1960's Exploring the Possibilities"If twenty-two people could buy the [Hawthorne Rd] house, sixty-five people ought to be able to swing this [deal]." That was Dale Blosser speaking at a general meeting of the fellowship in 1965. He was talking about buying land and constructing a building. Similar words expressed the determination of members as they took on many other challenges during the sixties. The sixties decade was characterized by: Following the merger of the Unitarian and Universalist denominations in 1961, our name became the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, Inc. (Incorporation actually took place in 1959). Meeting space once again became critical because both Children's Sunday school and the adult discussion group were growing. The fact that they met simultaneously didn't help at all. In April of 1967, the adults moved into a room at the Hillsborough Street YMCA, leaving the whole Hawthorne Road house to the Sunday school. 80 children were enrolled. Average attendance was 63-65. Even the basement was renovated to add classroom space. In the early sixties, members pitched in to paint, repair, furnish and decorate the Hawthorne Road house. Subsequently, a fire escape, new furnace, roof repair and electrical work were completed. But our fellowship was relentlessly outgrowing our first house. Members shopped for a lot on which to construct a building. In 1966, with an adult membership of 90, representing 54 families, our predecessors contracted to buy the large wooded lot on Wade Ave. The cost was $21,000. A building planning committee was appointed, and Quinn-Wiggins was retained as architects. A design for the building was approved in 1968. Meanwhile, as a lay led group, members realized that certain civil acts and ceremonies require ordained professionals. A committee studied such ceremonies as child dedications, marriages, and memorials, and made certain recommendations: "We will offer the house free [for marriages] and suggest that the people give the minister at least $10." Susan Belle Hildreth was the first child to be dedicated. The site was the YMCA, State College campus, in 1965. The first marriage ceremony was performed in the same year, Rev. Kilburn officiating. Mr. and Mrs. Stanton Hoegerman were the couple and the site was the Hawthorne Road Fellowship house. The first memorial service was for a well-loved member, Richard Pinkerton, and was held in Danforth Chapel on the NCSU campus in 1966. Guidance and advice from seasoned, professional religious leaders were sought from time to time during the sixties. Talbot Pearson of the Unitarian Laymen's League and his wife Marion, who had religious education experience, spent February of 1965 in Raleigh at the invitation of the fellowship for an agreed upon fee and subsistence. The Pearsons contributed in a number of areas. Talbot Pearson spoke from the pulpit at several Sunday morning services, helped to develop a new statement of purpose, and suggested new organizational options. Marion Pearson applied her skills to train and assist Sunday school teachers. Monroe Husbands, from the UUA in Boston, who had guided the formation of the Raleigh fellowship, was a source of information and help and revisited Raleigh in 1966. Rev. Manuel Holland, Thomas Jefferson District Executive, came to assist with building problems and R. E. needs during the sixties. Rev. Arthur Olsen and his wife, through the UUA Minister-at-Large Program spent three months in Raleigh speaking, being available to committees and individuals and generally acquainting members with what it is like to have professional participation. Discussions began as to whether to call a minister and thus become a "church." James D. Hunt, a Fellowship member and a UU minister, officiated at many marriage and memorial ceremonies over the years when we were without a settled minister of our own. "The Sunday School should be the biggest challenge of the Fellowship." Helen Martof, R. E. Chair, said in 1965. This proved to be the case. In 1961, an R. E. Committee was established with Lyle Stehman as chair. John Voorhees became co-chair as well as R.E. Director. 40-45 children were enrolled, and about 30 came every Sunday. The 40-45 children became 100 children by the end of the decade.
For the sixties, the format for adult education offered was a prepared talk followed by discussion. Subjects ranged from such disparate topics as "Man and His Environment" to "Family Portrait (a Junior High dramatic presentation). The first Sunday of each month was generally more formal and took on the aspect of a worship program.
According to Gerald Folden, 1969 Program Chair, programs were planned to "avoid typical religious elements out of respect for the individuality of beliefs." Such thinking took into account that most members have mainline religious backgrounds from which they dissented and subsequently sought and found acceptance for their new beliefs in our UU groups. Over the years, few members have been lifelong Unitarians. State Senator Roy Rowe is one of these rare ones. He also had the unique experience of attending a Unitarian school at Shelter Neck, N.C.
The turbulent years of the sixties saw the Fellowship involved in championing many issues: civil rights, fair housing, equal employment opportunities, military draft counseling.... Many times our discussions inspired letter-writing campaigns to local, state and national officials in favor of voting rights and equal job opportunities in government, student sit-down strikes at lunch counters, and opposition to the death penalty. Indian children from Harnett County, who were protesting segregation in their schools, attended Catholic schools in Raleigh and lived in the homes of member of this fellowship until the controversy was settled. Ray Noggle, president in 1968, terminated our rental of a YMCA room for Sunday services because blacks were being denied membership in its Athletic Club.
Raleigh Interchurch Housing was a project of five churches, three black congregations and two white ones, including the UU Fellowship of Raleigh. One hundred low-income qualifying apartments were built on Method Road financed with federal funds. Each participating church contributed $2,000. Both black and white persons became occupants in 1970. These five churches will have joint, clear ownership of the apartments when the mortgage is retired in 2009. The apartments may well be worth over $4 million, by then. This project is highly successful and a model for similar ones. Our Fellowship supplies four representatives for the governing board. Our own James Quinn was very active in organizing the project and later became its architect. The following resolution was issued by the Fellowship as it pledged its support for RICH: "Man's quest for safe, decent and sanitary shelter has long been a concern of the Church, and is a concern of (the) Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh."
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