Huntsville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Huntsville UU Services
Services are held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month at 10:30 a.m. in the Laura Chapel of Huntsville Memorial Hospital. Visitors are always welcome. For more information, call 295-3170.

Sun. May 14: Our guest speaker will be J.P. DeMeritt, a member of the Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston. His MS degree from the University of Houston is in Studies of the Future, and the titile of his talk is "Remember the Future."

How can UUs influence the future? The speaker will ask UUs to consider the influence we might have upon the future, should we choose to shape our seven principles into a vision we can share with the rest of the nation.

Sun. May 28: Gary Zellar, an American history teacher at Montgomery College in The Woodlands will be our guest speaker. He earned a doctorate in the history of the American West from the University of Arkansas in 2003. His dissertation won him the 2004 Phi Alpha Theta Westerners International Award for the best dissertation about the history of the American West.

In his talk "Europe Speaking to America Through Africa," he will discuss the role of African Creeks, blacks of African descent who lived with the Creek Indians, in introducing Christianity into the Creek Nation, who covered present day northwest Oklahoma.

Huntsville UU Women
Wed. May 3: The Women’s Sharing Circle will meet at Gail Phillips’s new home in Elkins Lake at 10:30 a.m., and Anne Sigler will introduce a new curriculum on learning to simplify. It is based on the book Simple Steps, which she recommends that we purchase. She will bring handouts for the first lesson. Afterwards we will have lunch together and socialize.

Annual Meeting
This year's annual meeting will be at 10:30 on Saturday, May 20, at the home of Rick Norman and Anne True at 1879 Greenbriar Dr. in the Elkins Lake subdivision. We encourage everyone to attend as we have many issues to discuss. There will be a potluck lunch after the meeting.

Annual UU Fellowship Picnic
This year’s picnic will be at Dixon Lichtenauer’s home in Trinity on July 8. Watch for more information to follow.

Needed
The Fellowship needs a keyboardist/organist to provide music for some of our meetings. Please contact Dixon Lichtenauer at 936 594-5962.

Keeping In Touch
If you know of any of our members who is ill or in the hospital, please call our secretary, Joan Stringer, at 291-6009, so that she can follow-up with regards on behalf of our fellowship. Please also notify her of news of the death of any family members of our congregation so that acknowledgement can be made.

Thank You Note Received from Transylvania
President Carla McAdams reports that she received a thank you note from Kardos Jozsef, the new minister in Kemenyfalva, for our gift sent to the Transylvania UU congregation in memory to Dr. Schulman. He expressed his condolences for Dr. Schulman's death, thanked us for the contribution, and related that the money would be used for some church repair.

Alice Schulman to Receive Honors for Dr. Schulman This Spring
Alice Schulman joined the U-U women for lunch in April and shared her plans for the next few months. She will be attending the Mead Lombard Theological School commencement in Chicago to receive the honorary doctorate which was awarded to Dr. Schulman last year and also traveling to Manchester College in England to receive another honor in his name. Then she plans to spend the summer in her Rhode Island family home, but she reassured her friends that she will return to Texas in the fall, as she has "so many roots here."

One member commented, "Alice is a marvelous person in her own right, and it was wonderful to see her. We are delighted that she has indicated an interest in staying in touch with the women's sharing circle." She has been an inspiration to many of us.

Nominating Committee Hard at Work
Although the results were not ready by press time for this newsletter, our newly-appointed nominating committee for officers in the coming year has been hard at work. Beth and Stewart Williamson, Anne and Kelley Sigler, and Ken and Roberta Krock are busily seeking members who are willing to lead us forward in positions of leadership during this transitional time for our fellowship. We appreciate their hard work.

New Recycling Center Opens in Huntsville
From Ann Staples comes a reminder that re-cycling in Huntsville is getting easier, thanks to the recent opening of Try 2 Recycle at 920 15th Street. The owner accepts a wide variety of items including newspaper, magazines, books, cardboard, plastic bags, plastic containers (1-6), aluminum cans, copper, steel, brass, tin, and drums. Hours are Monday-Friday from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday morning. (Note: He does not take glass.) If you have questions about other things, the office number is 936 293-1612. There is no charge for using the facility, and the owner, James Murff, will even pay a small amount for your recyclable items.

Meadville Lombard Theological Seminary Invites You To Commencement
The following correspondence was received from Tina Porter, the Director of Communications at Meadville Lombard Theological School:

At Meadville Lombard Theological School, we educate students in the Unitarian Universalist tradition to embody liberal religious ministry in UU congregations and wherever else they are called to serve.

For those Unitarian Universalists who live in the greater Chicago area or are planning travel to the Windy City the first weekend in June, we extend an invitation to join us as we confer degrees upon the next generation of leaders in our faith movement. Come to our commencement ceremonies on June 4, 2006 at 3:00 at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago, 5650 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.

The Rev. Dr. Richard Gilbert, Minister Emeritus of First Unitarian Church of Rochester will be the commencement speaker and the Rev. David E. Bumbaugh, Professor of Ministry at Meadville Lombard, will lead the charge to the graduates. A reception will follow the ceremony.

You are also welcome to join us for a dinner for the graduates on Saturday, June 3, at 6:00 p.m., also at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago. Tickets to the dinner are $38 per person and RSVPs are required no later than May 19.

This is an exciting event for Unitarian Universalism and we welcome you to be a part of it.

For more information or to order tickets for the dinner, please contact the Executive Assistant to the President at 773-256-3000 x222.

Huntsville UU Newsletter Deadline: To submit news to the UU newsletter, e-mail Gail Phillips. Please have any news or announcements that you would like to have in this newsletter to the editor by the 20th of each month.

Annual Meeting
On May 1, 2005, we elected officers and approved appointments to various positions listed below for the church year 2005-2006.

Officers

President: Carla McAdams

Co-Vice Pres./ Program Chairs: Scott and Anita Plummer

Treasurer: Lee Stringer

Secretary/Membership Chair: Joan Stringer

Immediate Past President: Karl Mahaffey

Appointed Positions

Organist: Dixon Lichtenauer

Keyboardist: Sylvia DeVoss

Co-Song Leaders: Melissa Templeton-Mahaffey, Beth Williamson, Dixon Lichtenauer

Co-Reading Leaders: Ann Staples, Richard Lane

Newsletter Editor: Gail Phillips

Order of Service Editor: Roberta Krock

Publicist: Stuart Williamson

Hospitality Coordinator: Pam Johnson