A week after the erection of the arched dome of the building on Sierra Boulevard, the last annual meeting had been held in the old church building on 27th Street on Sunday evening, 17 January 1960. One hundred and forty-seven qualified voting members were present for what probably was the largest such gathering ever.
In a lengthy agenda, the greatest interest was in a proposed new section for the Society constitution — Section 4 of Article VII — which established both a minimum and a compulsory age for minister retirement. There had been no such provision because the previous ministers had been younger men, mostly those just starting out.
As the church newsletter reported1 the following week, “The new Section 4 to Art. VII‘ of the Constitution was the center of great controversy.” The reason was that it established 68 as the compulsory retirement age.2 Mr. Abell, born on 12 November 1891,3 was 68 and two months old the night of the annual meeting; therefore, the adoption of that proposal into the constitution would have forced his retirement.
Congregational action in the meeting resulted in a revision of the proposed new article, by a vote of 63 to 56, to read:
Section 4: Any minister who shall be chosen after the adoption of this section shall be entitled to retire, upon ninety days notice, at age 65, with benefit of all pensions available to him from this Society4 and otherwise; or he may continue in service to age 70. He may be appointed on a yearly basis thereafter.
The article was then adopted by a vote of 96 to 36 with 13 abstentions — a clear two-thirds majority when a simple majority would have sufficed.
The following item on the agenda was a resolution,5 which was adopted by a vote of 93 to 40, with 12 abstentions:
WHEREAS: Rev. Theodore C. Abell, in the dozen years* of his ministry in this church, has led it in development from a small and weak position to one of great potentiality, and
WHEREAS: In this development he has shown entire sincerity, great zeal and frequently the sacrifice of his personal interest, and
WHEREAS: The decade-Iong* efforts of himself and the congregation under his leadership are about to be crowned with success in the provision of a magnificent new home for the Church, soon to be ready for dedication, and
WHEREAS: In all reason he himself should pronounce the dedication of this new building, now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED: That this Society does now ask of Rev. Theodore C. Abell that he remain at his post as its minister, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That this resolution shall be placed in the Records of this Society and its contents shall be made publicly known through newspapers and by all other means.
The Annual Meeting of the First Unitarian Society of Sacramento, California, this 17th day of January, A.D. Nineteen Hundred Sixty.
* Author's note: The correct number of years was 14.
Shortly after the passage of that resolution, Mr. Abell came to the rostrum to deliver his annual “Remarks by Minister” as scheduled in Item 9 on the Agenda. George Reitter, who was chairing the meeting, recalled that event 20 years later in a voice tape made for the Society archives.6 Mr. Abell’s response to the events of the evening was to deliver, to the chairman and the congregation, his verbal resignation as minister. Visibly shaken and reading his remarks from an impromptu script, Mr. Abell appeared to be distraught. Chairman Reitter recalls looking over the minister’s shoulder and noting that his manuscript was hastily scrawled, untidy, with errors in spelling, entirely out of keeping with his customarily meticulously polished style. Upon the conclusion of Mr. Abell’s remarks, the chairman requested that the written resignation be handed to the secretary for inclusion in the records of the meeting. The minister refused to do so.
Caught by surprise, the chairman needed time to restore order and formulate an orderly response. Cooler heads began to warn against precipitous action, while some expressed the minister’s right to have a prompt response to his resignation. In the end it was agreed that the Board of Directors should call a special meeting of the congregation to act on the resignation at a date in the future that would allow adequate time for calm and deliberate examination of all aspects of the situation.
A letter of resignation7 was published in the Society newsletter a week later:
To Members of The First Unitarian Society of Sacramento:
In order to do an adequate job in the ministry, the minister must have the assurance that the members of his church respect him, have confidence in his ability, and wish him to remain as long as possible. When any appreciable number of members expresses a desire to know when he is going to retire or resign, it seems an indication that they are not prepared to follow his leadership, nor do they wish him to stay.
Your vote on the retirement this evening is definite evidence that although you're willing to “tolerate” your present minister for a limited time, if necessary, you wish him to know that it will be your policy, written into your Constitution, that any minister will not be wanted after a certain date regardless of ability or devotion.
Under these circumstances, I feel that it would be folly for me to expect the kind of cooperation that one must have if we are to build for the present and the future.
The future will be very difficult and will require real dedication, devotion, and even sacrifices for a great number of us. A new man may bring unity, cohesion, vision and enthusiasm to enable you to join together in the completion of the wonderful dream, which I have envisioned and [which] is now taking shape before us. He will find the first unit ready for occupancy.
In consideration of the afore-stated facts, I hereby reluctantly tender my resignation as minister of the First Unitarian Society of Sacramento, effective September 1, 1960.
(Signed)
Theodore C. Abell
One of the first reactions was a plan to request that the minister withdraw his resignation. A Board-appointed committee mailed ballots to the 373 elible voting members of the church. Of the 278 returned ballots, 181 voted to ask Mr. Abell to withdraw his resignation; 93 voted to accept his resignation.8
That might have restored tranquility, but that was not to be. At that time the annual every-member canvass for funds had failed to reach the pledged sum necessary for the operational budget of 1960-61. This was influential in Mr. Abell’s reply to the request that he withdraw his resignation; “I regret that I am unable to make a decision regarding the withdrawal of my resignation until the approved budget has been raised.”9
Under the leadership of Ruth Horn, who had been a diligent fund-raiser for the Society for several years, a re-canvass was conducted which by April had assured the necessary funds, thus meeting that objection. However, despite the vote of support from the majority of the congregation, Rev. Abell still didn‘t withdraw his resignation, so a meeting was called for April 24th to settle the matter.
1 The Lamplighter, Vol. 15; No.4, 24 January 1960, p. 3.
2 Ibid., Vol. 14; No. 42,20 December 1959, p. 6.
3 The birth date of Mr. Abell is documented in the previously published “Notes” for Chapter 23, by citing his biography in Who’s Who.
4 In the 1959 Annual Meeting a resolution was passed for providing Mr. Abell $50.00 a month being placed with interest in a pension fund, and a similar monthly sum to be paid for life upon his retirement.
5 The Lamplighter, Vol. 14; No. 42,20 December 1959, as amended in the annual meeting, 17 January 1960.
6 The tape was made on 14 May 1980 in the minister’s study, with George Reitter, Ted Webb, and Rodney Cobb participating. The tape and a transcript are on file in the Society archives.
7 The Lamplighter, Vol. 15; No.4, 24 January 1960, p. 3.
8 Ibid., Vol. 15; No.1 0, 6 March 1960, p. 36.
9 Ibid., 20 March 1960, p.45.
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