New monthly contribution: A small group of Lakeshore UU Fellowship members have initiated a project to serve several purposes. As we brainstormed ideas to bring more people into our fellowship, it occurred to us that many of us were lacking in basic information about Unitarian Universalist history. So along with our other activities we decided to ask a history question every month. Some of you will know the answers, but others will not. Much of the information comes from the Pamphlet Historical Series, but not all of it. If you have interesting questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

What affect has UU had upon the way people are buried and the way cemeteries look? What are they doing in our current time?

In 1825 with Boston population exploding and no place to bury the dead. Puritan theology and cemeteries were glum, skulls and bones on marker stones, not kept up. People would cross the street to not walk past the graveyard.

The Unitarian affect: At a meeting of Boston Society for the Promulgation of Useful Knowledge changes in the way the cemeteries were built was proposed. Plants, flowers and memorials to the dead were initiated. The goal was that people could come to visit family members who had passed and find some comfort. It was an effort to bring peace into the feelings surrounding death. It began in the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, MA in 1831.

Currently, Unitarian Universalists have been active in the shift to cremation and now in “green burials” or spreading of ashes. We are part of a reformation that never stops reforming.

Members of the membership committee include: Sandy Bast, Ginny Finnel, Kim Evertt, Kathy Bernhart and Erica Strauss.