As this publication goes to print, it is important to note the crucial role Ted Webb played in its creation. Over the years, several of Sacramento’s Unitarian ministers mentioned their hope that “someday” a church history might be written. In anticipation of that day, a few took the time to record their personal memories and made a conscious effort to preserve church documents and records of key events. But it wasn't until Webb arrived on the scene that more direct action was taken. It was Rev. Webb who initiated the interest in publishing a history. It was he who encouraged Rodney Cobb to take on the task of writing the first history, and he continued to provide support over the seven years it took Cobb to complete the job. For that. we are indebted to him.
In December 2007, more than a quarter century after writing the foregoing “A Minister's Thoughts on his First Ten Years,” Ted Webb (now Minister Emeritus) was still a regular attendant at Sunday services at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento. Though somewhat frail after a recent bout of illness, he had retained his sharp wit and a delicious sense of irony.
Reminiscing at a local coffee shop, he described the 1970’s and early Eighties as an exhilarating period for Sacramento Unitarians, largely due to the fact that so many were actively involved in planning and participating in church services. Even before coming to Sacramento, Rev. Webb said, he had always intended for his role to be different: he would not be the church “boss” but instead, a committee would create and produce many services. And that’s exactly what happened. On Sunday mornings, it wasn‘t unusual for someone to stand and spontaneously recite a poem he or she had just written, followed by an enthusiastic production of a play such as Spoon River Anthology or The Emperor's New Clothes — performed by a large cast of church members.
According to Rev. Webb, if anyone word could be said to encapsulate the atmosphere in the church during those years, it would be “creativity”. “To me, seeing the success of those efforts meant that everyone has the potential to be creative,” Rev. Webb said. “I‘d like to think that some of my addresses had creativity in them, too,” he added. One sermon which has continued to draw favorable comments for its creativity over the years was entitled “Heir to the God Who is Dead”.
Prior to his move to Sacramento, Webb had served for eight years as Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalists‘ Massachusetts Bay District in Boston. “I used to hear ministers from the West say they had very little contact with Boston,” he remembers. “When I got out here, I discovered it was quite true. We felt very distant from Boston, Massachusetts!”
Back East, he had long been involved with the peace movement. On his second day in Sacramento, Webb attended a meeting of the group which is now called Sacramento-Yolo Peace Action, and he was particularly impressed by the words of a man named Leon Lefson who rose to speak. When asked about the involvement of other church members in the peace movement. Rev. Webb responded. “A goodly number were sympathetic to the cause. Among the most active were Wayne and Ruth Hultgren. Esther Franklin, and Fran and Jack Kennedy.” (Apparently, the group caught the attention of law enforcement agencies. At Wayne Hultgren’s funeral many years later, his voluminous FBI file was on display for all to see.)
Of course, the primary focus of demonstrations during that era was the Vietnam War. Participants marched or waved their anti-war signs or handed out leaflets at the state capitol and also on the corner of 16th and J. Streets (the site of frequent demonstrations against the Iraq War nowadays). “In all the years I was involved in the peace movement,” said Rev. Webb, “I don't remember encountering a minister of any other religion at meetings or demonstrations.” In 1972, a Peace Fair was held at the Unitarian Church, and George McGovern, the Democratic candidate for President, attended, as did at least one other less-well-known candidate. During those years, Ted Webb counseled a number of young men about how to avoid the draft. He remembers that the daughter of one Unitarian minister married a young man who fled to Canada during that time. But the Sacramento church never considered becoming a sanctuary for draft resisters.
Generally, Rev. Webb avoided expressing his own political beliefs from the pulpit, feeling that would be inappropriate. On one occasion, however, he deviated from that pattern. Just after the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, he stood before the congregation and proclaimed, “The newly-elected president is not my president!” Afterward, one longtime member quit the church in protest. His was the only negative response, however.
In that regard, Webb said he had initially felt a bit wary of Phyllis Gardner, an active and well known church member, one of the founders of the regional Planned Parenthood organization — and a staunch Republican. Prior to his move to Sacramento, he had come across a letter from her in a Unitarian publication. She was writing in response to an earlier article with which she strongly disagreed. In closing, she had advised the publishers sternly, “Watch it!” As different as their opinions were, it almost seemed foreordained that Gardner and the new minister would tangle someday. Yet in all his years as minister of the Sacramento church, Rev. Webb never received a single criticism from her.
Needless to say, passions ran high during the Vietnam War. One Sunday morning, as an invited guest was addressing the congregation, a young man burst into the room shouting antiwar slogans and demanding to be heard. While Rev. Webb felt empathy for the boy and understood why he felt such strong emotion, he made the decision to close the service at that point.
Not all the demonstrations were about war, however. When the Sacramento Bee’s newspaper deliverers went out on strike, Ted Webb organized a group of local clergy to support them. A rabbi and a Catholic priest were among those who participated. “I was surprised to find liberal Catholic priests in California,” Rev Webb remembers. “Back East, all the Catholic priests I had known had been quite conservative.”
Webb describes himself as a socialist, but says he was never a communist, as some in the media labeled him when he took a position against the action in Korea during the 1950’s. He feels that the media — in response to pressure from corporations, the business community, and the Republican Party — have made the word "liberal" poisonous in this society. Consequently, the spontaneous response of most Americans to that word has come to be one of suspicion.
Throughout his life, Rev. Webb has been an active participant in the affairs of his community, country, and world. For many years, he served as either President or a Board member of the United Nations Association of the
U.N. (UNA-U.N.). He also started a West Coast Unitarian Universalist ministers‘ group and tried to stir up interest among retired ministers in encouraging graduate students to study the effects on society of the growing number of women entering the ministry. “What exactly is the nature of that change?” he wondered. With a group of lay leaders of the church, he investigated the idea of building a retirement home on church property on Sierra Blvd. Serious discussions were held over a year or two, but they soon realized it was a big venture that would require someone with an excellent head for business to take charge. Bill Lambert seemed to be the ideal person for that job, but when he was hospitalized and died, no one else stepped forward who could fill his shoes, so the matter was ultimately dropped.
When reminded of the two “disappointments” he had mentioned in the article about his first ten years in Sacramento, Webb wryly pointed out that financial problems have always been a continuing problem for Unitarian and Universalists in general. “It’s a mindset — there isn‘t anything to scare them!” he laughed. As for his expression of regret that Sacramento’s Unitarians had failed to take advantage of the great opportunity that was theirs due to their proximity to the state capitol, he said he sees the recent creation of a UU Legislative Ministry as a very positive step.
The Sacramento church was not the last one whose pulpit the Rev. Webb would fill. For several years in succession, he ministered to a “summer church” in Canada, just across the border from Vermont. There, he served a group that couldn‘t afford a full-time minister, meeting their need during his vacation time. After his retirement from UUSS, Rev. Webb had four Interim Ministries: in Iowa City, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Minneapolis. He particularly liked Iowa City, but realized he‘d never be able to persuade his wife Marguerite to move there permanently. “It was just too cold!” he explained. “After living in California, she wouldn't have considered moving there.”
For twenty-five years, Webb spent much of his free time researching the lives of the Washburn family, seven brothers born in Maine in the early 19th century whose accomplishments were remarkable. Among the roles the various brothers played, in addition to being founders of the Universalist Church, were Governor of Maine, U.S. Senator, Congressman, Ambassador, Secretary of State, and founder of the Gold Medal Corporation. Two of them were even considered as nominees for U.S. President! After retiring, Ted Webb wrote two books about these fascinating men, Seven Sons: Millionaires and Vagabonds (1999) and Impassioned Brothers: Ministers Resident to France and Paraguay (2002). One reviewer described the earlier work as “a rich tapestry that captures the zeitgeist of a whole era of American history.” (Amazon web page)
For the past year or two, a group called “Ted's Web” has been meeting on Tuesday mornings at the church. Some (but not all!) are longtime members of the church. They generally discuss politics and current events, though the conversation sometimes strays in other directions. Everyone is given a chance to speak and all ideas are received respectfully. Newcomers are always welcomed.
In February 2008, the Ted’s Web Discussion Group announced its sponsorship of a Peace Vigil and Anti War Demonstration to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. Thus, history repeats itself. Or, as the French say, “Plus ça change, plus ça reste Ie même.” (The more things change, the more they remain the same.) Sacramento’s Unitarians have long been involved in social action; down through the ages, they have stood up against every kind of injustice — in good times and in bad.
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