When Lucile and Russell Halt arrived in Port Charlotte on June 5, 1968 there wasn't a single Unitarian Universalist Society between Sarasota and Fort Myers; so Lucile decided, to start one by writing letters to all the local Clubs and putting cards in motels, restaurants and laundromats.
Finally, on January 9, 1969 a group of twelve met with the Rev. Todd Taylor, who was the U.U. Inter- District Representative, and with his guidance organized the Port Charlotte U.U. Fellowship. Bi-laws were prepared, committees were set up and subsequently the first annual meeting was held on May 29, 1969. There were fourteen signatures on the application for membership. The first meetings were held at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club; but it was too expensive for them to continue meeting there.
Abe Golden, a former High School friend of Russell Hait,, was an active member of the Jewish Center and when he heard of their plight he kindly offered them the use of their facilities on Sundays. This resulted in ten years of a very pleasant association with the Jewish members of the Temple.
In the beginning all the "preaching" (Lucile Hait's word) was done by our own members with a visitor once a month. In 1970, Dr. Richard Rasmussen, a retired Presbyterian minister offered to speak twice a month for a modest stipend. Unfortunately, Dr. Rasmussen died in 1972.
In July 1974 a charter member, Dr. Paul Baldwin, died. He was highly respected, a diligent worker and an accomplished speaker. Dr. Baldwin gave us our first experience in conducting a Memorial Service. Now, in 1993, his wife, Helena Baldwin Hoettels, is the only surviving charter member still active in our Congregation. Helena, known to us as Dolly, and her present husband Walter, have continued to make a great contribution in time, work and money to the well-being of our Fellowship.
Edward Littlefield, a charter member, is now living in Naples, Florida with his grand-daughters. Lucile Hait, our Founder, died in the spring of 1993.
In 1972, Dr. Constance Burgess and her husband Nelson joined the Fellowship. Connie came to us with a U.U. background. In 1956 she was the Executive Director of the General Alliance of Unitarian and other Liberal Christian Women in Boston. Following the merger with the Universalists, Connie headed the U.U. Women's Federation. She retired in 1972 and became a wlnter resident in Florida. Connie served as our President from 1974 to 1976, and after that continued to be involved in work with the Program Committee and the Long-range Planning Committee.
By March 1976 we had over fifty members and a budget of $3,562. At the Annual Meeting of that year the By-laws were amended, making the official name of the Fellowship "Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Charlotte County, Inc." The Fellowship fiscal year at this time was changed to conform to the calendar year.
Herbert Keating served as President from 1976 to 1978. During his term of office the Fellowship decided to buy a plot of land from General Development Corp. on Kessler Blvd., now known as Forrest Nelson Blvd. Lucile Hait was responsible for finding the property and making this transaction possible.
The Fellowship paid $7,012.25 for this piece of land, and the deed stipulated that, for a period of 20 years, we could only sell to another church. The final papers were signed Feb. 31, 1977. The money to pay for the property came from special contributions and surplus funds in the treasury. This was the year that we had our first every-member canvass.
A big event in 1977 was to have a visit from Rev. Paul N. Carnes, who a short time later was elected President of the U.U.A. We have been fortunate to have had three U.U.A. Presidents speak to us over the years. Dr. Eugene Pickett spoke at the Dedication of our building in 1984, and Dr. William Schulz in 1991, during our quest for a full-time minister.
In 1977, Dr. Constance Burgess, in addition to her usual activities with our Fellowship, became the representative of the Southeast Region to the U.U.A. Board, and a Director of the Brooksvllle Conference whose theme was, "The U.U. Mission."
We became increasingly aware through these years that we needed a building of our own. We could see that the Jewish Temple was expanding their own membership and they would soon need more space. We knew, too, that we needed some professional leadership as we were also growing in numbers.
A wonderful solution presented itself. We became interested in Dr. Carl Westman, from Lakeland, Florida. He was retired; so in 1978 he was hired on a part-time basis, coming to us on the second and third Sundays of each month. Carl 's sermons never failed to inspire us and he became a very important part of our Fellowship.
In 1978, Dr. Constance Burgess, as Chairperson of the Long-range Planning Committee, had us vote on the aims of this Committee. They were:
There were thirty voting members present at this meeting and we had a budget of $4,965. The outcome of this survey was that we should acquire a building of our own. We were growing and expanding in our needs. Some of it was very painful. The more conservative members held back, while the optimistic ones pushed forward.
Another step in our growth in 1978 was to send two delegates to the General Assembly. The delegates were Dr. Constance Burgess and Wilda Gigee.
In August of 1978, Ida Kaufman - local chairperson of the U.U.S.C. - announced that we had earned the James Luther Adams award for a corporate commitment contribution to the U.U.S.C. In addition we received the Banner Society award for the contributions to the U.U.S.C totalling 3% of our budget.
During these years we had only used canned music (Lucile Hait's words) for our services; but in 1978, thanks to Walter Hoettels, Herbert Keating and Ed. Littlefield, new stereo equipment was purchased and installed, thereby improving the sound.
On January 21, 1979 Abraham Kaufman was installed as president, Dorothy Nelson - a long-time member - as Secretary and Dolly Baldwin Hoettels as Treasurer.
On October 22 of that year, under the laws of the State of Florida, we officially became a Corporation. Dolly Hoettels, George Jenkins and Virginia Westbrook were elected as our authorized incorporators. Wilda Gigee was elected as our representative to receive documents from the Secretary of State of Florida.
During Abe's term of office from 1979 to 1980 a Social Action program was developed, and had as an offshoot, aid to an area farm-workers strike.
Frances Hess followed Abe Kaufman as President. She served from 1980 to 1982. The Community and Social Action Committee, headed by Abe Kaufman, continued to be very active during Fran's term of office. This Committee continued the study of Florida farm-workers conditions. highlights included visits with Florida legal services, some horrible migrant housing, and several good housing and emergency aid programs.
The Social Action Committee also alerted us to the danger of the world over-population explosion, alternatives to the draft, efforts to learn about our less visible senior citizens, and our attitudes toward euthanasia, etc.
In Frances' own words, "the high point of the year 1981 was the service honoring Lucile Hait," the Founder of this Fellowship, for having had her name added to the Honor Roll of Star King School. On this memorable occasion, the hall was filled with members and friends of Lucile from the community.
At this point we were concerned with the decline in membership to fifty-three people. We analyzed our situation and recognized that when Dr. Carl Westman addressed us there were more people present; but we were obviously not growing in numbers. We knew that what we needed was "a home of our own" and a minister in residence.
In April 1980 the Board and Long-range Planning Committee met with Todd Taylor, Inter-district Representative of the U.U.A., in order to discuss the possibilities of our building a home of our own.
In September of 1981 Dr. Carl Westman requested that his service be limited to one Sunday a month, so a letter was written to Rev. David Pohl, Director of Ministry, to inquire about getting the services of a part-time resident minister. We found that the cost would be over $10,000. a year. We obviously could not afford a building and a part-time resident minister. Some members thought that we should hire a minister before we started to build.
On January 14, 1982 we started weekly meetings at the home of Beatrice Hodgkins, and as an off-shoot of these meetings enthusiasm for a building was rekindled and a Building Committee was formed. Bea agreed to chair the Committee and Evelyn Rapp was appointed to head the Finance Committee and to raise the necessary funds.
We started to look to Mr. Riley Thomas, a retired banker, for guidance. He was so enthusiastic about us building that, as Historian, I believe without his input we would not have had the courage to start the project. Our first priority was to establish a Building Fund separate from our Operating Fund.
Virginia Westbrook was President in 1982, and she was intensely excited about us startling our own building. This was a painful period, for she had to imbue each Member and Friend with her own enthusiasm. In April of 1982, under the guidance of the Finance Committee, we took a giant step forward. The members of the Building and Finance Committees were canvassed and a total of $31,600. was pledged over a three-year period.
Now a formal canvass of our Membership was necessary. Riley Thomas hosted a dinner party at the Punta Gorda Isles Yacht Club; forty-four Members and Friends were present. The Champagne flowed freely, pledge cards were passed out, and when the dinner was over the pledges to the Building Fund had grown to $50,000.
Our next step was to get approval for financial help from the U.U.A., and also from the Veatch Committee, which was at that time a separate funding organization of the U.U.A. It took the Finance Chair many hours of writing letters and talking back and forth, before we finally were able to borrow $20,000. from the U.U.A. - $10,000. was at no interest and 10,000 was at 10%. We also acquired a Veatch loan of $35,000. at 5% for 20 years.
Now we needed to find an architect. Bea .Hodgkins, Herbert Keating and Riley Thomas met with and employed, Mr. William Bowman, an architect from Punta Gorda. Things started to happen quickly from then on. Mr. Bowman clarified our needs, agreed on priorities and also gave due consideration to the estimated cost of each suggestion. It was an exciting time. There were more jobs and details to be done by the volunteers - money-making projects, publicity, etc., etc.... We all pushed and pulled together for at this time there were only thirty pledging units. Our cause was helped by the fact that at this time we were melting on Sundays at the Y.M.C.A., which was totally unsuitable for our needs, so this was an incentive to start building quickly. We did so in Sept. of 1982.
However, before we could build, variances had to be approved. It was required that a Church could not be built on less than two acres, and our plot was only 1.85 acres. Our adjoining neighbors also opposed us building on this property; but finally after lengthy negotiations a building permit was granted.
When our building was completely finished, except for the interior of the Sanctuary, we had an indebtedness of only $55,000, about $5,000 of which was still unspent. After the Dedication of the building the Sanctuary had to be finished, the parking lot had to be paved, and Snapper Creek had to be fordedin order to have more parking space. After a year of patient negotiations with government agencies by Walter Hoettels, "Hoettels Crossing" over Snapper Creek became a reality. This proved costly, but the parking problem was solved.
Once again we used the expediency of going back to the Veatch Committee to borrow another $25,000 to finish the Sanctuary. At this point Mills Construction, the firm that built the building, was asked for a quotation to complete the Sanctuary. Their bid was S45,000.
As an alternative, Harold Rapp, a Friend of the Fellowship offered to act as our General Contractor to finish the Sanctuary. The job was completed for just over $22,000 thus saving us over $20,000. Harold also built the Iectern to match the decor. The money saved on this phase helped to pay for "Hoettels Crossing."
1984 was a busy year while Evelyn Rapp was President. We completed the Sanctuary, crossed the Creek and doubled our ministerial services. Rev. Donald Lawson was hired to alternate services with Rev. Carl Westman. This, we believe, was a contributing factor to our acquiring fourteen new members that year. We also added Study Groups and a Special Events Committee headed by Betty Phillipoff. Its' many excellent programs stimulated the thinking of our members and the interest of outsiders in our Fellowship.
Herbert Keating was installed as President in 1985. Now we were dreaming of the day when we would have our own minister. We could dream; but we still needed chairs for the Sanctuary. In June of that year we purchased sixty chairs from a Church in Sarasota; it gave us a good start.
We needed all the help we could get. In September Dr. William Wharton started to print the Outlook on his copier, gratis. It was helpful, convenient and gratis!
In 1985 we lost Virginia Westbrook, a dedicated member and worker. We all mourned her death.
In 1986 Dr. William Wharton took over as our President. Dr. Bill soon commented he was amazed at the inner workings of our Fellowship - the amount of dedication and plain hard work that our members put into the every-day operations.
In 1987 Dr. Bill and a Committee composed of Connie Burgess, Clair McDonnal and Marie Springman revised our 1980 By-laws. They agreed that the By-laws should be brief and clearly stated, and that the discussion of committees and their duties should be omitted, but be incorporated into a Procedures Handbook.
The Congregation accepted the new By-laws. The major issue was to change the term for President and Vice-President from one to two years. The Procedures Handbook was never completed as it was a time- consuming task. The By-laws were revisited again in 1994 under the direction of Rosemary Hagen when a new version was passed addressing the needs of members who were seasonal residents. The Procedures Handbook became a board responsibility to delineate the responsibilities of each committee which was completed in the fall of 1994 under President Anne Burton's direction.
Constance Whitaker served as our president for the next three years - 1988, 1989 and 1990. She was a caring, dedicated woman, interested in every member and every Committee. Under Connie's leadership the Board continued to have as a goal the acquisition of professional leadership. During this time, too, Mac McDonnal, Marie Springman and Herbert Keating worked on "Policies and Procedures" which would serve, when completed, as an adjunct to our By-laws.
In November 1988, Evelyn Rapp was asked to chair a Committee to explore our options for professional leadership. After many meetings and help from the U.U.A., Mary Louise and John DeWolf-Hurt - district representatives, and Wesley Stevens ministerial settlement representative, the Congregation gave its approval to apply to the U.U.A. for a part-time resident minister.
It was May 1989 before we had completed the requirements o the ministerial Settlement Office in Boston. We had to wait until Boston sent us names of some available ministers to be interviewed.
The Committee, chaired by Evelyn Rapp, included Priscilla Eisner, Barney Jamison, Herbert Keating, Wilma McDonall and Mary Wolff. This committee worked all through the summer of 1989. They completed a packet of information about us for prospective candidates and evaluated extensive information received from interested ministers. By November 1989 they had selected a minister for the membership to hear in December 1989.
It should be noted at this time that a Ministerial Fund had been established, separate from our operating Fund. In the spring of 1988, Barney Jamison proposed to the Board that a Fund be established to which members could contribute and whose purpose would be to accumulate enough money to put the Fellowship in the position to obtain a minister, probably a part-time minister. The Board approved this proposal and it was also approved by the Congregation at a Congregational meeting. The Fund was established as of June 30, 1988. The stipulations concerning the Fund were that it was to be kept separate from Operating Funds, and that it could be used only to obtain and support a minister. The Fund was set up to run for three years and all pledges were to be paid in that period of time. The Fund drive was successful and generated approximately $25,000 in pledges. This was a deciding factor in bringing our long quest for a minister to a close.
Subsequently the Rev. George Brooks, a retlred U.U. minister assumed his duties as a part-time minister in residence and was installed April 1, 1990. Rev. Brooks informed the Board of Directors that one of his primary purposes in accepting the position for two years (at his own request) was to prepare our Fellowship for a full-time Minister.
It soon became clear that the Fellowship would have to attain a better financial position if we wanted to accomplish this goal; so under the guidance of Barney Jamison the Board approved a second New Ministerial Fund which was to continue until September 1993. This Fund was approved at a Congregational meeting In December 1990.
An important facet of this second Fund was that Robert Hansman offered to contribute one dollar for every two dollars that any Friend of the Fellowship would contribute. The response of the Friends was very generous and together with pledges from Members a total of $25,000 was raised.
Another source of income to the Ministerial Fund has not been mentioned. Through the years Priscilla Eisner chaired bazaars, yard sales and card parties. These events called for careful planning and cheerful help from volunteers. Some of the women were busy with needle and thread all year. Approximately $10,000 was raised in this manner.
Through these difficult years Harold Rapp, a good Friend of the Fellowship, gave his professional business guidance and kept close watch over our financial records. He was still doing this in 1994.
In December 1990 it was voted by the Board to give a new format to THE OUTLOOK with the thought that it would encourage new people to become more interested in the Fellowship. Our Friend, Robert Hansman, helped us on our way by providing the funds for cost of publication for the first year. Florence Mercer was the first editor. She had been our Secretary for many years and also was our in-house artist and poet. Bob acted as her PR. man.
Dick Stetson followed Connie Whitaker as President and served during 1991 and 1992. Dick immediately started working and planning with his Board of Directors towards the hiring of a full-time Minister, which was his dream when he accepted the Presidency.
Under Dick's leadership, and his wife Rusty's experience as a teacher, an excellent religious education program for the children was put in place.
Nelson Harris served as Program Chair during Dick Stetson's term of office. We are indebted to him for bringing interesting and stimulating people to talk to us on at least two Sundays a month. This is no mean task, for the life-blood of the Fellowship is the quality of our Sunday morning services. Nelson continued to serve through our interim period with the Rev. Sylvia Howe. The Members and Friends were shocked and saddened by his sudden death in the Fall of 1994.
It was a lively two years with Rev. George Brooks and Dick Stetson at the helm. We had adult programs - "Building your own Theology" - "Great Decisions" - a "Vocal and Instrumental Musical Group" for all who wished to join - "Dinners for Eight". Charles Miller continued his "Conversation Among Friends". We had a bi-monthly bridge group, and our first Christmas Eve Candle-lighting Service. Social Concerns and Cluster meetings were on-going activities.
The Coffee Hour after our service has always helped pull our Fellowship together. It has been a delightful way to share our thoughts and greet new members and friends. Dedicated people through the years have chaired this very special. committee.
In 1992 a Wayside Pulpit was designed and contracted for construction by Harold Rapp. It was erected at the front of the building facing Forrest Nelson Blvd.
In Dick's term of office a Capital gift of $10,000., the largest single donation ever received by the Fellowship, was given by Zenaida Merges in honor of her first husband Stephen Merges. This gift prompted the Board, with the help of Robert Hansman, to establish an Endowment Fund. The Finance Committee took more than a year to study the entire program of "planned giving". The Endowment Fund is a separately invested Fund from which only the proceeds can be used for Fellowship operations - the principal remains intact.
In December 1992 Virginia and Leon Karel, co-chairpersons of the Music Committee, reported on the "New-hymnal" campaign. The fund had gone "over the top". Members and Friends had been supportive by individually subscribing to purchase anywhere from one to twenty hymnals for $25 each. Total subscription was for 100 hymnals. We shall always be indebted to the Karels for sharing with us their talent and professional expertise in music.
In April 1992, due to the fact that the second ministerial fund had been a success, and that the Rev. George Brooks' term as minister was coming to a close, the Congregation unanimously endorsed the Board's recommendation that we begin our search for a full-time minister. A Search Committee was formed, but unfortunately this Committee could not agree and two members resigned. A second Committee was formed with Rosemary Hagen and Dr. William Wharton as co-chairpersons. Other members were Rhoda Bernstein Chuck Haughey, Leo Harbeson, Phyllis Lincoln and Roy Sinclair. This second Committee could not re-convene the fall of 1992, so the necessary steps were taken to obtain an interim minister.
In November 1992 The Rev. Sylvia Howe was named as our Consultant Interim Minister. She was selected by the Interim Search Committee consisting of Anne Burton, Helen Mecherle and Dick Stetson. She was to provide for our ministerial needs including the Sunday Service on two weekends a month. Sylvia served us well.
The second Search Committee worked long and hard and began to be quite discouraged as available candidates were either already engaged by other U.U. Churches, or they were not suitable for the needs of our Fellowship.
In 1993 Anne Burton took over the helm as President and she had an exceptionally busy year. Anne's attention to detail helped her cope with what would prove to be perhaps the most important year of the Fellowship - the transition to having a full-time Minister.
In this year the Search Committee announced that a candidate had been found for our first full-time minister. The candidate was the Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore, a life-long Unitarian. Sam's Master of Divinity came from the Starr King School for Ministry in Nov. 1989. He received his first degree - BSEE/CS - from the University of California at Berkeley. He and Philomena Moriarty were married in March of 1990 and they celebrated the birth of their son Andrew in May of 1992. Philomena is a Clinical Social Worker.
The chemistry was right between "Rev. Sam" And our Fellowship; the vote to accept him was unanimous. Arrangements were finalized and his official duties began September 1, 1993.
In February of 1993, Florence Mercer resigned as Editor of "The New Outlook" and Norma Stanfield graciously agreed to fill that vacancy. Her talented work with the newsletter earned the Fellowship the District's award for the best small society newsletter in 1994.
On January 9, 1994, we were fortunate to have the Rev. Dr. John A. Buehrens, newly elected President of the U.U.A. speak to us. This was the fourth President of the U.U.A. to address our Congregation. He brought a powerful message to us, calling for "an expansive faith." For the occasion the Sanctuary was full - a heart-warming sight!
On January 23, 1994, at 4 PM the U.U. Fellowship of Charlotte County celebrated the installation of our first full-time Minister, The Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore. It was an impressive ceremony with many U.U. ministers taking part in the service. The Rev. Daniel Hotchkiss, the Ministerial Settlement Representative of U.U.A., gave the Installation Sermon. After the service, the visiting dignitaries, members And friends of our Fellowship enjoyed an elegant reception.
As historian I could not mention each and every name; but it should be noted that it took every Member and Friend working shoulder to shoulder to accomplish this dream. Some people gave of their time and talent while others gave generous financial assistance. It should be noted, too, that through these twenty- five years we carried on with our day to day Fellowship activities, always trying to grow as a "caring" community. Along the way, like any other organization, we had painful moments and disagreements, but none so serious as to stand in the way of our objectives.
We had now come full-circle from when Lucile Hait met with a group of twelve to organize the Port Charlotte Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. It had taken us twenty-five years, a quarter of a century, to fulfill our dream - A "Home Of Our Own" And A "Full-time Minister.
Copyright (c) 1995 by Evelyn Rapp, All Rights Reserved.