The Board in brief (Doug MacCleery)

At our regular meeting on November 2^nd, the Board heard from Joanne Masterson that the Capital Campaign was going quite well.  Almost 200 people attended the canvass dinner.  Over $1 million has been pledged so far.  The Board appointed Al Robbert as a representative of UUs for Social Justice.  The Board discussed plans for cleaning up MVUC’s membership roster, for reconstituting the Finance Committee, for care of the front garden, and for the 2004-5 annual canvass.  Reports were received from the Minister, DRE, Business Administrator Program Council and Treasurer.

For details, see the minutes, which are posted in the Commons and on our website.

From the Treasurer ... (Joan Wamsley)

The October 31, 2004, financial report shows:

There is $113,833.43 in the checking account for operating expenses at Burke and Herbert Bank. About $48,000 of this is held for liabilities and designated funds.  There is $13,955.31 in a separate checking account for Property Major Maintenance. With Board approval, this may be used for non-routine, unexpected, but necessary work that is not included in the operating budget.

Grocery scrip is an easy way for MVUC to earn some extra money. We thank those who have listed MVUC as a recipient for Safeway's e-scrip. So far this fiscal year we have received $44.72 from this program. We sell certificates for Giant and receive 4% of the face value. They come as $20, $50, or $100 cards which you use like a Metro fare card. Shoppers gives us 5% on their $10 certificates. Scrip is available on Sundays at the Welcome Table or at lunch at Every Thursday Group.

Capital Campaign over halfway (Ron Brandt and Joanne Masterson)

 More pledges expected!   As of November 7, pledges to the capital campaign were over $1,045,000 — more than half way to the goal of $2 million. That is from just 84 pledges; we expect at least 130 more. We are grateful that those who have pledged so far have been very generous. But with the election and the busy lives we lead, many canvass visits have not yet been scheduled. If you have not yet pledged, please find a convenient time to talk with your canvasser and make your own commitment to the future of our church community.

Coming up in RE (Barbara Stoddard)

Sunday, Nov. 28 —  please note there is no regular RE program this Sunday.  We will have child care as usual.  We’ll need volunteers to lead an activity for children who can’t handle sitting in a service for an hour.  Your children 4^th grade and above should plan to stay for the entire service. Peter Mosley will be leading the “Time for all Ages” this Sunday.

The famous Holiday Craft Workshop will be held on Saturday, December 4  from 2 - 4 pm.  Dinner will be at 5:30 and Piñata and Holiday sing-along at 7pm.  Volunteers needed for various activities.  Please contact Becky Brandt to sign-up.

Winter Pageant is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 19.  Look for a letter soon to sign your child up for speaking parts, singing parts, non-speaking or non-singing parts, and/or to help with making props and stage manage.  If your child is not registered for our Religious Education program you will not receive a letter – so contact Jim Kerr today to register your child.  Jim’s email is reassist (at) mvuc.org.

We will have Way Cool Sunday School classes on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12.  P-3^rd grade go to the Carriage House and 4^th – 8^th grade go to Hollin Hall after the Time for all Ages.

Pageant rehearsals will be held from 10:35 – 11:05 am on Dec. 5 and 12.  Dress rehearsal will be held on Saturday, Dec. 18 from 10 – noon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adult RE (Jeff Gauger)

The Adult Religious Education Committee is seeking facilitators to lead adult classes for the winter 2005 session.  There is no shortage of interesting topics to explore, such as “On the Path: Spirituality for Youth and Adult”, “Articulating Your UU Faith”, “The Living Legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, and “Transcendentalists.”  (for more curricula, visit http://www.uua.org/re/adultpro.html).  The committee welcomes your suggestions for adult RE programs.  If you would like to lead an Adult RE class or if you have any suggestions, contact Barbara Stoddard at  e-mail address: re (at) mvuc.org; or Jeff Gauger  email address: jeffrey_gauger (at) yahoo.com.

One new offering already scheduled for the winter session is the “Spirituality of Children”, a two-part workshop led by Barbara Stoddard for all adults who want to understand the spirituality of their children.  In addition, several fall classes will continue through the winter session.

Adult religious education serves MVUC by caring for the growth of souls through the work of the head, work of the heart, and work of the hand.  The next meeting of the Adult Religious Education Committee will be at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 1 in the Commons.  Please contact Jeff Gauger for more information.

Holiday Shop….just say YES (Meg Clontz)

YES, I would very much like to bake for the Holiday Shop! OK, I said yes, now how do I package them, where and when do I take them to the church?

Please package your baked good so that it can be seen: cookies package by the dozen, bar cookies by the half dozen, cakes in half and fudge six pieces to a bag. We will price the items. Extra items that can not be packaged as above will be sold at the lunch as individual items.  For your convenience, you can drop the items off on Friday evening (November 19) between 5:30 to 7pm in the kitchen in the Manson or Saturday morning (November 20) in the kitchen 8:30 to opening at 9:30.  Many thanks!

Wisdom Years is back!! (Bev Southerland)

On Tuesday, November 23, a speaker from End of Life Choices (formerly known as Hemlock) will give a talk to members of the Wisdom Years in Hollin Hall from 10:30 til noon. Jim Rapp, organizer of the local chapter, will describe the organization and suggest how we can make the most of the services available to us as we face the end of life on our own terms. Bev Southerland and Ginny Endicott are excited about Mr. Rapp's presentation — join us!

On Saturday, December 11 at 2 pm, a newly-formed chapter of End of Life Choices (formerly Hemlock) will hold a second meeting at the Sherwood Hall Library. All are welcome to attend. Tell your neighbors.

Thanksgiving Eve Vespers

On Wednesday, November 24 at 7:00 pm, Rev. Lou will lead a special Thanksgiving Eve Vespers Service. All are invited to come to the Chapel and share in a time of readings, music, and meditation.

Fall partner church brunch (Janice Fitzpatrick)

 Have brunch with your church friends right after the 10 am service on November 28, in Hollin Hall. $10 for all over 7; $5for those 7 & under. Help MVUC’s Partner Church Committee raise funds for our sister congregation in Romania, and do it in good company with good food!.

. Thelda’s Legacy (Helen Patterson)

This year’s Holiday Shop raffle quilt, Thelda’s Legacy, is an antique. Thelda Davis gave the hand-appliqued and hand-pieced quilt top to the church when she moved into a nursing home. The design is an adaptation of the classic Dresden Plate design which was very popular during the twenties and thirties. The print fabrics date to the thirties and forties. So the quilt top is probably sixty years old.

Among our 33 quilts, Thelda’s Legacy is unique. Women of the church lined and filled the top and then hand quilted it over a period of months when the fabrics we usually use to piece quilts from scratch were packed away for the Mansion renovations.

You may buy chances on the quilt on Sunday morning or at the Holiday Shop on Saturday November 20 between 9:30 am and the drawing at 3:00 pm.  You do not have to be present to win. The chances are $1 each or $5 for a book of six.

Scholarship help still needed (Janice Fitzpatrick)

The Partner Church Committee is still looking for a few generous members and friends of MVUC who can help students from our partner village in Romania continue their education past 8^th grade.  Scholarships are needed: for 2 technical school attendees, just graduated from the 8th grade in the village school @ $182.50 per donor; for 1 university student @ $238 and 1 university student @ $258.  Contact Janice Fitzpatrick, 703-768-7094 or Lisa Gillispie, 703-799-1847.

Caring Community (Jo Jackley)

The congregation extends its condolences to Ken Krogh on the recent death of his brother, Max, in Sargent Bluff, Iowa.

Upcoming Events, on and off the Hill

November:

17, 7 pm

RESULTS fundraiser

NW DC

20, 9:30 am

Holiday Shop

Meeting House and Hollin Hall

23, 10:30 am

Wisdom Years

Hollin Hall Fireplace Room

24, 7 pm

Thanksgiving Eve Vespers

Remington Chapel

25

THANKSGIVING!

28, after service

Partner Church Brunch

Hollin Hall

December:

4, 2 pm

Holiday Craft Workshop

Meeting House

4, 5:30 pm

Holiday dinner, 7 pm Piñata and Holiday Sing-along

Meeting House

7, 11:45 am

Good Companions: Al Searle

Hollin Hall

11, 2 pm

End of Life Choices meeting

Sherwood Hall Library

11, 3 pm

Art exhibit opening reception

Meeting House

11:45 to 12:45 - BYO lunch; program - 12:45 to 1:45 in Hollin Hall

DECEMBER 7 - AL SEARLE: FLORIDA MEMORIES

Long-time member of MVUC will present first-hand memories of life in Florida in the late 1920's and 30's. Find out about an alliance between Republican and Socialist Parties; "rad-libs" at the University of Florida, the KKK and a psychiatrist; a lynching, union organizing, the Spanish Civil War, and "ask, but don't tell."

GOOD COMPANIONS is going on hiatus til after the Christmas season. Keep watching the newsletter for our next offering.

Helen Lee Wasson Coulter (May 14, 1909 - October 26, 2004)

Helen Lee Wasson Coulter, 95, formerly of Alexandria, VA, passed away October 26 at her home in St. Anthony, MN. She was preceded in death by husbands Robert C. Wasson and Milo Daniel Coulter.

Helen was born May 14, 1909, in Morris, MN and lived there until she and Robert moved to the DC area. During World War II, she served in the Navy. She enlisted June 25, 1943 in Dallas, Texas as an Apprentice Seaman, and was discharged on September 24, 1945 as an Aviation Metalsmith, 3c. According to her discharge papers she served in the Bronx, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; and Corpus Christi, Texas. She was discharged while in Corpus Christi. Her military service is registered at the Women In Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington.

 Shortly after the war, she and Robert built one of the first homes in the well-wooded Tauxemont community of Mt. Vernon. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1950 and worked for many years as a social worker for the District of Columbia. Helen was an enthusiastic participant in many community organizations, and was a long time member of the Eastern Star and the American Legion. Helen’s first husband, Robert Wasson, was a charter members of the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church, and Helen became a member very soon afterwards.  They had been attending All Souls Church, Unitarian, but were instrumental in the founding of MVUC.. Helen recently helped fund the restoration of the church’s historic functioning windmill on the hill.

In December 1997 she married Milo Coulter, the father of a Tauxemont neighbor. After his death she moved back to Minnesota.

She is survived by stepchildren Violet (Richard) Bierce, Jim Coulter (Ninamarie) and Waverly Reans (Henry) and their children and grandchildren; nieces Karen Olson, Bonnie Lee and Susan Lee and their children; nephews William Wasson (Nancy) and George Wasson (Gail) and many other loving family and friends.

A service, celebrating her life, was held November 6 in Minnesota. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery on April 3, 2005, and plans are being made for a brief service at MVUC’s Memorial Walk also. An “electronic guest book” has been set up on-line at http://www.legacy.com/StarTribune/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=2779394  It will be open until December 3.  Those who wish can visit the site, read the guest book entries, and add their own memories of Helen if they wish to do so.

She was a gentle, loving and giving person to all who knew her and she will be greatly missed.

Can you help? (Bev Southerland)