Dear Ones,

    It was a tender time this past Sunday as we reflected upon the many much-loved members of our community we have lost over the past year as well as those personal losses that have touched our individual lives.  I feel deep gratitude that our congregation holds one another with such thoughtful care in our times of loss and grief, and gratefully recognize that our grief reflects the affection with which we held those that we have lost this year:

     Bob Doyle, Judy Andrews, Lloyd Orr, Jean Knowlton, Marion Sinclair, Tony Reilly, Mikey Brooks, Tommie Owens, Velma Harrison, Joe Sylvester, Marcia Harlow, Greg Haas, Marcie Grossack, and Paul Fratianni,  along with our personal beloveds.

     It has been a hard year, and our losses are great.  As we enter into the holiday season, I am aware that these losses can be hard to bear.  Please be gentle with yourself and find the support you need.  As we move into a time when we are invited to lean in to gratitude, we can be grateful, too, that we need one another still, and are here for one another.  Please call or email if you are in need.

And may we, as they say in the Friends' tradition, hold one another in the light.  

    

With affection,

   Emily

      Pete Seeger was born in 1919 in New York City and died there in 2014. His father was a musicologist and his mother a violin teacher. He dropped out of Harvard during the Depression and lived by playing at folk music festivals. He teamed up with Woody Guthrie, writing memorable songs including "We shall overcome," "Where have all the flowers gone," and "Turn, Turn, Turn." In 1940, he had his own band, The Weavers, which appealed to labor union rallies, anti-war groups, civil rights groups, and progressive causes. He refused to testify at House Un-American Activities Committee meetings and was blacklisted from film and stage. He believed music outweighed reactionary politics and he was awarded the US Medal for Arts in 1994.  -- Elof Carlson, UUCB Historian