Annette Tyler
A number of years ago when I was the Chair of the Fellowship’s Denominational Affairs Committee I wrote a newsletter article, in which I made the cardinal mistake of many Unitarian Universalists– spouting initials instead of words. I ended the blurb by saying, “See you at GA.” The secretary at the time, who was not a UU, edited this sentence to “See you at Georgia.”
I am a Unitarian Universalist. If I had never moved to Morristown or never heard of the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship I would still be a Unitarian Universalist.
I signed my first UU membership book at age 18, and that is an interesting story for another time.
In 1989 I attended my first General Assembly, Bend Toward Justice, which was held in New Haven Connecticut. The first thing that happened to me was on the shuttle bus from the parking lot to the dorm where I was staying for the conference. On the bus was a friend from my former congregation in Hastings, New York. What a surprise; I hadn’t seen her in 11 years! During this weekend I also got to see friends from other places around the country.
One General Assembly, which I did not attend, was held in 1996 in Indianapolis, Indiana. I mention it here, because I think it is so cool that two of our oldest members Ann Renz, then in her 80s, and Eleanor Mason, then in her 70s, attended along with two Fellowship teenagers, David Stasiak and Heidi Schulman. The theme of the conference was The Future is Now.
In 1998 GA, Fulfilling the Promise, was held in Rochester New York. This time I roomed with Carol Todd, who was there as a member of Olympia’s Daughters, the featured entertainment for the assembly. I think I also recall seeing teenaged Alison Miller leading an energy break one afternoon. At one of the workshops I was introduced to an author of some of my now favorite mystery books, who got her start by doing research on the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, near Rochester, in 1848. Do the math: 1998 was the sesquicentennial of this historic event.
In 2007 my husband Toby and I attended GA in Portland Oregon along with a number of other Fellowship members. The theme for this year was Choices that Matter. The highlight of this meeting for me was to see more old friends—one of whom was being honored on his retirement after many years as a Unitarian Universalist minister in Brooklyn, New York and Davenport, Iowa. The other friend was a former congregant from Hastings, New York, who was receiving his initial fellowship as a UU minister.
Last year, 2014, Toby and I went to General Assembly in Providence, Rhode Island. This meeting was entitled Love Reaches Out. We had dinner with former Fellowship members Larry Nagel and Jeanne Gleason, who were there from California. One afternoon Toby overheard part of a conversation, and said, “I know that voice!” Sure enough, it was Janet Randolph, whom we knew from the Fellowship. She has been an active member at All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington D.C. for many years.
As you can probably guess we have many memories of workshops and gatherings at General Assembly, but our fondest remembrances are of seeing old friends and being in an ocean of Unitarian Universalists. If you want to experience what it is like to be among so many UUs and see how our denomination works I urge you to attend one of the Unitarian Universalist General Assemblies coming to a city somewhere each year in the continent of North America
In 2023 we went to Pittsburgh for our last GA; of course, at the time we didn’t know it was our last one together. Toby grew up in Pittsburgh, so we went early to tour our/his usual haunts. We also got there in time for some of the local Juneteenth celebrations, and we toured the Andy Warhol museum. Our first GA evening was spent with other UUs from around the globe watching the Pittsburgh Pirates lose their game. Toby carried the Fellowship banner on the opening night of the conference. We had dinner one night with former Fellowship member Helen Lippman, and we bumped into friends from the Princeton and Montclair congregations as well as seeing Alison Miller, Mandi Huizenga, and Elias Ortega-Aponte. Robin Richards was also in attendance. One of the highlights of the week was a brunch that was given for members of the 50 lead congregations, where we got our photo taken with outgoing UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray.
This year, 2025, GA will be in Baltimore, MD !!
June 18-22
Register Here https://www.uua.org/ga/registration
THINK ABOUT IT!