Memories
From Melinda Morris Perrin:
In memoriam: It is with great sadness that I pass along this information. The Rev. Shirley Ann Ranck, the godmother of the UU women’s spirituality movement and author of the curriculum, “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” joined the Heavenly Sisters yesterday, appropriately on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2023. She was 92. Shirley was a woman who dared, a great friend to those who knew her, and an inspiration to generations who followed. Quite literally, she changed my life.
“In Goddess religion death is not feared, but is understood to be a part of life, followed by birth and renewal.” -Carol P. Christ
Carol Patrice Christ died peacefully on July 14 from cancer. Carol was and will remain one of the foremothers and most brilliant voices of the Women’s Spirituality movement. At the conference on “The Great Goddess Re-Emerging” at the University of California at Santa Cruz in the spring of 1978, Carol delivered the keynote address, “Why Women Need the Goddess: Phenomenological, Psychological, and Political Reflections.”
Christ proposed four compelling reasons why women might turn to the Goddess: the affirmation and legitimation of female power as beneficent; affirmation of the female body and its life cycles; affirmation of women’s will; and affirmation of women’s bonds with one another and their positive female heritage (Christ 1979).
Ellen Ann Spencer, 69, died peacefully at her home in Brookline Massachusetts, January 2, 2021. She was predeceased by her father Raymond Jesse "Bud" Spencer and her mother Anastasia Eagle Spencer of Middletown, CT. She was also predeceased by her longtime life partner Paul.
A graduate of Boston University, Ellen was an avid reader and loved to travel, especially to Europe and the United Kingdom.
Ellen retired from 32 years with UU Women's Federation in 2014. She was the Executive Administrator at that time.
Ellen is survived by her Siblings Madeline Spencer Fazzino and Raymond Jesse Spencer Jr. Both of Higganum, CT and 3 nieces and nephews and other loving family members.
A memorial is to be planned at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Ellen's name to the museum of your choice.
Dr. Meg Bowman ("Bowoman" on her nametag) passed away peacefully in San Jose on Monday, November 23, 2020. While she will miss the 2020 winter solstice, she lived long enough to see Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win the Presidential election. Meg celebrated her 91st birthday on July 28th. She was among the founders of Women & Religion with Rosemary Matson and others. She earned a PhD in Sociology and taught at San Jose State University. Meg was an editor for the book Telling Our Stories, Celebrating Ourselves, which includes the history of the W&R Task Force and was published by the PCD-UUA in 1998.
With deep sadness, we report that Liz Fisher passed away September 25, 2020 after several months in hospice care for cancer. She shared these thoughts with us in May 2020.
As I look back over my 72+ years of life in this body I am amazed at all I have experienced, thought and felt. During my years from early 1980s to the present, Women and Religion has been my nourishment. As Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898) of the 19th century taught so well, the early societies that proceeded patriarchy have a profound message for us.
The purpose of Women and Religion is to proclaim our ancestral stream of concern for fair, compassionate, kind, and most of all, mutually supportive inclinations. This tendency is to be blended with the contemporary concerns of positive modeling of non-violent co-existence and protection of the natural world – plant, animal, stone and star.
