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7/12/05 Newsletter
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem
5090 Center St. NE
Salem, Oregon 97301
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
July 12, 2005
Minister: The Rev. Richard R. Davis
Board Chair: David Boaz
Religious Education: Claire Diehl
Office Administrator: Rose Drake
Phone (503) 364-0932, Fax, 364-3280
email uucsoffice@yahoo.com
Website: www.uusalem.org
Phone (503) 364-0932, Fax, 364-3280, email office@uusalem.org
Website : www.uusalem.org
Items for the newsletter may be placed in the newsletter box in the church office or mailed to the editor c/o the church office at the address above. Items gladly accepted on disk or by email. (email for next issue to editors@uusalem.org)
Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network
A sincere thank you to Mariana Bornholdt and Barbara Wyant, former volunteers who were missed during the June week when UUCS hosted the Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network. In June, under the direction of Rosa Barton and new volunteers, UUCS got along quite well while I was off in Montana. Stephen Henderson, Mariana amd Barbara did breakfast duty. Other brand new volunteers were Lynn Cardiff and Carey, Adele Birnbaum, Virginia Corrie-Cozart, Shelley Kennon and daughters, Ri Britton, Paul Marche and Paul and Donna Parmley. Thanks so much for the hours you spent volunteering your time.
Loraine Stuart
Reverential Ramblings
Rev. Rick Davis is on vacation during July and will be back off and on during August. He will return to the pulpit in September. Reverential Ramblings will continue when he returns.
Volunteer Opportunities
Landscape Work Party
The Landscape Work Party is in need of workers to help with keeping the UUCS grounds as beautiful as they have been the past years. They meet on the third Saturdays at 10 a.m. If you aren’t available on that day, call Iris Sea or Sharon Dearman to see if your help could be used another day.
Special Events
Do you have an idea for a special summer-time or fall social event that you would coordinate? Or an idea for a new Covenant Group this fall? Give it some thought and talk to a Board member!!
Coffee Hour Coordinator
We need a coordinator for the coffee hour after Sunday services. This is an easy way to get more involved in church life and meet great people. To learn about the details, please contact Beth Malouf.
Life Lines Lay Ministry
The LIFE LINES LAY MINISTRY is a team of congregational members and friends which, in partnership with the minister, helps with the special needs and illnesses that arise within our church community. Some of the current members are retiring and the Ministry is in need of new members. If any of you are thinking of joining this dedicated group of 15-plus volunteers, we invite you to attend our Saturday morning training session in September. Interested persons may call Margaret Boyle at 503-364-0819 for additional information, or contact any of the other Life Lines members. Details on date and times of this session will be provided later.
PNWD Workshop Planning
See the June 1 issue of the newsletter or the lavender sheet on the bulletin board in the RE corridor for an invitation to present a workshop at the 2006 meeting of the UU Pacific Northwest District in Port Townsend next February.
Next Newsletter Deadline is August 7. Submit a month’s worth of news!
UU and UUCS Electronic News
For access to UU announcements – as well as UU humor, it’s good to be on our e-mailing list. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to uucslist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The UUCS website is www.uusalem.org and is managed by Loni Barrett, whose address is webmaster@uusalem.org She has posted dozens of issues of this newsletter and a calendar of events on the site. Some UUCS members have offered to save us paper, ink, and postage by receiving their newsletters by email. We don’t have PDF files yet, though it has been discussed in the office.
UUCS Board Meeting Summer Schedule
July 14 - No meeting
August 3 – 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
August 11 - no meeting
September 8 - Back on schedule, second Thursday of every month
News of the UUCS Community
Just over one year ago Jeff Geisler’s father died. He and Jeff’s mother had been constructing a new home in Albany and planned a move to be closer to Jeff’s brother and family. His mother’s adjustment during her grieving process was understandably difficult, but now the outlook is positive. The move has been completed, her health has improved, and she is volunteering to help others, proof indeed that time tends to heal.
Linda Geisler graduated with her Master’s in counseling from Lewis and Clark College and with other UUCS members completing graduate programs this summer, is awaiting news from Salem-Keizer School District regarding the status of their employment applications. Perhaps by next newsletter they will have definitive answers
Congratulations to UUCS' Brian Reeder for being named Assistant to State Schools by Superintendent Susan Castillo, for the office of analysis and reporting! In this position, Brian will oversee research and data reporting for the Oregon Department of Education.
And – congratulations to Kristen Lassen Hunt for her impressive oil and pastel exhibit at the Blue Pepper Gallery on July 6th. Many of the attendees at the reception were UUCS members.
Mary Edith Gilbertson informs us of the shoulder injury to the grandson of Ralph and Faith Wyckoff inflicted during his service in Iraq. He is recuperating at a military hospital in Japan. Greetings and news from those who know him and the Wyckoffs would be welcome: Lance Corporal Edward A. Philpott, 3rd FSSG, 9th ESB.Co.UT.TIT, APO, AP96604.
The Wyckoffs, long time UUCS members, have retired to Little Whale Cove.
Along with several other special events scheduled the last weekend of this month is the annual Gilbertson family reunion, to be held in Walla Walla. Mary Edith will attend, accompanied by her three adult children: Meredith Smith, and Grant and Doug Gilbertson.
The same weekend Sancha and Terry Alley will host the Japanese family of their son’s fiancé. Rick will conduct the marriage ceremony to be held at Deepwood House.
George and Elsa Struble will also celebrate their golden anniversary on that weekend, bringing their children and grandchildren from near and afar.
Summer events for YRUUs, our high school age youth group, included a day of play at Pacific City on June 25, to be followed by a barbeque picnic on August 12 at the home of advisor CM Hall’s parents. This event will be followed by a retreat for the four youth advisors, which includes Phil Smith, newly appointed to replace Carlos Herrera, who, with his family, is moving to Boston to allow Angela to attend Harvard Divinity School.The other youth advisors are Amanda Nelson, Mark Powell, and CM. The advisor retreat will include leadership training and planning for youth group curriculum and activities for the church year ahead.
Congratulations to Kristen and Eric Gabrielsen at the birth on May 24 of their second son, Thomas Sumner. Now six weeks old, he's a healthy and energetic baby, loved and nurtured not only by them but also by his brother Nathan!
Congratulations to Peggy Tsutsui at the recent birth of her first grandchild, Molly, born to Neil and Crystal Tsutsui in Irvine, California! Peggy visited during Molly’s first week, is ‘smitten’ and vows to return this fall. Son Neil is an environmental and ecological biologist, conducting research at UC Irvine.
Agnes Clark, now re-settled in Willson House, on Center Street, after a brief stay at Tierra Rose, welcomes visitors; her address in the directory and its update is incorrect. It’s Willson House now!
Condolenses to Lee and Carmela Coyne at the death of Lee’s mother, Ida Coyne, in New York City the end of June. They flew east to attend the funeral, but are now home again.
Condolenses to Mary Loso and her family at the death last week in Monmouth of her husband, Gary.
Condolenses to John Roy Wilson at the death of brother last week in Texas.
Pat Posner’s daughter April was diagnosed with cervical cancer several months ago. Because April has been committed to regular, routine gynecological testing,her doctor has declared a ‘good outcome,’ following minor surgery. Pat believes that all women should show their bodies comparable respect and be determined that early diagnosis is the route to such an outcome as April’s.
Dick French celebrated his 85th birthday last Sunday. Several weeks prior, 39 members of the French “clan” converged on his and Marge’s home! This gathering included the children and grandchildren of Dick’s and his eight brothers’ and sisters’; the first time in decades that all gathered in one place. Traveling the longest distance was Dick’s son Roger and his family from Nyack, New York. They stayed with Marge and Dick for two weeks, before and after the festivities.
In June, UUCS members Sue and Don Beale joined a family reunion at Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva, where George Williams College conducts a camp and retreat center.
Mako Hayashi-Mayfield and her husband, Stan Mayfield, write impressions of life in Japan during their two-year planned stay, which has just passed the six-month mark: Stan writes, ‘our enjoyment at living in Toyama hasn’t lessened; reality has toned down the exhuberance of our expectations! There are far more things to do than we can possibly accomplish.’ Both Stan and Mako have individual tutors who come to their home; additionally, Mako’s tutor provides her a cooking lesson each month, but both acknowledge that it’s a challenge to do all of the homework associated with learning the language for it to be functional. Stan notes that ‘an aging mind doesn’t seem to retain as easily as it used to!’ He can, however, ask questions, shop, order food, read grocery labels.
An admitted lover of ice cream, Stan’s intake is severely curtailed by local price, e.g., a pint of Haagen Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s that costs around $3.50 at home, but in Japan its price in yen is equivalent to $11.69!
Every culture has some sort of ‘social lubricant’ that helps society function better. In Japan it’s the bow, not the formal bow from the waist, but the slight nod of the head and a smile. It’s used time after time in greeting neighbors while taking out garbage, greeting a stranger, taking a seat next to someone on a trolley. It’s ‘hello,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘excuse me,’ all rolled into one. It acknowledges the existence of the other person and his/her relationship at that moment with you. For me, Stan comments, ‘this small but constant interaction provides a sense of belonging to this community, a small but significant part of feeling at home in Japan.’
Barbara Hanneman’s daughter, Laurie Speight, whose courageous and ongoing battle with Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease, approaches a year and a half, again shares with us some bits and pieces of her life routines as they evolve. “Technology is remarkable. By using a head-tracking device as a mouse and a sensitive touch button for my right thumb to click, I am able to write this update, do email, access the Internet, and write anything I want to say orally.”
“Lou Gehrig’s Disease continues its relentless attack on my body. I can no longer drink through a straw so I take all liquids through my feeding tube. I still very much enjoy eating food orally when ground to a good swallowing consistency. My hands and arms have limited function so we have ordered head controls for my wheelchair. One of the most frustrating things for me is to have a bug on me or an itch somewhere and not be able to do anything about it because no one is around. I invite each of you to ignore your next bug or itch to get a sense of that feeling.”
“I feel so fortunate to have family and friends helping. Due to our terrific support network we have not found the need to use Hospice to this point.”
News is designed to provide a format for the sharing of your personal joys or concerns with others in our beloved community. When we “connect” it’s because we care and offer support to one another.
Joan Erickson
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Inexpensive Vacation Travel?
The UU bed and breakfast directory UU’re Home can fulfill your dream. For 25 years, they’ve provided a network of hosts in the United States (and a few abroad) who enjoy meeting new friends and who are happy to open their home to like-minded people.
You can also become a host and be listed in the directory. Contact the website and you will be sent information about listing your accommodations.
UU’re Home has recently launched a new website at www.UUreHome.com
SUNDAY SERVICE AND CHURCH SCHOOL
10:30 a.m. (Child care available)
July 17 "Living Humanism" Lloyd Kumley
Highlighting the philosophies of life of several local humanists and comparing their ideas and actions to those of other humanists, both present and past.
July 24 The Baal Shem Tov - "Master of the Good Name" Rev. Jack Slingerland
The title given to Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer of Mezbizk, a master teacher from the 1700s.
July 31 “Who Was Mrs. Cain?” Rev. Craig Moro
An early Bible census should show the population of the world to be just four: Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. After Cain kills Abel there should only be three people left, but we¹re suddenly told that Cain has a wife. She seems to have appeared out of nowhere! Who was she, where did she come from, and why should it matter to us?
Aug 7 "Ingersoll to UU's: Living Well In This World" Dennis Ehrp
August 21 “Backtracting” Rev. Craig Moro
When people come to your door distributing religious tracts, did you ever wish that you had a tract of your own to hand back to them? What would it say? I wrote one a long time ago, and got it out recently to see what was in it. I¹ll share some of the more (and less) worthwhile parts with you this morning.
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UUCS Calendar of Other Events
Wednesday, July 13 Battle Creek Colf Course, 161 Commercial SE. Call Fred Ratzeburg
Thursday, July 14 NO BOARD MEETING UNTIL AUGUST 3
Saturday, July 17 Landscaping Work Party, 9 a.m.-noon: weeders always needed!
Monday, July 18 YRUU Youth Group, 7 p.m. (every Monday)
Wednesday, July 20 Chat’n’Craft, 7 p.m. (also, Thursday, August 4)
Wednesday, August 3 August Board meeting, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday, August 7 Newsletter deadline 11:30 a.m. (next deadline in September)
Wednesday, August 10 Lunch Bunch, noon. Contact Fred Ratzeburg
Saturday, August 13 Life Lines Lay Ministry, 9:30 a.m.
