Canvass
Testimonial
Liz Benzinger
I
usually talk about music when I’m discussing what I value in my relationship
with our church. Actually, the idea of what I’d like to say today began
with music – I watched the PBS program about Pete Seeger the other
evening and decided that he is a UU, whether he knows that or not. I decided
this based on his principled stands on many just causes, the union movement,
cleaning up the Hudson River, and especially his refusal to answer the questions
of the HUAC committee about his political ideas – which resulted in
his being black-listed from performing for 17 years.
Then I began
thinking about people in our own church whose actions I respect and revere – here’s
where we step back over 35 years – the first who came to mind was Molly
Michie, not the Molly who is in high school and who has played clarinet in
our services recently, but her grandmother. In the late 60s this Molly, along
with other members of our church, founded the first racially integrated pre-school
in Charlottesville.
In the early
70’s when I was involved with this pre-school, it was called simply
the Unitarian Co-operative Pre-school. I knew Molly as the organizer of the
scholarship program which made it possible for a couple of black children
to attend each class in the pre-school. We provided rides and a designated “co-op
mom” for each of the kids so they would feel at home there. I myself
was a regular driver for several of these children. It was only some years
later, after Molly’s death that the school was renamed in her honor.
A chance to know and work with people like Molly, people who truly act on
our UU principles and live their lives according to them, is one of the many
things I cherish about our church.
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