principle of separation of church and state.

In September, 1953, the Fellowship elected Emmet Harris and Cameron Garbutt as moderator and vice-chairman. There is no record of why the titles were changed. The new secretary and new treasurer were Wilma Tudor and Ethel Kelley. There appear to have been nineteen members and a mailing list with twenty-four entries.

The members of the Fellowship were predominantly associated with the university. It was natural, therefore, that the fellowship year follow the academic year and that officers take office from September to the following August. Later it was found more convenient for the term to run from June through May, giving the new officers the summer to plan for the fall opening. Although the fiscal year ended on May 31 from the very beginning, the officers' terms were not concurrent with the fiscal year until 1954 or 1955.

For the 1954/55 year the chairman was Carolyn Kennedy; the secretary, Ruth Feero; and the treasurer, Emmet Harris. The constitution then in effect did not call for a vice-president, and there was none this year or the following year.

It may not be amiss to point out that Carolyn Kennedy was the first female presiding officer and the only one until the election of Jean Icenogle in 1973/74, although Patsy Rose Hoshiko, vice-president for 1963/64, became acting president from March through May.

In April, 1955, the twenty-two members adopted a constitution which allowed the Fellowship to be incorporated under the General Not-for-Profit Corporation Act of Illinois. This was effected on May 9, 1955, the incorporation papers being signed by Morton Kenner and Cameron Garbutt with the latter being the registered agent. To meet the requirements of the law, a board of directors was established, consisting of three members serving staggered three-year terms. The first board members, Ruth Feero, Cameron Garbutt, and William Rice, drew lots to determine who should serve for one, two, and three years.

In the summer of 1955, the Fellowship learned that the Carbondale Elementary School District 95 had closed a two-room schoolhouse, Buckles School, just west of town on what is now Murphysboro Road. Arrangements were made to rent Buckles School for five dollars a week. This gave us the use of the building on Sunday mornings and evenings and one other day a week. We could also store materials in the building and have use of the piano. Utilities were provided, although the "utility" of the outdoor privy was questioned. We did not have exclusive use of the building, however. The Church of the Latter Day Saints used it on Sunday afternoons, and a square dance club used it on Saturday evenings. Still, it was better than we had hitherto had, and the 1955/56 year began with morning church school and evening adult sessions all held at Buckles School.

A large segment of the membership began at this time to argue for a more structured adult service to be held in the morning concurrently with the church school. There were those, however, who preferred the informal atmosphere of the discussion group and who abhorred the idea of a "religious" or "church" service. Some softening of the group position may be seen in the October order for fifteen copies of the Unitarian Fellowship and Hymn Service Book. After lengthy debate, a poll was taken which showed that a majority of the members wished to continue with the split sessions, morning for church school and evening for adult discussion. There was still a great deal of pressure put on the officers and Board to hold formal, morning services. Richard Kellaway, now a minister in the UUA, was a graduate student at SlU and a member of the Fellowship at this time. He wanted more symbolism and ritual in the worship services and would introduce candles, prayers, and other "orthodox" elements whenever he was in charge of a program. Few, if any, of his suggestions were assimilated into our usual service, but we would like to think that he helped to keep us flexible and willing from the beginning to try different orders of service.

An appreciable number of members, outstanding among whom was Willis Moore, was certain that the continued existence of the Fellowship depended on holding the young parents and these, for the most part, were not happy at having to ferry their children in the morning and arrange babysitters for them in the evening. Finally, to prevent a schism, it was proposed that morning services be tried as an experiment for a month beginning in January, 1956.

At the end of the month the experiment was continued and has yet to be terminated. It was a triumph of pragmatism over democracy. Discussion groups met at members' homes once a month, but gradually the practice petered out.

A campaign for the American Unitarian Appeal yielded $225, our first contribution to Beacon Street since the sending of a fifteen dollar contribution with the application for fellowship status in 1953.

Membership over the period 1954 to 1957 held fairly steady at about twenty-four. Some members became disaffected and dropped out; more left because a change of job took them away from Southern Illinois. These losses were balanced by a steady trickle of newcomers. This was, of course, a period of great academic mobility. The Fellowship worried about its growth, its future, and its role in the community. The introduction of morning services at Buckles School did stimulate attendance and membership growth. Church school enrollment grew very rapidly and the Fellowship acquired its first property apart from books - a set of Celotex screens fabricated by Bill Rice to be used as movable partitions to divide up one of the Buckles School rooms into four or five "classroom" cubicles. These were set up and taken down each Sunday. They are now incorporated into one of the permanent partitions in the basement of the present building.

Our first child dedication ceremony was held at Buckles School. The new daughter of Josie and Frank Hermann was dedicated by Henry Nelson Wieman.

The usual morning service consisted of an opening reading, a hymn or two, and a sermon read by one of the members and selected from a file of sermons collected from the Church of the Larger Fellowship or from collections brought by members from other churches (Unitarian) and fellowships. For a brief period we used taped sermons supplied by Beacon Street but they were not successful here. At some point during the proceedings a collection was taken and the service ended with some closing words. Recorded music often found a place during these services. Many practices which now seem traditional in the Fellowship were established while we were meeting at Buckles School.

It came to be feared that the Fellowship's gains would evaporate if the members could not see some concrete achievement of group action. The achievement that most members wanted to see was a building. The use of rented quarters seemed to connote impermanence. The acquisition of our own building would be a sign of having come of age -- to the community as well as to ourselves.

Preliminary studies indicated that we still could not hope to buy a lot and build. The Building Committee then investigated several houses and finally reported, in the early autumn of 1956, that one seemed suited to our needs.

Financial resources were scrutinized, and the committee was authorized to offer up to $13,500 for the property. This was at a meeting held in the home of Lillian and John Lonergan, and members today who were present still remember the emotion felt when the results of a secret ballot were announced and it was realized that we could count on enough support to go ahead.

The amount of that figure was a far cry from the 1952 budget which tentatively set aside thirty-five dollars for rent for the year. There was no doubt that the members could contribute $13,500 over a period of time, say ten or fifteen years. There was little hope, however, that a sum large enough to make a down payment could be immediately raised through contributions. Mortgage companies we found would do business only with individuals, and no one was willing to give a mortgage that would cover the entire cost. For a brief time we thought that the American Unitarian Association would make us a loan, but we were quickly told that the program was not one for which we were eligible. We did learn that a local bank would lend us $9,000 for ten years at five and a half per cent interest. In order to raise the remainder, the Fellowship decided to issue bonds. Members who could not afford to contribute several hundred dollars could lend that much. A poll of the membership showed that at least $5,000 could be raised at once by the sale of twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred dollar bonds at five per cent interest to be retired in one to ten years. Purchasers were allowed to specify the time in which their bonds were to mature. The mortgage and bond payments were to be met by pledges which would, in addition, have to cover our operating expenses.

We were startled to learn during the mortgage negotiations with the bank that it was necessary to produce approved minutes for all business meetings at which the Fellowship voted to carry on any of these negotiations and at which the officers were elected.

Hardly had the Fellowship decided to go ahead with the purchase than a member took a count of the Sunday morning attendance and pointed out that the number was much larger than the figure used by the Building Committee. It was a shock to realize that attendance had been rising steadily during the time the committee was at work and that their calculations had become obsolete. The new figures showed that the proposed building was only just large enough to meet present needs; any further growth would necessitate expensive alterations. The committee started house hunting again. This time, however, they had a much clearer idea of the capabilities of the Fellowship and a revised notion of the space requirements.

The Carbondale City Library had started construction of a new building, and the old building was for sale. Over an eighteen month period the price had dropped from $25,000 to $15,000. Originally designed for use as a church (Episcopalian), the building suited the Fellowship's needs admirably. Its location on the corner of a main street (University Avenue), within walking distance of both the university and the downtown area, was fine. It was recommended by the committee that a bid of $13,500 be made for the property, and the Fellowship so voted. At the time, our bid was the only one submitted, but shortly afterwards we were informed that a bid had been received from the local Jewish congregation. We were given the opportunity of revising our bid. Consternation. In a long and prolix business meeting it was voted to raise the bid to $15,300 after a new poll to revise pledges and bond subscriptions. Our bid was the high one (in fact our original bid would have been high), and on the seventh of December, 1956, the First Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale realized its ambition to own a meetinghouse. After much debate it was decided to call it a meetinghouse instead of a church.

Twenty-five members bought bonds amounting to $6,525. A local bank let us borrow $9,200 on a mortgage loan. Payment schedules were set up to pay off the entire debt in ten years.

The purchase was completed in December, 1956, but the library was unable to move into its new building until about two months later. In February it made the move and the members of the Fellowship were faced with the large task of cleaning, painting, moving and removing bookshelves, and the like. After about two weeks of hard work involving nearly every member, the building was ready for the first service, which was held in early March, 1957. (Records are missing, but Bill Rice, who was treasurer at the time, states that the first service was on March third.)

The church school was able to get underway in the basement using equipment moved from Buckles School as well as tables and chairs which the library had left behind. Chairs were borrowed from a funeral home and used for seating for the adult congregation for several months before the Fellowship obtained its own.

In its fifth year, 1957/58, the Fellowship came of age. The Wayside Pulpit was established; we began to participate in denominational affairs, joining the Abraham Lincoln Area Council at this time; and on the cover of the program for the official dedication of the meetinghouse, on December 15, 1957, we proclaimed:

Freedom is our method in religion. Reason is our guide in religion. Fellowship is our spirit in religion. Character is our test in religion. Service is our aim in religion.

After five years the members could take pride in the fact that they had created an organization that was meeting a need in the community for liberal religion and social concern. They had proved their willingness to support it with money and time and work. They now looked forward to the next five years as a time for expansion.

The Second Quinquennium: 1958/59- 1962/63

The second five years of the Fellowship was a period of rapid growth, paralleling the expansion of the university and city population. We had scarcely settled into the building at 301 West Elm Street when it became evident that additional space was needed, particularly for the church school. The basement room, chopped up with temporary dividers to accommodate various age groups, was inadequate in size and was a babel of noise. Even with the use of the cubbyhole rooms in the southwest corners of the upstairs and downstairs floors, plus a borrowed room at the Center for the Blind, there was not enough space for the increasingly larger church school enrollment. There was more and more serious discussion of some sort of expansion or relocation of fellowship activities.

Various possibilities for procuring additional and more satisfactory space were explored: purchasing one of the houses on lots adjacent to the Fellowship meetinghouse, constructing a larger building somewhere, or expanding as much as possible the building at 301 West Elm. A long range planning committee was set up and charged with making a study of the problem and possible solutions, and, eventually, presenting a recommendation to the Board and Congregation. Morton and Jean Kenner offered the Fellowship a building lot free of charge on their property east of Wall Street, and several members proposed that we construct a Fuller geodesic dome on the Kenner lot or elsewhere.

After much study and discussion the Long Range Planning Committee, on March 12, 1961, recommended that the Fellowship expand the building at 301 West Elm by adding to the current structure what our member architect, John Lonergan, called two "boxes," one on the Elm Street side and another and larger one on the University Avenue side, these additions to provide six new church school rooms downstairs and a library and board room, plus about 100 extra seating spaces in the auditorium upstairs. This additional construction was eventually to provide toilet facilities both upstairs and downstairs and limited kitchen space on each floor. Before the plans were completed, the Board, not without considerable debate, voted on August 7, 1961 to add to the building program as an independent project the construction of an organ described by Wesley Morgan, the chief proponent, as "a classical instrument with enough romantic elements to make Brahms sound good." The actual collecting of used parts and construction were to be done through volunteer work of the membership under the supervision of Morgan and a paid graduate assistant from SlU, James McEvers, who had already built one organ. The cost was expected not to exceed $3,500.

John Lonergan of the congregation agreed to serve as a voluntary supervising architect for the Building Committee and the Congregation. After consultation with various possible construction firms the Build lng Committee and the Congregation, on May 31, 1961, awarded a contract for the building expansion for the sum of $18,050 plus extras to be agreed upon by our architect and the contractor. By June 8, 1961, this sum had been increased by extras to $19,050, with more to be negotiated as the building proceeded.

The construction went on through the summer of 1961 and into the fall. The first meeting in the expanded building was set for October 8, 1961, and it was held amid a clutter of scrap boards and sawdust. By that time the addition of extra items had brought the total anticipated cost of expansion to $21,500 as reported by an architect. By November 12, 1961, the total had crept up to about $27,000, including the cost of a second heating system. The organ was to be ready by November 26, 1961, practically all paid for by special donations, some of which came from persons outside the Fellowship.

Upon completion of construction details on the building on January 3, 1962, the contractor presented the Fellowship with a bill, including his version of cost of extras, that would bring the total cost of the expansion to around $40,000, more than $13,000 beyond our own figures. As neither he nor our own architect and committee had kept meticulous records of agree-merits on extras there was room for legal disagreement on our liability. The Board of Trustees authorized the president to place the matter in the hands of a lawyer for advice and possible negotiation. John Rendleman, the lawyer employed, who, by the way, provided his services free of charge, advised us to reject the bill thus obliging our contractor to sue, with the whole dispute to be settled either by negotiation or court decision. To cut a long agonizing story short, we hired a trial lawyer, William Wolff of Murphysboro, who saw us through a court trial which finally, a year and a half later, resulted in a net saving to the Fellowship of a little over $1,000 on the contractor's claim, not nearly as much as Mr. Wolff or we had hoped for.

Faced with the necessity of raising $8,625 additional money to meet the court-ordered settlement with our contractor, the Fellowship turned to the chairman of its Finance Committee, Robert Layer, for a plan we could handle. He worked out a plan involving the issuance of new bonds and some bank borrowing that promised to clear the debt by 1979. The Board and Congregation accepted the recommended financial program which was then implemented successfully.

Although the building expansion and consequent litigation over costs dominated the thinking and took much of the time and energy of the officers and others of the membership during this five year period many more significant things were going on within the total fellowship program.

The organ had meanwhile been completed, and it was formally dedicated with a recital on June 5, 1962. The following excerpt from the program notes on that occasion show once again the kind of extraordinary support and cooperation which arises once a decision has been made by the Fellowship:

The pipe organ was designed by James M. McEvers in consultation with Wesley Morgan. By judicious selection from advertisements, Mr. McEvers assembled the various parts of the organ from all parts of the country and rebuilt them to fit our needs and facilities. The pipes, made by the Roosevelt Organ Co., around 1895, came from a church in Washington, D.C. The console, made by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. some twelve years ago, was located in Massachusetts. The chests (on which the pipes sit, and which contain part of the mechanism permitting them to sound) were made around twenty-five years ago by the Kimball Organ Co. New mechanical parts that were necessary were either purchased from the Reisner Organ Co. or made by Mr. McEvers himself. The blowar which supplies the wind was made by a Swiss firm and was purchased new.

     Several of our own people, it should be added, contributed an impressive number of man-hours. In the initial stages many helped in as many ways: Mort Kenner, John and Hugh Olmsted, Russ Trimble, George McClure, Dick Franklin, and Joe Leonard come to mind. To Bill Rice went the most thankless job: building a movable platform on which to set the console, only later to have the contraption abandoned. In particular should be mentioned Will Bottje, who literally placed himself on call and willingly responded to innumerable calls; Mike Hoshiko, who painstakingly ran down hundreds of electrical wires and soldered them in their proper places; and Ed Adams, who, it seems, simply did everything else that was to be done, and to whom we owe the attractive manner in which the organ was finished.

     The above accounts only for the man power. The woman power involved is not insignificant. Before installation, all 942 pipes were thoroughly washed and cleaned by Lillian Adams, Mabelle Moore, and Laura Wieman. And to the women was left the finishing touch: the drapes on each side of the Swell chamber are the combined efforts of Lillian Adams and Claribel McDaniel.

     All within our Fellowship gave moral support -- at times, most urgently needed. Many made additional contributions toward the costs of the organ. It seems appropriate, however, to mention at this time those outside the Unitarian Fellowship whose interest in the musical activity of the community prompted generous donations. We acknowledge with gratitude the following: Mr. William Baker, Mr. William Betterton, Mr. Claude Coleman, Mr. Robert Faner, Mrs. Lucy O'Connor, Mrs. Beverly Parsch, and Miss Madeleine Smith...

It is true that the minutes of the Board and Fellowship meetings are filled with details of discussion of problems and proposals connected with the physical plant: in addition to debate over such major items as whether to expand or build anew and whether or not to add an organ, we were concerned with the proper floor covering, pulpit lights, chairs, hymnals, a handrail for the outside steps, sound insulation on the inner stair, and the like. Nevertheless, the real life of the Fellowship can be detected in decisions involving church-state relations, integration, free speech, and other matters of deep social concern.

A strong church school program was being developed and implemented downstairs, largely under the dedicated leadership of the women of the Fellowship. The Liberal Religious Youth high school group and the Channing Club (an active college-age unit) were organized and supported by the Fellowship. The congregation supported, and in many cases supplied leadership for, numbers of significant social action projects: the establishment of a city Human Rights Commission; active public defense of the principle of separation of church and state; support of the local Humane Society; the integration ofBlacks in housing and service areas, both here and in the Deep South, financial support of the Blind Center; supplying a meeting place for Girl Scouts, for the American Civil Liberties Union, for women's clubs, for dissenting groups, and others; the instigation of a Memorial Society for rational funeral and burial arrangements; the setting up and administration of the Thrift Shop for Northeast Carbondale; a statistical study of job capabilities and needs of Carbondale Blacks; and so on. Additionally, individual members of the Fellowship assumed leading roles in numbers of local liberal movements and organizations such as The League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Association of University Professors, the American Humanist Association, and the like, deriving encouragement and support from the Fellowship congregation.

These five years were also a period of increasing participation in denominational affairs. As mentioned earlier, we had joined the newly formed Abraham Lincoln Council of Liberal Churches, participating in its activities. We arranged for an official visit to the Fellowship of our National Fellowship Director, Munroe Husbands; and in January, 1961, we supplied as chief speaker of "Religion in Life Week" at SIU the Reverend Jack Mendelsohn, who also spoke to student groups at our Fellowship meetinghouse. The next year we brought the Reverend Kenneth Patton to the campus and the meetinghouse. Our financial contributions to the national organization had steadily increased until we were recognized as an outstanding supporter of the denomination.

National denominational recognition came to us in another way, too: in 1958 a resolution of the Fellowship was adopted by the Annual Meeting of the AUA as part of the official position of the entire denomination for that year. In the winter of 1957-58 Henry Nelson Wieman lad a discussion of American foreign policy in one of our regular evening meetings. Out of that discussion came the suggestion that the Fellowship formulate a resolution (or resolutions) representing our thinking on the topic, for presentation to the Annual Meeting. A committee was appointed including Willis Moore and Henry Wieman. Moore was asked to write a preliminary draft to be submitted to the committee and later to the congregation. Two or three resolutions were drawn up, including one on "Cultural Interchange" and one on "Democratic Aspirations of Colonial People." The first was accepted by the Boston office, and was later adoptad as an element in the official policy proclamation for the year. The successful resolution ran as follows:

WHEREAS: Cultural interchange and the free movement of persons across national boundary lines are prerequisite to mutual understanding, appreciation, and friendship among all peoples; and

WHEREAS: Public opinion in the major communities of the world seems now to favor such an effort in the interest of peace;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the American Unitarian Association urge upon the government of the United States:

  1. The use of its influence toward the removal of every barrier to such interchange, and

2. An immediate and massive expansion of its present cultural exchange program, with no restrictions as to the national or cultural areas with which such interchange may be effected.

A major and lasting contribution of the Fellowship to the intellectual and religious environment of the region was through our Sunday service program -- in the form of a liberal religious church school downstairs, evening meetings for high school and college age youth, and our weekly "talks" upstairs. Taking advantage of the presence on the university campus of a large number of distinguished visiting professors, a surprisingly large portion of whom turned out to be Unitarians or kindred souls, our program committee arranged series of outstanding sermons and discussions liberally sprinkled with nationally known speakers.

Foremost among these distinguished visitors were Henry Nelson Wieman, an ordained Unitarian minister, George Counts, John Childs, R. Buckminster Fuller, George Axtelle, Charles Colby, Clyde Miller, Frank Mott, Stuart Queen, Eugene Lawler, and Harlow Shapley. In later years Paul Schilpp and Milton McLean were to be added to the list. Others from the university, particularly William Henry Harris, helped us out with sermons. And some very good programs were provided by individuals not connected with the university. It is no wonder that with all this talent to draw on the congregation voted, time and again, a preference for lay-led services.

The content of such programs was thought-provoking; and occasionally even the mere circumstance of a speaker's presence is memorable. We recall, for instance, when Professor Buckminster Fuller gave his first talk to the Fellowship on November 27, 1960. When he rose to begin his address he stood in characteristic "Bucky" fashion, rocking slightly back and forth, eyes closed, with his hands making a sort of tent in front of his chest. He stood there in that pose for what seemed to most of us an interminable interval, perhaps two or three minutes. Those of us up front were astounded to see tears beginning to run down his cheeks. Then he opened his eyes, upward toward the ceiling, and said: "This is a moving occasion for me. I have seven Unitarian ministers in my family background, but this is the first time I have been asked to speak in a Unitarian church."

Another of the advantages of the lay-led type of service was the possibility it presented of using the pulpit for the airing of the cause of the disadvantaged or of dissenters. Thus we heard from Blacks and their friends during the period of turmoil over civil rights and integration, and later, from women on women's rights. We liberalized the meaning of Sunday service to include worship through the dance, through plays, and in terms of music, both classical and avant-garde, sophisticated and folk. In short we established during this period the reality of a free pulpit.

The Third Quinquennium: 1963/64- 1967/68

As the Fellowship entered its eleventh year in 1963 its members had reason for satisfaction in past accomplishments: membership had grown to 140, 124 of whom could be classed as active; the building had been renovated and enlarged. The year began with change. The revised constitution called for an enlarged Board of Trustees, and four members were elected instead of just one. The staggered terms of one, two, or three years were assigned by lot. Unfortunately, three changes of officers also became necessary during the year. William Rice, the treasurer, had to resign in November because of the time needed to finish his doctoral work while teaching. The demand on his time was only temporary, and in 1964/65 he became president of the Fellowship. He was replaced by Leslie Gates, who continued as treasurer through 1966/67. The secretary, Mary Jo Richter, resigned and was replaced by Lillian Adams, who continued as secretary through 1969/70. Finally, the president, Morton Kenner, resigned in February, 1964, in order to go to Kenya on a sabbatical leave. The vice-president, Patsy Rose Hoshiko, would have been our first woman president had she not resolutely refused to accept the title when she assumed the office. She continued to the end of the year as acting president.

In October of 1963 the Abraham Lincoln Area Conference held its annual meeting in Carbondale with the Fellowship acting as host; Wilbur McDaniel had been elected president of the Conference the previous fall. The Conference theme was "Religion and the Arts," and in addition to an organ recital by Wesley Morgan there were talks by Kenneth Patton, Christopher Moore, and Henry Nelson Wieman. The Sunday morning speaker was Ellsworth Smith. Of the seventy-two who attended, thirty-eight were from out of town. The ALAC met again the following October but became inactive shortly thereafter. Fellowship participation in denominational affairs, however, continued, and in 1965 Willis Moore was elected to a three-year term on the Central Midwest District Board. When he resigned after a year and a half his term was finished by Wilbur McDaniel.

In 1968 Norman Benson, who had joined the Fellowship in 1966, went to 25 Beacon Street to become Director of the Division of Education and Programs.

Over the period under consideration there was at least one speaker a year who was a minister or an official of the Unitarian-Universalist organization. In May of 1967 John F. Hayward came down from the Meadville Theological School to speak. This was our first acquaintance with Jack, who later in 1968 became a member of the Fellowship. Another speaker at this time was the Reverend Lester Mondale, president of the Fellowship of Religious Humanists and brother of our present Vice-President of the United States Walter Mondale.

Concern with civil rights was an important theme during this period. Money was raised to send six students, three of whom were members of the Fellowship, to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. In 1962 the Fellowship had recommended to the city that a Commission on Human Rights be formed. In 1963 a Fellowship resolution favoring civil rights legislation appeared as a letter in the Southern Illinoisan newspaper. Still, there was some dissatisfaction that the Fellowship as an organization was not more active. At one Board meeting it was stated that the Fellowship did not participate as a body because some members might disagree. One person, not a member but a rather constant visitor who flew up from Cairo for the Sunday services, did stop attending because of our views on civil rights.

The policy developed out of such situations was that individual or committee participation in sensitive or potentially divisive activities might be supported or encouraged but that the Fellowship as a whole would maintain an official neutrality to avoid polarizing the membership. The arm of the Fellowship for those who wished to play an active role was the Social Action Committee.

The Fellowship became aware of student unrest and the "generation gap" somewhat ahead of the general public. In 1964 Brent Davis, an instructor and graduate student in Speech, formed a Humanist Student Association which attracted to its membership a number of university students, some of whom were also members of the Fellowship. Davis, too, was associated with the Fellowship. Fleeing from a strict Texas fundamentalist background, he elected to turn, stand, and fight in Carbondale. A precursor of the student radicals, Davis was violently and abusively anti-clerical and tried to involve the Fellowship in his crusade. When we failed to sanction some of his intemperate demonstrations he dropped out of the Fellowship.

Also in the mid-Sixties, problems developed with the LRY. Rumors abounded, and children of Fellowship members dropped out of the LRY in disaffection or declined to join it in the first place. Toward the end there were no Unitarians in the LRY at all. By 1967 it was officially pronounced dead by the Board. It was primarily concern over the troubles of the youth group that led the Congregation in 1966 to appoint a committee to look into the desirability and feasibility of getting a minister or youth director. It did not prove to be feasible.

In 1961 the Fellowship established a Funeral Committee. In 1964 it was renamed the Memorial Society Committee, a name that more precisely indicated its purpose. In 1965 the committee was discontinued because it had been successful in establishing a Memorial Society which was independent of the Fellowship and open to the entire community. The society has never been able to attract many members, and it remains that a majority have always been members of the Fellowship.

At about the same time a Supper Club was organized to sponsor a series of dinners in members' homes for groups of about eight persons. Earlier such endeavors had had limited success, but this time it did catch on and has continued.

The president for 1964/65, William Rice, gave a farewell address which was a brief history of the Fellowship. Some of his notes have served as sources for this history. The talk was so well received that the Board, in June, 1965, appointed Cameron Garbutt, Noble Kelley, and Emmet Harris to expand Rice's talk into a full history of the Fellowship and recommended that an anthology of Sunday talks be compiled to accompany it.

In 1966 one of the Fellowship's most distinguished members, Henry Nelson Wieman, retired to Grinnell, Iowa. Wieman, one of the country's leading theologians, had come to Carbondale in 1956 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Philosophy at SlU. To many of the members it seemed that the Fellowship was an embodiment, however imperfect, of Wieman's concept of "creative interchange." Wieman generously allowed the Fellowship to record several of his talks on tape and to issue two of them as a long-playing record in 1966. His death in 1976 was felt here by all who had known him.

The Fourth Quinquennium: 1968/69- 1972/73

Inevitably, as we approach more recent times the details in these notes decrease. Incidents have not acquired a sufficient patina of age to be memorable. Perhaps, too, the writer, having been a member for so long, now views incidents as commonplace which a newer member would find significant. Some of the diminution of anecdotal content is also attributable to the maturity, growth, and stability of the Fellowship: the motion of a single person can capsize a canoe, but an entire track team can jog about the deck of a river steamer and scarcely affect the trim.

This period was marked by the Vietnam war protest movement(s) and the student riots. Many Fellowship members were individually active participants in the anti-war movement, though not in the riots. Perhaps this is due to the dearth of student members during this time. It may be significant that during this time when plywood seemed more common in Carbondale windows than glass, the large windows of the meetinghouse were not vandalized.

There are in the minutes of the Fellowship two resolutions and a proposed statement which may be of historical interest. One resolution addressed to the State's Attorney and other prosecution offices and to the Southern Illinoisan newspaper was as follows:

WHEREAS, A state of civil emergency has recently existed in the City of Carbon-dale and on the Campus of Southern Illinois University, and many persons have been arrested during this period of emergency; and
WHEREAS, In many instances the Police and the National Guard, both as individuals and as groups, performed with discipline and restraint, often in the face of serious provocation; but in some instances they may have exceeded their authority, in part because of the severe nature of the situation; and
WHEREAS, Many of the arrests made during this period may represent genuine infractions of law, including temporary laws then in force; but some of the arrests may not, on closer examination, be sustainable; be it therefore
RESOLVED, That this Fellowship urges those individuals who have responsibility for prosecuting charges resulting from these arrests to offer every protection afforded by the Due Process of Law and to maintain both the letter of the law and a spirit of justice and equity; and be it
RESOLVED, That every effort be made to identify individuals whose arrests are questionable so that such individuals may be spared the expense of providing for formal defense; and be it specifically
RESOLVED, That this Fellowship commends the tenor of the procedures being used by the State's Attorney's Office, as described by State's Attorney [Richard] Richman in the Southern Illinoisan (21 May 1970, page 3).

The other resolution, addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and officials of Southern Illinois University, also pertains to the student riots:

WHEREAS, A state of civil emergency has recently existed in the City of Carbondale and on the Campus of Southern Illinois University; and many students have been arrested during this period of emergency; and the normal operation of Southern Illinois University has been halted; and
WHEREAS, Southern Illinois University, in an attempt to quell these disturbances, instituted a policy of summary suspension for any student[s] who were arrested; and
WHEREAS, The appeal procedure for these suspensions requires that an individual prove himself innocent, rather than that the University prove him guilty; and
WHEREAS, Some arrests made during this period were of dubious validity, as shown by the proportion of dismissals reported in the Southern Illinoisen (22 May 1970, page three, four of thirteen cases dismissed at first hearing); and
WHEREAS, Some of the valid arrests made during this period may have been for actions which have little or no bearing on the acceptability of a person as a student at Southern Illinois University; and
WHEREAS, This Fellowship has urged the proper authorities to be scrupulous in the discharge of their duties with respect to these arrests (attached resolution); be it therefore
RESOLVED, That this Fellowship expresses a deep concern that some innocent individuals may be denied an education at Southern Illinois University by a policy instituted in a period of crisis; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Fellowship urges Southern Illinois University either to revoke all such suspensions or tentatively revoke all suspensions until the University can provide conclusive evidence that an individual is not an acceptable member of its community; and be it
RESOLVED, That this Fellowship rejects the principle that a person be considered guilty until he prove himself innocent.

The Proposed Statement which appears in the minutes book with handwritten emendations is an endorsement of the Vietnam Moratorium and the November marches in Washington. Handwritten at the bottom of the page are the words: "Unanimous action of quarterly meeting of Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale."

The Fellowship was not totally preoccupied with this issue alone during this period. There were always the everyday matters and other concerns to which it had to apply itself in order to sustain its vitality.

The idea of employing a minister, which was first considered in 1965, came up again in 1969. A committee was appointed to consider the idea and once again reported that the Fellowship could not afford to call a minister. An outgrowth of the 1969 report was the creation in 1971 of the Sabbatical Project.

During this period there was growing concern about the religious education program. Enrollment dropped off, and it became increasingly difficult to get members to volunteer to serve "downstairs." Morale among the R.E. teachers was not helped when one of our long-standing members came upstairs one Sunday morning and was asked by a new member if this were her first visit to the Fellowship. By 1972 R.E. activities had stopped, and two high school girls were paid to babysit with the few infants and toddlers who were brought on Sunday mornings.

Several vigorous attempts to resurrect the LRY were made in 1968 and 1969, and the group did carry on for a few years, partially in cooperation with a young people's group from the Presbyterian Church across the street. In 1968 the Channing Club account was closed, the nadir for that group.

At the end of this period, in 1972, the UUA made available its newly developed sex education program. The Fellowship considered using it in the R.E. program, held workshops to acquaint the parents with the program, and bought the materials, but the program was never used. It is believed that there was difficulty getting anyone to volunteer to take the training sessions for teachers, or it may have been that there were no high school students in the R.E. program to take the course.

Participation in denominational affairs continued at about the same level as before. In 1968/69 and 1969/70 the Fellowship made $400 contributions to the Black Affairs Council. One or two denominational speakers a year gave talks.

There was a decrease in membership over this period from about 140 in 1968/69 to 107 in 1972/73. There was also a slight drop in financial support, reflecting the unsettled economic conditions. After reaching a high of $9,755 in 1969/70, the budget dipped to $9,005 in 1972/73. It did not surpass the 1969/70 figure until 1976/77, when it jumped to $11,188.

In 1971/72 we had on display for some months the armature of Fredda Brilliant's large bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the statue itself now to be seen in Tavistock Square in London.

We learned that same year that the organ was in need of major repairs. It was decided, with great regret, that not all of these repairs could be undertaken because of the expense. However, sufficient work was done so that the instrument could still be played, but the full range of its capabilities has been denied us ever since.

The Fifth Quinquennium: 1973/74- 1977/78

Like the fourth quinquennium, this period has been marked by stability, with some interesting developments and significant accomplishments. There have been some problems and emergencies to be dealt with, but we have had the satisfaction of seeing the revival of the religious education program and the very near approach of the final payment on our building debt.

The number of members on our list, including as usual some inactive ones, dropped slightly and then recovered, ending the period with 103 on the most recent list. The amount of contributions from members and friends followed a similar pattern.

The most dramatic and happy event of this period has been the new spirit brought to our Sunday School by new and younger members, assisted by a few of the faithful older members. The ending of R.E. activities in 1972, mentioned earlier, turned out to be temporary. During the next three years there was a handful of children meeting with one or two adults. In the spring of 1975 Jean Icenogle invited Betty Maag, an R.E. consultant from St. Louis, to meet with a group from the Fellowship. As a result a committee was formed to plan an R.E. program for the fall of that year. Since then we have had a Sunday School registration of between twenty and twenty-three with an average attendance of fifteen guided by fifteen teachers or aides, volunteering off and on during those two years. 1976/77 found the bones of the church school fleshing out into a more organized curriculum. In January of 1976 the LRY was even revived for a five-week program, and now in 1977/78 it has been reestablished as a continuing organization.

There may be those who find significance in this "wonderful Resurrection" of the Sunday School and LRY that the curriculum starts out with a preschool series entitled "The Haunted House." The first through fourth grades studied Biblical characters, the fifth and sixth grades studied "Beginnings" as portrayed by various cultures, and the seventh and eighth grades have, when not attending adult programs upstairs, studied Unitarian Universalists.

A second thing to cause great satisfaction is the approach of the final payment on the building debt. As this history has already noted, the Fellowship went into debt more than $15,000 in 1956 to buy the building, and in 1963, after the building addition was paid for, found itself over $37,000 in debt. This amount seemed immense to the young fellowship. It seemed a very long time until January, 1979, when the last payment was scheduled to be made, and the $3,600 a year we would have to raise to make the payments seemed a great burden.

Ten years later, at the beginning of this quinquennium, the debt had been reduced more than the schedule had provided for, largely because some bondholders had donated their bonds to the Fellowship. An updated schedule showed that the final payment could be made in July, 1978.

In January, 1976, the Congregation approved a revision of the plan which reduced the annual payment on debt to $1,800 and extended the payment time again to early 1979. The change was made in order to be able to add more money to the building repair and maintenance fund.

As of January, 1978, the debt is less than $2,500 and wilt be paid by early 1979. To all of us, but most particularly to all those who were here in 1963 when the debt was at its peak, this is great news. We rejoice at our accomplishment to date and we will rejoice still more when that last dollar has been paid.

The operating budget - the part of the total that is not used to service the debt - has continued to be adequate for most purposes, although mairite-nance of the building has been somewhat neglected and it has become somewhat shabby. However, the Congregational action of January, 1976, made it possible to start catching up and much more is planned to be accomplished soon.

In spite of inflation, emergencies, and a very informal process of soliciting financial support, we have always managed to pay our bills on time. As one member observed, we always manage "to stagger into the black" year after year.

The Fellowship has remained faithful to the precedent that was established in its early years of contributing its share to the Unitarian Universalist Association. Its contribution has gradually increased and in 1976/77 reached a high of $935. For several years it has been on the UUA Honor Roll.

The Fellowship contribution to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has been $150 for many years. However, our members contribute to the UUSC so generously by buying Christmas cards and in other ways that our total contribution is roughly three times the $150and is commendable.

During the early part of this period the members of the Building Maintenance Committee became increasingly aware that the meetinghouse needed much work which would require a considerable increase in expenditures. However, they hoped that if no emergencies occurred, they could get along at the then current level of maintenance until the debt was paid in 1978.

It was a great blow when in the fall of 1975 a vandal or vandals threw rocks through four of the panes of glass in the large window that faces Elm Street. It cost about $800 for the glass and the labor for replacement.

That event was the spark which caused the Finance Committee to propose the revised debt repayment plan mentioned earlier, which allowed more of the annual budget to be shifted to repair and maintenance of the building. This action made it possible to pay for the window repair and to have the exterior of the building repainted in the summer of 1976. In 1977 the two flat roofs received repairs, needed to stop some persistent leaks and prevent others from occurring. In the fall of 1977 a group of members led by Robert Lembcke installed steel rods to provide support for the east wall, which had shifted slightly. This action has made it possible to proceed with plans for the redecoration of the interior on the main floor.

During the severe winter weather of early 1977 the gas meter froze, closing down the furnace and causing the freezing of several pipes. It was our great fortune to have members, Edward Adams, Darrell Harrison, and Bob Lembcke, who were able to repair the pipes and get the building into full use quickly.

Special note should be made of the repainting, complete with murals, of the walls of the nursery room by the faithful babysitters, Mitsie and Sumi Hoshiko and Marian Bottje. In addition, the stairwell was painted and the stairs carpeted to muffle the sound of "baby elephant feet" bounding up the steps when the adult programs knew not the bounds of time. If it is true that "in my Father's house there are many mansions," have you ever thought of the millions of angels it must take to keep them in gleaming repair? Being ~Jnitarians we can only speculate about such other-worldly matters, but weo know we have many earthly angels keeping our meetinghouse in physical repair.

The adult programs have continued to be of a varied nature and a high quality. Since late in the previous quinquennium, an effort has been underway to broaden still further the participation of the members in the services. Instead of having Wilbur McDaniel preside at most of the services, many of the members are now called upon to preside. They have also been encouraged to modify the regular service order to fit the themes of the services and their preferences.

Not surprisingly in the context of the times, many more women are now participating than in the past, both as presiders and speakers. Many programs have dealt with issues that particularly concern women.

A resolution which was narrowly passed in a surprise move at the May, 1976, annual meeting caused a minor crisis in the Fellowship and intrigued a number of people in several churches and denominational offices where our weekly bulletin is received and read. Although the hastily passed resolution was later rescinded and a substitute amendment adopted, it bears repeating because it is so representative of the social climate of these passionate years of feminist expression: "Whereas the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship is a fei-Iowship of people and not of men, and whereas the use in our services of masculine nouns and pronouns when referring to the whole human race is derogatory toward and spiritually exclusive of women, Be it resolved that in our readings and hymns we will substitute words such as 'people' for the generic 'men,' 'person' for 'man,' and 'tey, ter, tern' for 'he, his, him.' It shall be the responsibility of the person presiding at services to provide euphonic, non-sexist alternatives whenever difficulties arise."

As we recall, the proposal of the resolution had been triggered, on that very same Sunday morning, by the Responsive Reading - No. 381, "The First Lesson in Charity" -- which is sprinkled with frequent references to maleness in nouns and pronouns. However, the inflexibility of the resolution set up shock-waves among the congregation, which resulted in the appointment of an ad hoc Resolution Study Committee which recommended rescinding the above resolution and adopting the following substitute resolution: "Whereas the Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale is a fellowship of people and not of men, this Congregation resolves that we will try to use non-sexist terms in referring to the human race, and, whenever terms such as'mankind' 'brotherhood,' 'man,' etc. are used in our services they should be interpreted in the generic sense." It was passed 20 - 1 with six abstentions.

Besides this internal recognition of the claims of the sisterhood, there were many members working actively outside for state passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, for abortion rights, and for the Carbondale Women's Center. Also indicative of the times were the equally fervent efforts to aid Resource Reclamation, Inc., the North East Community Development Congress, Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation serving migrant workers, Carbondale Environmental Council, Meals on Wheels, CROP Blanket Fund, and the Thrift Shop, the latter three projects being cooperative with Church Women United. These actions and sporadic help for needy families found sympathetic ears and helping hands amongst our members and frequent financial aid from the Margaret Axtelle Memorial Fund. In an attempt to spark more interest in doing our share in the Thrift Shop and widen participation in Church Women United, an attempt has been made to revive our Women's Alliance. Unlike the Sunday School, the Alliance refuses resurrection. Perhaps it is because Unitarian women could no longer schedule yet another meeting to attend regularly.

At the time of this writing, the Fellowship members are looking forward to the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary in the spring of 1978. Committees are at work compiling this history, planning the anniversary celebration, and planning how the meetinghouse is to be redecorated.

In celebrating our Fellowship's twenty-fifth anniversary,

The Sixth Quinquennium: 1978/79 - 1982/83

Budget: 78: $9,350; 79: $9,690; 80: $9,925; 81: $10,975; 82: $11,615
Membership; 78: 92; 79: 101; 80: 95; 81: 103; 82: 110
New Members (Signatures in Membership Book, June through May): 78: 23; 79: 12; 80: 11; 81: 6; 82: 17

The Fellowship began its sixth quinquennium with a sense of exhilaration at having survived twenty-five years, and even more at having survived the 25th anniversary (May 1978) celebration and the labors attendant thereon. In May 1979, the material collected in preparing the Fellowship History was deposited in Morris Library, and money was voted to microfilm them and give the copy to the Meadville library. Another great source of joy at the beginning of this period was the fact that in January 1979 the mortgage was finally paid off.

 An all-day session on Focusing Our Goals was held on August 27, 1978, hosted by Muriel and Jack Hayward. Organized by Dick Thomas, the meeting had two phases, one dealing with ends (intrafellowship growth, personal growth, community involvement) and the other with means (planning: fiscal, physical, program; UU denominational; increased membership and commitment). A report was issued in October, that is still instructive. There is a sense of deja vu when one reads, for example, that the problem with our Thrift Shop support is that ". . . only one of our members [Lenore Brooks] has been willing to carry this load . . . ." Some of the suggestions have been carried out -- the Fellowship as a whole does take more interest in denominational affairs and is more supportive of those members with an interest in such.

One of the recommendations was that we should eliminate "sexist language from our formal and informal gatherings and communications." Feelings were strong on this subject. The Social Action Committee, after a "near-unanimous" vote of the membership, had written in March to selected Illinois State legislators, urging them to support the ERA. It was suggested that the Fellowship use non-gender-specific ter, tay, tem to replace he/she her/him, his/hers wherever appropriate, but language, like conscience, is not amenable to legislation. Some members, in an excess of zeal, began to "correct" the hymnals (the emendations can still be seen in some hymnals) forcing the Board to remind the membership that "no properties or materials of the Fellowship may be altered . . . without permission . . . ." In 1980, 50 copies of 25 Familiar Hymns in New Form (non-sexist) were ordered. They received some use, but like the "corrected" hymnals, are now rendered superfluous by our new 1993 hymnals. The following may show to what degree we have succeeded in eliminating sex-bias from our behavior, if not our language. Over the first 25 years, three women served three terms as president, but over the past 15 years, four women have served a total of eight terms.

Another recommendation was that we should try to reach out to the community in order to make wider use of the Meetinghouse than for just our own meetings. It was further reported that there was a sentiment against charging for outside use of the space. In 1978 the mandatory fee of $15 for use of the building was cancelled. The development of a policy for use of the building has been an ongoing topic for discussion since we first became property owners. Probably no policy has been changed as often as the building use policy. The latest is dated 1991 (see App. X).

Community ties were also strengthened when we became a "core member" of the Carbondale Interchurch Council and the Social Action committee was given discretion to act under the Interchurch program and to participate in additional Council programs.

The Social Action committee was involved in relief for Cambodia, the Southern Counties Action Movement (SCAM), aid for migrant workers, and the nuclear freeze movement. In connection with the nuclear freeze movement, they bought a copy of the film The Last Epidemic - The Medical Consequences of Nuclear War and made it available to various local groups. They also contributed money and work to the Mid-America Peace Project.

In 1979, the Saint-Germain Mission Liberal Catholic Church rented the use of a room for their Sunday morning (8:00 am) mass. One objection to their occupancy was that they might burn incense; it is not recorded whether an incense prohibition was included in the rental agreement. When we converted that room into the office, they moved into the downstairs, main RE room. There were candles, and an altar which could be moved out of the way before our RE classes came in. Of course, there was occasional friction such as the unauthorized use of the piano during the week for piano lessons, and a sign which we requested they put out only on Sundays, because it overshadowed our sign making it appear the building was theirs - but the arrangement lasted until August 1984.

Other groups to use the building, during this period were The Jackson Stage Company, Nuclear Freeze, The League of Women Voters, an area youth orchestra, and a Zen practice group. Alcoholics Anonymous began in September 1981; by 1983 there were AA groups using it nightly and they are still with us in 1993.

Preoccupation with building use is matched only by preoccupation with building (and organ) maintenance -- and the costs thereof. Roof leaks are a recurring motif. We were even struck by a truck in 1980, but the repairs to the Northwest corner were covered by insurance. In 1979, the minimum necessary organ repairs were estimated at $7,000-8,000 with $25,000-35,000 needed in order to achieve optimum performance. The latter work was postponed indefinitely. In 1983, $13,500 was authorized for roof and other repairs. Improvements during this period include the installation of the telephone, and the donation of a stove and refrigerator for the downstairs kitchen in 1980, and the installation of a public address system in 1981.

The Board was surprised to learn that Minna Duncan, who was serving on the Board at the time of her death in 1979, had left the Fellowship a bequest of 10% of her financial estate not to exceed $10,000 for a stained glass window. The writer was on the Board at the time and has a vague recollection that the bequest was refused, because no one wanted a stained glass window. Unfortunately, there is no further mention of the matter in the minutes. In 1981, Egon Kamarasy offered a sculpture by Fredda Brilliant in memory of his wife, Edith, who had been a member. The Board agreed to accept it under the same conditions which the S.I.U. Museum set for accepting gifts -- the donor would relinquish all rights to the piece and the Fellowship would be free to display it anywhere. However, because of the unavoidable delay in Board action, the piece was disposed of before we could indicate our acceptance.

The Sabbatical Fund, established earlier to attract a minister on leave from tem own church, was finally given up. The UUA's Minister on Loan program proved a disappointment when we learned that there were only two ministers available in the program and that they were only for Fellowships that wanted help in becoming a church. Those who had donated to the fund were given the option of having their donations returned or being put into the Organ Fund. We turned to a weekend ministry and welcomed Revs. Paul Beattie (12/7/80, 2/8/81, 5/3/81), Sylvia Falconer (3/1/81, 4/5/81, 5/17/81), Laurel Holmes (10/24/82), John Brigham, who is Rose Hoshiko's brother-in-law (11/7/82), and Barbara Merritt (3/22/83).

Religious education a/k/a Church school or Sunday School has always loomed large as one of our raisons d'être. Those who contribute time and effort downstairs make a vital, though often unappreciated, contribution. At the beginning of this period, Jean Shisler and Janneke Resnick co-chaired the RE committee. When, after three years, they retired in 1981, the job was taken on by Evan Davis, who resigned as Secretary of the Fellowship, in order to do so. At the same time, the Board decided that there should be an RE director, who would be paid $500, if the membership approved. At the following congregational meeting, the idea met with some skepticism, but was generally approved, though no formal action was taken. Subsequent budgets do not have a line for this, nor is the amount included in the RE budget. Over this period, attendance seemed to stay at about 20-25 children. In 1980, Libby Moore conducted a group growth program for teenage girls. Jerry Molumby and Bonnie Moreno led the Youth Group, which seems to have changed names several times -- at least it appears in the record as the LRY (Liberal Religious Youth), YAG (Youth Action Group), and UYAG (Unitarian Young Adult Group). In 1982, they adopted a child living in Arkansas whom they supported with money raised from doughnut sales during the coffee hour after Sunday services. There does not appear to be any information about the ultimate fate of this project. In 1983, a mentorship program for the UYAG was launched, but, again, there is no record of its outcome

The Seventh Quinquennium: 1983/84 - 1987/88
Budget: 83: $12,965; 84: $14,140; 85: $16,225 ; 86: $31,551; 87, $19,659
Members: 83: 100 84: 98; 85: 101; 86: 95; 87: 99
New Members: (Signatures in Membership Book, June through May):83: 5; 84: 12; 85: 7; 86: 11; 87: 12

When looking at the list of officers for this period, one cannot fail to be struck by the fact that since 1979 every President has served at least two consecutive terms. Back-to-back terms occurred twice before (1971-73 and 1960-62), but it now seems to have become the rule. The reason for this is that the duties of the President have become sufficiently complicated, primarily because of denominational activities, that the first year in office is spent in "on the job training."

Another change in the pattern of governance appears when one examines the list of officers. In the late fifties, it was normal for the vice-president , who was responsible for the Sunday programs, to succeed the president -- ter was de facto if not de jure, president-elect. In 1960, this custom broke down in the face of Joe Leonard's resolute refusal to accept the presidency. Only twice since then has the vice-president succeeded the president (83/84 and 90/91).

The use of the building by outside groups continued to be a frequent topic of discussion at Board and Congregational meetings. In the fall of 1983, MAGA (Museum and Art Galleries Association) held a six week series of art classes in the basement, but decided in December to find another location for future classes. One objection was to the nature of the rooms and the odor of cigarette smoke. The RE staff also objected to the cigarette smoke downstairs. The smoke was contributed by the AA, which was also using the building.

The Fellowship of Metropolitan Churches requested use of the sanctuary for Sunday evening services and of the office during the week for outreach to the homosexual community. Although we agreed, they decided to use the campus Interfaith Center instead -- no mention was made of smoke. The Carbondale Contract Bridge Club was refused use of the building one night a month, perhaps because some of its members were inveterate smokers, or perhaps because they needed room to store their card tables -- no reasons are given in the records.  On the other hand, a group promoting the healing power of crystals was allowed to conduct a mini workshop. The bridge club might have had better luck if they had used Tarot cards.

Wilbur McDaniel, for the building maintenance committee, told the Board that the heavy use of the building was creating a trash disposal problem. To alleviate this, the AA contributed two trash cans and arranged for an exhaust fan in their basement room.

In the late fall of 1985, a group called Alanon began to use the building. An alcohol/drug abuser support group related to AA, it consisted of about 20 members and required 24 hour access to the building, facilities for making coffee, and ash trays. The 24 hour access meant that all of the members were given a key to the building. The smoke problem was met by an understanding that we would buy air purifiers as deemed necessary, billing them to Alanon. Problems dogged this arrangement -- nursery school material in the basement was vandalized so it was necessary to install locks on the cabinets. The room was not cleaned up, creating problems Sunday mornings for the RE staff. Their rent was raised from $200 to $300 a month in order to recoup the increased cleaning and maintenance costs incurred. In March of 1988 they were warned that their conduct jeopardized their lease, and the lease was terminated the following month.

The budget, which had grown slowly over the years to $16,225 a year, jumped to double that, $31,551, for 1986. This extra expense was for new carpeting in the sanctuary, renovation of the downstairs kitchen, and the repair and refacing of the outside, south wall. These improvements and repairs, along with many others too numerous to list, have made the Meetinghouse a much more attractive and safer place. The time and effort that goes into the upkeep of the building is a donation far beyond any tithe and the members of the building maintenance and decorations committees hold us all in their debt.

At this time, concern about access for the handicapped led to an extensive study of the possibility of installing a ramp, or chair lift. Patsy Lorenz, who served as secretary in 1985/6, offered to contribute for such an installation in memory of her husband, Jerry Lorenz, who had died in the October, 1983, Air Illinois plane crash. A member of the S.I.U. Rehabilitation Institute, he had been interested in this problem. Engineering difficulties made any such permanent installation impossible, and it was only three years later that the problem was solved by the purchase of the Stair-Trac, a portable device for lifting a wheelchair and occupant up flights of stairs. In 1987, a Handicapped Parking sign was purchased for use on Sunday mornings, but the city has now permanently reserved the space at the southwest corner of University and Elm for handicapped parking. The inaccessibility of the rest room appears to be beyond remedy.

One of the suggestions made by Ed Harris, our visiting minister in April 1983, was a newsletter to improve communications. The first issue appeared for November, 1984 under the editorship of Lillian Adams, who has, barring some brief absences, continued at that post ever since. The masthead of the new publication was created by Matthew Slocum and his mother, Bonnie Moreno. The weekly Bulletin also came under Lillian's care when Dave Ray resigned as editor in 1986 after many years.

Dave's occasional editorializing, usually involving his considerable knowledge of oriental religions and languages, gave the Bulletin a certain flair. For example, in the 10/10/82 issue,at a time when budget matters were being considered, he printed the following, "Rabbi Gamaliel said, 'Provide thyself a teacher; be quit of doubt; and accustom not thyself to give tithes by a conjectural estimate.' Pirqei Aboth 1:16."  And who else could note that Responsive Reading 417 in the hymnal said "a virtuous woman" whereas the Oxford, The New English Bible said, "a capable wife," and relate that to Confucius's concern with the "rectification of names?"  He objected to having the weekly announcement and program called the bulletin; it was, he said, "an announcement of certain ritual and semi-ritual events scheduled to take place in the Fellowship building between the hours of 10:30 and 12 noon each Sunday morning." The result of his suggestion at a congregational meeting that it be called the Order of Service was that, according to the minutes, "Only vague action [was] taken!" I doubt if Dave was surprised.

It was in the 1976/77 year that a logo based on the flaming chalice first appeared on the Bulletins. After various metamorphoses, a flaming chalice in overlapping circles appeared in 1981/82 and is still in use. The artist responsible for the design does not seem to be recorded.

The Fellowship has always striven for a balance between the emotional and rational elements in our services, and here service can be taken either in the sense of "a particular celebration of public worship," or of "conduct contributing to the advantage of another or others." In the former sense, the Sunday programs have incorporated music, a relatively fixed order, and usually certain ritualistic acts, such as the lighting of the chalice, a practice introduced by David and Gladys Jones in the late 70's or early 80's, and the reading of an affirmation. The four affirmations, adopted by vote of the congregation in 1985, were selected (I and IV) or written (II and III) by Jack Hayward and Wilbur McDaniel. That there are four is the result of a typically Unitarian compromise solution to the problem, also typically Unitarian, that no agreement could be reached on any single one of them. In 1987, we first celebrated Thanksgiving with the Thanksgiving Seder that has become traditional with us. Written by Jack Hayward for family use when his children were young, it is modeled on the Jewish Passover Seder and was modified by Jack for use by the whole Fellowship. It allows the RE children to participate in the entire service.

Frank Moreno's suggestion of Christmas Scrolls for departed, but not "dear departed," members was implemented in 1984 with 19 scrolls, prepared by Bonnie Moreno, being sent. That number had almost doubled by 1992. During the period under discussion, there were several occasions when an ad hoc choir group was assembled, the last time being under the direction of Denise Cocking, who also was a soloist for several services.

The musical high point of this period was surely the celebration on April 17, 1988 of the 100th birthday of the organ, at least some of the parts of which were made in 1888. Wes Morgan, one of those most responsible for our acquisition of the organ, returned from self-imposed exile in Lexington, Kentucky, to celebrate with us. On February 8, 1987, there was an equally happy celebration in the form of a symposium presided over by Lewis Hahn to honor Paul Schilpp's life and work on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

Social Action was active in the S.I. Peace Coalition, taking part in vigils protesting nuclear weapons, involvement in Central America. A session on race relations in Carbondale drew an attendance over 75 in 1986. In January of that year we met for the first time at the Rock Hill Baptist Church in a joint service honoring Martin Luther King ù a practice which has continued up to the present.

8th Quinquennium: 1988/89 - 1992/93
Budget: 88: $28,594; 89: $20,995; 90: 21,725; 91: $23,795; 92: $25,555
Membership: 88: 96; 89: ?; 90: 85; 91: 94; 92: 98
New Members: (Signatures in Membership Book, June through May): 88: 4; 89: 9; 90: 14; 91: 14; 92: 7 (up to 1/10/93)

A survey of the Fellowship was made in May of 1988 and the results give a picture of the Fellowship at that time. A total of 54 questionnaires were returned by 48 members and 6 "friends;" the membership was about 96. About half, 46%, had been members less than 14 years (26% for 0-5 yrs, 20% for 7-12 yrs)and half (54%) for 15 or more years (20% for 15-20 yrs, 15% for 25-30 yrs, and 19% for over 31 yrs.) The religious background and current orientation were inquired after, as well as views of the Fellowship and whether or not it would be desirable to have a minister. There was a clear split along age lines on the desirability of a minister: of the 23 who had been members for less than 14 years, 15 were in favor and 4 opposed; of the 29 who had been members for 15 or more years, 8 were in favor and 16 opposed. It would be interesting to know how, or if, opinions have changed in the intervening time.

The ministerial question has come up more than once, and undoubtedly will again. The matter might have led to a serious rift in the group over the principle of whether we should become a church if it were not for the obvious fact that principle or no, we couldn't afford to. An increase in affluence might make the debate more bitter sometime in the future.

A retreat, held in July of 1988, and organized by Franklyn Moreno, discussed the question, "What can our Fellowship do to better serve its members and liberal religion in Southern Illinois?"  A number of suggestions came out of this, some of which have been acted on. One consequence of the retreat was that the Board appointed Franklyn Moreno, Jane Adams, and Ken Starbuck to a committee to look into our organizational structure. The committee recommended the Fellowship consider hiring a paid, part-time administrator at a salary of $8,475 a year, and a one-time cost of $3,475 for office equipment. There is no record that this recommendation was discussed by the Board or at a congregational meeting. This committee also undertook to revise the 1968 Constitution, consulting with the UUA office in Boston to verify the wording of legal clauses. At the 1989 annual meeting, the amended Constitution, with a few changes made from the floor, was adopted. It is still in force, though in 1992, the fiscal year was changed.

In February of 1989, the building became handicapped accessible with the Stair-Trac. One of the first whom it helped was Lillian Adams, who found it necessary to use it for several weeks while a broken ankle healed. Occasional visitors have used it, but there are not now any wheel chair occupants on the membership list .

In the Fall of 1988, a new sound system was installed to replace the one stolen the previous winter. However, a tape cassette player that had been purchased and hidden downstairs disappeared before it could be used.

One idea that came up at the retreat was to install air conditioning in the Meeting House. This was impractical, but in 1989, ceiling fans were installed and have served to make early Fall and late Spring services much more comfortable. In the same year, the last step was taken in eliminating a perennial problem with leaks. The intersections of the original, steeply sloped roof with the flat roofs of the 1960 additions seemed impossible to seal adequately. Finally, under the leadership of George Feldhamer and David Sharpe, the pitch of the roof on the north side was changed, and the problem finally solved. Also in 1989, the downstairs was renovated, with the astonishing result that the repainting and installation of new, light-colored linoleum so brightened the area that it was decided to forego the installation of new light fixtures. The RE class members have decorated the rooms downstairs and the entire basement is a much cheerier place than the dark, dank cavern smelling of mildew on, and dead mice in, the walls that it was in the very early days of our occupation.

It is fitting here to thank the many members who have worked and are working on building maintenance. A frequent item in minutes of Board meetings is a report on work that either has been done or that needs to be done. Displaying an astonishing virtuosity in carpentry, plumbing, electricity, and painting, these individuals have not only kept the Meeting House up, but improved it to a degree few can appreciate who do not remember the rather forbidding library it once was.

While structural integrity is important, so to is pleasing interior design, and ornamentation. Those who planned and executed the decoration have also made an incalculable contribution. The symbolic flaming chalice in intersecting circles on the lectern, carved by Dave Christensen, the triptych weaving on the east wall of the sanctuary, by Calribel McDaniel, and the painting on the north wall, by Bruce Breland are some of the contributions members have made. Our services have long benefited from the efforts and taste of Lois Lembcke, Libby Moore, Barbara Lesar, and Muriel Hayward, to name but a few, who have brought floral and other decorations to place by the lectern every Sunday morning. In 1989, the Meeting House was used for a Fine Arts Competitive Exhibition, and in 1990 and 1991 it housed some of the Arts in Celebration exhibitions. Space and scheduling difficulties prevented its use in 1992.

In 1990 we arranged to participate in a Minister in Training program, whereby a student minister at Meadville-Lombard would come down to visit us on four Sundays a year. In the 90/91 year, John Baros was our "MiT"; in 91/92, Priscilla Richter; and in the current year, Nana Kratchovil. We had student ministers come down before, John Morehouse in 1988 and Sarah Oelberg in 1990, but the present system lends some continuity to the practice and a sense of "proprietorship" in the MiT that we hope is reciprocated. In 1989, Dick Kellaway, minister of the New Bedford, R.I. UU church, visited and spoke. He was a grad student in philosophy at SIU in the early sixties and a member of the Fellowship. We were also fortunate in having another UU minister, Jeremy Brigham, Rose Hoshiko's nephew from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a visitor. We have been sending delegates to the UUA General Assemblies and to Central Midwest District meetings for a number of years. Often their attendance involves a substantial financial sacrifice, the Fellowship subsidy rarely covering all the expenses. It is good to know that at these GA's, the Fellowship is represented under a banner, by the way, made by Lois Lembcke for the purpose.

The RE program during this period seems to have had some 25 to 35 children. Nancy Davis held a series of six discussion groups for parents on Parents as Resident Theologians in the beginning of 1989. The children visited Styrest Nursing Home to sing and play music for the residents, promoted recycling, and stone soup lunches. In the 1990-91 year, the program committee arranged it so that every other Sunday, the children were upstairs with the adults for the first part of the morning service.

Beyond the weekly services, adults participated in a breakfast discussion series in early 1990 on limiting population growth and on inner-city youth. A monthly discussion group led by Frances Dickey met in the latter part of that year. At present, Dave Christensen is conducting discussions on Unitarian Universalism for interested members after the Sunday service. Unitarian women hosted a breakfast for Church Women United in 1990, and held an overnight retreat at the United Methodist Camp in Makanda later that year. Led by Carla Feldhamer, there were addresses by Beth Firestein, Coordinator of Women's Services at S.I.U., and Edith Spees, a clinical psychologist, and a workshop on Courageous Women: The Unitarian Universalist Heritage to Activists Today.

The Supper Club has been a major Fellowship activity promoting social interaction among the members beyond the Meeting House. It has had as many as 65 individuals and as few as 32 involved. Recently, it has experienced some decline, because the increase in the number of wives working outside the home has made more-or-less formal entertaining more difficult. Although various alternatives have been tried, nothing else seems to work or be as inclusive. Still, there are about 35 members in 4 groups participating at present. Many UU churches and fellowships have some variation on the supper club theme, and it seems to be as pervasive as the Sunday morning coffee hour, called by some the "Unitarian communion." Although not a supper club function, the recent (1993) murder mystery party prepared by Rose Hoshiko and Lisa Colby certainly promoted interaction, and a good deal of fun, among the members.

It is difficult to predict what the future holds for the First Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale, Illinois, our official name, though we have taken to speaking of the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, which lends itself to abbreviation as CUF. We may move away from downtown Carbondale to a new building with more and better arranged space. Whether we will grow, remain at about the present level, or shrink is less clear. The tension between service to others (i.e., non-UU's) in the form of work, time, money and service to ourselves in the form of mutual support, RE for our children, and the chance to explore ideas will undoubtedly remain. So to will the tension between a desire for spiritual or emotional content in the services and the demand for rationality. It is to be hoped that we will continue to be able to keep such tensions in bounds and not be "balkanized" by them. With a little luck and a lot of work, we will be here to celebrate the 50th anniversary in ten years.

Planning for the Move to a New Building, 1993-95

[An Excerpt from an address titled "A Journey from the Past to the Future" presented to the Congregation on May 2, 2004 by Anne Sharpe, President of the Congregation from 1993 to 1995.]

The need for a  Committee for the Future was established in 1993, whose focus would be on the future of the facility, including potential new sites, relocation, new building, etc.  In late 1993 a committee called the Long Range Planning Committee was set up to study those issues.  In February 1994 Kris Juul agreed to act as coordinator of this committee, consisting of Dave Christensen, Lisa Colby, Jack Hayward, Libby Moore, Frank Sanders, and me.  Members of the committee took on responsibility for gathering data on one of the three identified options for our future: (1) staying in the present location (301 W. Elm St.); (2) building a new facility; or (3) locating and modifying an existing facility elsewhere.

During the months that followed, the committee looked at the then vacant Assemblies of God building on Giant City Road, the empty Lutheran church on South Wall Street, property at the northwest corner of Tower and Chautauqua roads, as well as this property.  The committee continued to meet during the summer of 1994.

In the fall of 1994, a structural engineer was hired to do a structural study on the main portion of 301 W. Elm to determine if the walls were moving outward and what would be required to upgrade that building.  Also that fall a questionnaire was mailed to all members of the congregation to assess the future facility plans, with an anonymous survey of what additional funds they would be willing to commit for those plans.  Based on the structural engineering report on the state of the roof trusses, foundation, furnace, plumbing, and wiring, the committee felt that any long range plan would mean moving to another facility.

At the October 1994 congregational meeting the Long Range Planning Committee reverted to its former name, the Future Committee.  A Future Fund was established, that could be used “to repair this facility, be applied to building a new building, or be used as down payment on an existing building.”

At the February 1995 congregational meeting, there was lengthy discussion of the constant patching of the 301 W. Elm building and its plumbing, roof leaks, furnace, etc.  It was felt that the considerable time and money required to maintain the status quo would be better spent on a facility that would address the future needs of the congregation.  At that meeting, Bob Lembcke philosophically commented that “buildings are born and buildings die; we must admit this one is dead and to keep it on life support would require a minimum of $50,000.”

At that meeting it was suggested that at the May congregational meeting the group vote on whether to build or not build and stand by that decision.  In true Unitarian fashion, it was moved that we form small discussion groups before the May meeting so we would know how to word such a motion.  That was defeated, but more was to come.

Russ Trimble presented a momentous motion “that we agree to abandon [301 W. Elm] and commit to a Future Fund that would be used toward the purchase of a building or site suitable for our needs, but not to be used to maintain this building.”  Karen Swenson, the secretary at that time, reports: “Motion passed resoundingly.  The mood following seemed upbeat, joyous, and congratulatory (perhaps because we had finally made a decision and movement would have a direction).”  We never looked back.

The Future Fund provided a down payment of $15,000 on this property.  Between then and now there have been many positive changes in the Fellowship: We’ve developed vision and mission statements, we’ve increased our programs, and we’ve worked together to make our dream of a new building a reality.

Thanks to your vision, persistence, and generosity we are meeting in this beautiful new home today.  We should all be proud of our exciting journey.