UUF History, 1970s

The 1970s were a time of searching.  Members of the congregation searched for social justice and for a better understanding of who they were as individuals and as a congregation.  Although the lay leadership had done an outstanding job, many felt it was time for the insight, direction, and guidance that a full-time minister could provide.  So the congregation searched for a minister.  The first minister was John Nicholls Booth, who served as interim minister from September 1971 until March 1972.  The congregation next called R. Thomas Richards, who served from September 1972 until June 1974.

 After being without a minister for a year and a half, the congregation called Linnea Pearson, who stayed until 1997. Due to Linnea’s visibility in the community, awareness of the congregation and the number of visitors increased during her tenure.  Linnea was the first woman and the first Unitarian minister to present the invocation during the opening session of the Florida Legislature on the day the Florida House considered passage of the Equal Rights Amendment bill.  Representative Elaine Gordon invited Linnea to speak on that day because Linnea had been active for several years in work involving equal protection under the law for men and women.  Olivia Stryker made a special robe for the occasion.  (Another robe was made by Reisa George, Rose Briton, and the UUF children).  Linnea also gave invocations at a UF Gators vs. Kentucky game, an Alachua County Commission meeting, and an ERA rally.  She was appointed to the Citizens Advisory Committee for Community Development and the Gainesville Human Relations Advisory Board. She presided  at a new citizens Naturalization Ceremony, led workshops for a variety of groups around the state, and led the closing session of the UU Collegium, an international group of UU scholars. 

Linnea addressed Hank Gooch’s class “Contemporary American Religions” at Santa Fe Community College and was invited to speak to Harvey Cox’s class at her alma mater, Harvard Divinity School.  Her book Separate Paths, Why People End Their Lives, co-written by Ruth Purtilo, was used as a text for Cox’s “Sickness, Madness, and Death” class.  Harvey Cox visited the Fellowship on the occasion of its 25^th Anniversary.  With the publication of her book, Linnea further increased her visibility through the attendant publicity in book signings as well as featured articles in newspapers, radio stations and TV (local and national).  The first acknowledgement in the book is “Thanks to the UUFG.”  In the spring of 1979 Linnea accepted a call from the First Unitarian Church of Miami.

During the 1970s the congregation struggled to increase its pledge income.  Numerous entries in the congregation’s newsletter, The Millhopper, reflect fluctuating degrees of optimism regarding pledge income.  The decade began with a budget under $8,000 and ended with one over $34,000.  During this time, the congregation grew from about 100 members to 175 members plus 21 friends, with a high of 222 members in 1977.  The congregation used social events to raise money.  The annual Cedar Key Picnic started in 1975 and was very popular and financially successful for many years.  The congregation had yard/garage sales, bridge lessons, auctions, wine tastings, Sunday luncheons, and donut sales at the Gainesville Spring Arts Festival.  Social events that were not fundraisers included a shrimp festival on the shore of Little Lake Kerr in the Ocala National Forest, an annual Thanksgiving dinner in Otter Springs, dinner club, Karasses (extended gamily groups), a pot luck beach picnic in Anastasia State Park, pot luck meals at the Fellowship, Friday night coffee houses, a Wednesday story telling group, support groups for men and women, group outings to the Hippodrome Theatre, expeditions to the Galapagos Islands led by member and ornithologist Bill Hardy, and Wednesday Lunch Bunch with the minister at selected restaurants.

The Religious Education program had many dedicated teachers, but there was always a plea for more teachers and for more support from parents.  The 1979-80 budget was the first to include a part-time Religious Education coordinator.  In RE, children were provided experiences to help them develop socially and emotionally and become aware of responsibilities and the consequences of choices.  They explored customs and traditions from many cultures and religions in order to understand that the similarities of people are greater than their differences.  There was an active Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) group for a few years and a Student Unitarian Society group for about a year.

In 1979 a new Women’s Alliance was organized in the process of creating a Florida District Women’s Weekend Retreat.  That was the start of numerous successful events by and for women.  Throughout the 1970s there were talks related to self-discovery, self-reliance, ethics, governmental responsibility, spiritual beliefs, parenting, social action, and the prison system by UUF ministers, members, ministers from other churches, and UF professors.  The congregation opened an account for UUF members at Civitan Blood Center, and there were regularly scheduled blood drives.  The music program flourished through the efforts of many members, particularly Mary Margaret Andrew and Ruth Lewis.

At the start of the decade, the UUF newsletter, the Millhopper, was a one-page bi-weekly publication.  During the middle years it was distinguished by the artwork of Olga Parker.  In October of 1977, the Millhopper contains a reference to announcements’ taking too much time in Sunday services.  That situation led to the appointment of a “designated announcer,” to make all announcements each week.  The “President’s Corner” appears for the first time in January 1978; later that year the Millhopper expanded to two pages.  A visitor quoted in the Millhppper reflects the dynamic nature of the congregation in the 1970s:  “I felt more of a warmth and caring here—which I think is actually what religion is trying to advocate—than I have in other services elsewhere.  To be accepting and supportive of others and their beliefs can be quite invigorating to both!”

11/07/2006