Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento
A Church of Open Minds and Loving Hearts
UUSS HISTORY PART TWO — The Long Thirty Years (1915–1945)
The Stockton Connection
During the early decades of this century, the Sacramento Society had shared its minister with the Unitarian group in the nearby town of Woodland some twenty miles away. In 1936 the Sacramento Society used the help of the Stockton Unitarian group in a similar fashion. An official of the American Unitarian Association had suggested that the two bodies could share their resources to mutual advantage under the stress of the Depression.
Accordingly, the Stockton minister, Clarence N. Vickland1, began holding services in Sacramento on Thursday nights in a schedule covering February 20 through May 28, 1936. The program was financed at $45 per month for the Stockton minister, with $20 a month for operating the Sacramento organization. The funds came in part from the $25 per month rental of the building to the Truth Center Church and the remainder came from subscription pledges of either $1 or $.50 per month by contributors.
The general plan of the meetings was described to the members:
The proposed plan includes two different types of meetings — a Half Hour of Beauty to be conducted in the church auditorium at 7:45 by Reverend Dorothy Dyar Hill, and a forum meeting to be held in the large social hall at 8:15pm, with an address by Reverend Clarence Vickland of Stockton. The address will be followed by questions and discussion from the floor, and the meeting will be presided over by members of the congregation. By observing the Half Hour of Beauty the need for meditation, inspiration and spiritual communion will be met; by holding the forum hour educational and ethical needs will find fulfillment.
The April 1936 Thursday evening topics were on:
The Spiritual Basis of Co-operation.
Nazi Germany and the Present European Crisis presented by
Professor Jacoby of the College of the Pacific.
The Scandinavian Solution to Hard Times.
The Labor Movement Throughout the World.
There had been a long tradition in the Sacramento Society of incorporating esthetic appreciation into the weekly services, such as that described for the “Hour of Beauty”. Anne Mudge wrote in 1975 of her childhood memory of such services,
”A vigorous youngish woman... not only gave readings but believed that as we listened we should have something beautiful to look at also, so she had a simple arrangement near her on the dias with a soft light on it. It might be a richly colored vase or a piece of pottery or whatever. I was twelve or thirteen at the time and I enjoyed them.“
Perhaps that was the reason that some years later she recalled that in the late 1930’s “I made a peacock-blue wall hanging that made a backdrop behind the pulpit, and the domed ceiling above the dais was painted a light blue like the sky.” That background was particularly enhanced by the morning light, diffused through the east windows, falling over the bouquets of garden and field flowers or foliage customarily displayed there on Sunday mornings.
Enter, Arthur Foote
Records show that in the summer of 1936, Mr. Vickland was being referred to as the former minister of the Stockton and Sacramento groups, and Arthur Foote was being proposed as minister for both Stockton and Sacramento. The twenty-five year old minister had just graduated from Meadville Theological School in Chicago, after having received a degree from Harvard University in 1933.
Rev. Arthur Foote
The son and grandson of Unitarian ministers, he had student experience as an assistant minister in Chicago, and as a student pastor in Shelbyville, Illinois. His father had by choice started his career in a small church outside of his native New England area and recommended that his son follow his example; for that reason Arthur Foote agreed to California as the place for his first pastorate.
Stockton and Sacramento agreed to share a minister, his residence to be decided by mutual arrangement. The Sacramento Society voted in a special meeting on 27 August to accept Arthur Foote as part-time minister until 1 January 1937. That was proposed by the AUA representative in Boston, in obvious recognition that Sacramento members were reluctant to accept another “immature and inexperienced” minister just out of theological school, and would be more amenable to the arrangement if it were for a limited term.
At Easter that year Arthur Foote and his wife, the former Rebecca Carroll Clark of Southwest Harbor, Maine, had departed for a European vacation prior to his anticipated assignment to a pastorate in the autumn of 1936. They returned to this country on August 15, with a request that he be ordained in historic King’s Chapel of Boston, where his grandfather had once been minister, so that his father who was then a minister in Massachusetts could participate in his ordination. Representatives of King’s Chapel agreed to holding the ceremony there, provided that they were requested to do so by the Sacramento Society and the Stockton Church. The date of Sunday, September 20 was chosen; the Stockton Church promptly replied, but it was not until Tuesday, September 15, in response to an urgent second telegram that the Sacramento trustees telegraphed their request for the ordination ceremony.
In the files of the Society a printed copy of the Order of Service for the ordination ceremony preserves the essence of the solemn ritual within King’s Chapel staid walls which stood as the symbol of New England’s unique Unitarianism.
A hymn written by his grandfather in 1861 was sung, the last verse reading:
Crown us with love and so with peace,
Transfigure duty to delight;
Our lips inspire, our faith increase,
Brighten with hope our darkest night,
Bring us from earthly bondage free,
To find out heaven in serving thee. Amen
(Henry Wilder Foote)
The “Address to the Candidate” was read by Reverend Samuel A. Eliot, DD:
We, who are here present, acting on behalf of the First Unitarian Society of Sacramento, California, and the First Unitarian Church of Stockton, California, do hereby ordain you to the ministry, in accordance with the accepted uses of our free churches, bidding you to dwell among our people preaching the word of truth and in freedom and in love, rebuking evil and maintaining righteousness; ministering to them alike in their joys and in their sorrows, setting forth no less by your example than by your precept the Christian way of life.
The “Reply by the Candidate” read:
Sir: With a deep sense of responsibility, I take up the ministry to which I am this day ordained.
I so pledge myself, as far as in me lieth, worthily to maintain the freedom of the pulpit which I shall occupy; to speak the truth in love, both publicly and privately, without fear of persons; diligently to fulfill the several offices of worship, instruction and administration, according to the customs of my congregation and of this fellowship; and in all things so to live as to promote piety and righteousness, peace and love among my people and with all men.
Rev. and Mrs. Foote made Stockton their place of residence in October. The Sacramento work would be for two to three days a week. The double assignment of two congregations was thought to be well within the excellent physical stamina of the young minister. At Harvard University he had been the captain of its cross-country running team, and he had run a two-mile race representing Harvard at an intercollegiate track meet in Berkeley, California, in 1932. With that background it wasn‘t surprising to
see him bicycling about Sacramento while calling on his parishioners, even way out at 52nd and F Streets to the hospital there.
At a part-time salary of $50 a month from the Society, his first service was on Thursday evening, October 8. The congregation decided to continue its previous format of evening meetings, and announced those for the remainder of October:
October 15th:
At 7:30 Devotional Service, with Sermon by Mr. Foote
At 8:15 Forum Discussion led by Mr. Foote on the Topic: “What Next in Europe”
Mr. Foote has recently returned from an extended trip abroad and is well qualified to speak on future possibilities.
October 22nd:
At 7:30 Devotional Service, with Sermon
At 8:15 Forum Discussion on Stuart Chase’s latest book: Rich Land, Poor Land
This volume, just off the press, discusses our present economic situation in the light of our past use of the nation’s resources. It is a thought provoking work, well worth the careful consideration of every thinking person.
October 29th:
At 7:30 Devotional Services, with Sermon
At 8:15 Forum Discussion of Sinclair Lewis‘ book: It Can‘t Happen Here!
In view of present European trends, all would do well to consider the causes and the possibilities of a dictatorship in America.
The December “Monthly Calendar” mailed to members contained the statement by the minister which was indicative of the condition of the Society at the end of 1936:
Two months have passed since the church was reopened. For me at least, they have been happy ones, and, I may truly add, encouraging ones. I came to Sacramento under no illusions, and so, while many of you have sought to persuade me of the difficulty of the task, I have found more interest and willingness to lend a hand than I had expected. Our group is small, and some of you seem to think that because it is small, it cannot justify its existence. But institutions are not justified by their size, but by their vitality and usefulness. For me the most encouraging fact of the situation is this: that the prevalent attitude in the church is changing slowly from one of discouragement and defeat to one of hope and of the ‘will to victory: I call upon all of you who believe in liberalism and not in authoritarianism, and who desire to see our modern faith applied in our own lives and in the life of the world, to give us your support.
The Calendar also contained a notice on December 17 that a special meeting would be held on 1 January 1937 to decide whether the arrangement with the Stockton church and the minister would be continued, as provided in the original agreement under which Mr. Foote had come to the Society.
That event was recalled in 1975 by Anne Mudge of Santa Rosa, California, who wrote,
Arthur and Rebecca Foote appeared on the scene, twenty-five and twenty-three respectively,2 both extremely charismatic... he went about calling on people who had previously been in the church, trying to get them together and got pretty discouraged... By this time I was teaching at Sacramento High School and my mother and I had a charming three-bedroom house at 44th and T Streets. I got her to invite him to make our home his headquarters for the two days he had to devote to Sacramento (each week), where he could stay overnight, have breakfast, supper, whatever, and plug away at trying to get the church together. He said, “You have no idea what it means to be welcomed and aided in this difficult situation.” He had a great mystical faith and gave very fine sermons... After several months a church meeting was held at which we were to decide whether we were to ask him to stay on a permanent basis. There were some members of the elder generation who felt that the situation was too difficult and that he should be sent back to New England before he had his light extinguished. There was much arguing back and forth and finally I said, “Why don‘t we let them decide for themselves?” So he and Rebecca were called in, by this time almost in a state of shock. When we asked if they wanted to stay they said they certainly did, so the matter was settled.
In his first few years in Sacramento, the Depression seemingly had become a way of life. In 1939 it was in its tenth year when in September World War II began in Europe; a limited national emergency declared that year by President Roosevelt foreshadowed war preparations in the United States which would lead to the end of the Depression. The United States entered into armed conflict in 1941, and in place of the financial dislocation, the war years would disturb the personal lives of Society members so that four years were to pass before anything resembling normality would come.
A Sermon of 1944
A brief glimpse of what Mr. Foote was saying to his congregations at the height of the war is preserved in a mimeographed booklet distributed in February of 1944, as one of four sermons on the problems of race in the modern world.” The title was “Adam’s Ancestors: The Origin and Unity of the Human Race as Seen by Modern Science.” In it he discussed the current “racist epidemics” not only in Nazi Germany but in America against Jews, Negroes and Japanese-Americans, from the viewpoint that the only exact use of the word “race” would be to say the ”human race.”
But even more informative was his description, on the back cover of the pamphlet, of the philosophy of the Stockton Church and the Sacramento Society:
THE UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP offers what may seem to you a revolutionary idea of ”religion” and “the church.” Far from being “an opiate for the people” religion, in the Unitarian sense, stimulates men and women to achieve for themselves — and for others — the best possible life. It incites them to do justly and to labor for a just social order.
THE UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP is hardly a “church” in the ordinary sense of the word; nor is it just another sect or cult. It is a company of people who wish to live the religious life, while feeling themselves free to accept any interpretation of life that experience and knowledge seem to warrant and to change that interpretation in the light of new facts.
They are in loose agreement on the things that are relatively KNOWN — the values, ideals and experiences that make for the enrichment and ennoblement of human life. They inevitably differ among themselves — with absolute freedom of belief - as to things that are relatively UNKNOWN — such as the origin of life, immortality, the ultimate character of the universe, the meaning and the value of belief in God.
The Year 1945
Through five difficult years of financial stringency and almost four years of America’s war participation, Arthur Foote remained with his congregations, when nationwide there was a shortage of Unitarian ministers because fifty of them were serving in the armed forces. Then in the Spring of 1945, Mr. Foote left for a larger and more prosperous pulpit of the Unity Unitarian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He would serve as minister of that church for 25 years, retiring in 1970.
In May he wrote from his new location,
It seems very different, and quite exciting, to be in charge of a big, going concern. It is wonderful to have so many facilities, such as a movie projector and an excellent stenographer... The church in desperation has bought a parsonage... with three stories; it seems large to us who have grown used to living in a five room California bungalow.
The nine-year period since he had arrived here as a “young, inexperienced minister” may have been longer than he had intended when he came here to a first pastorate. When he left, it was with mutual affection and respect that he and his congregation parted, he to a larger opportunity and the Society to face once again a familiar experience, that of attempting to survive.
1 Vickland was born in Admire, Lyon county, Kansas, in 1897; attended George Williams College (YMCA), Chicago; received a BD from the Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. Earlier he had been a railroad bookkeeper and a settlement education and church worker. He was minister of the Fresno Unitarian Church for three years before his four-year ministry at Stockton.
2 Arthur Foote was born in 1911, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his father was pastor of the Unitarian Church.
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