Alumni News
Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. (STH’60) Honored with “Reverend James M. Lawson, Jr. Day” by Los Angeles County
The following story was originally published on September 15, 2020 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. It can be accessed here.
On a motion by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to proclaim September 22 as “Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr. Day.”
September 22, 2020 will mark the 92nd Birthday of a statesman who, since the 1950s, continues to be actively involved in training countless men and women on nonviolent resistance to achieve social justice. He has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, California State University, Northridge, and countless other educational institutions–and even in retirement continues to travel across the country to teach nonviolence.
“When Reverend Lawson talks about those whose lives and livelihoods were in the balance, we are hearing the son of a movement,” said Supervisor Ridley-Thomas. “This is a well-deserved recognition honoring a leader who has dedicated so much to a nation and county through advancement of civil rights and non-violence.”
“Rev. Lawson is a civil rights and human rights icon whose moral leadership, integrity, courage and imagination demonstrate the best of our collective values and responsibilities of our democracy,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Through his life we can learn how a great vision and a nation began to confront and nonviolently challenge institutional racism. Today’s honor is well-deserved and will be an important reminder of our obligation to protest injustice in all forms everywhere so that as Californians we are united together in our work to make a reality the California Dream for All.”
From a young age, Reverend Lawson sought to improve the lives and conditions of African Americans in his community. While a freshman at Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, he studied sociology. In 1951, because of his refusal to serve in the US military when drafted, he was convicted of draft evasion and served 13 months of a three-year sentence. After his release, he traveled to India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s method of nonviolence to achieve social and political change.
He returned to the United States in 1955, entering the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College in Ohio. One of his Oberlin professors introduced him to Martin Luther King Jr. who had also embraced Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent resistance. Reverend Lawson was so moved by the ongoing social justice movement, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged him to move to the South and teach nonviolent resistance to the men and women fighting for equal rights. In 1958, he relocated to Tennessee where he began his teachings about nonviolent resistance practices. He was influential in the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the Civil Rights Movement.
Reverend Lawson attended Vanderbilt from 1958 to 1960 when he was expelled for civil rights arrests, but received his Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Boston University that same year. In 1961, he participated and assisted in the coordination of the Freedom Rides, as well as the Meredith March in 1966.
He was also one of the key organizers of the Memphis sanitation workers strike, which would become the last event where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would ever share one of his most inspirational and heart-moving speeches. It was in this last speech in 1968, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, that Dr. King spoke of Reverend Lawson by saying, “He’s been going to jail for struggling; he’s been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggling; but he’s still going on, fighting for the rights of his people.” Reverend Lawson has dedicated his life to fighting for social justice for those communities often overlooked and marginalized.
In 1974, Reverend Lawson relocated from the South to Los Angeles to become a pastor at the historic Holman Methodist Church where he would serve until his retirement in 1999. During his tenure, he served as President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which traces its founding to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Reverend Lawson has been a beacon of hope during some of our darkest times. His service as a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the Civil Rights Movement, has nurtured the next generation of civil rights leaders. A leader in the labor movement supporting reproductive and gay rights when it wasn’t popular, Reverend Lawson is always ahead of our time,” said Senator Maria Elena Durazo.
His commitment to social justice is long-lasting, unwavering, and timeless. His experiences and his words have been used by generations as the foundation and framework in the fight for equality and social justice.
“Rev. Lawson has changed the course of U.S. history through his teachings on nonviolent theory and practice, and in training generations of emerging leaders who have advanced economic and racial justice,” said UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong.
Even in retirement, he continues to travel across the country to participate in protests and give lectures, inspiring thousands of people to take action and become involved in social justice and civil rights.
“This is a beloved man who once knew the uncertainty and agony of staring down the evil of segregation and all that it wrought and responded not with hate nor with rage,” said Supervisor Ridley-Thomas. “He has responded with courage, love, respect, and humanity for the possibility of us all, one of a kind, as members of humankind through non-violence. Sixty years is a lifetime for some, but Rev. Lawson’s legacy of nonviolence will resonate for an eternity.”
Reverend Robert L. Hemmerla (STH ’56)
Mrs. Sara L. Kavich (STH ’62)
"Sara Guy Kavich passed away on August 2, 2020 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Sara was born on February 21, 1934 in Austin, Minnesota, growing up on the farm with her parents, four brothers and her dear sister Jean.
Sara graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Home Economics in 1956, later she earned a Master’s Degree from Boston University of Theology and a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Montana State. She began her career as the Program Director for the YWCA at the University of Kansas in 1956 and ended her YWCA career as Executive Director for the YWCA in Black Hawke County, Iowa from 1980-88 overseeing a major renovation of the YWCA building. In 2000, the Black Hawke County YWCA awarded her the initial Outstanding Former Employee Award for her outstanding work at the YWCA and her community involvement.
In the summer of 1965, Sara met Larry Kavich during a YWCA World University Service Asian Seminar in Bombay, India and they married in 1966. During the next several years, they lived and worked in a variety of locations: Bozeman, Montana; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Long Island, New York; Los Angeles; and Cedar Falls, Iowa.
In 1989, Sara and Larry moved to Humboldt County and built a home in Big Lagoon. Sara worked as the Executive Director for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Northwest for the next few years. After retiring, she kept busy assisting with the Big Lagoon Water District, church services in Trinidad and working with Larry at his Consultants for Global Solutions Project. She and Larry enjoyed traveling worldwide as well as vacationing summers in Mt. Meadows, Wyoming. They often traveled to visit the Guy family as well as many friends throughout the United States.
In 2006, Larry and Sara set out for a new adventure, moving to Springfield, Oregon. After Larry passed away in 2016, Sara returned to Eureka in 2017 to be closer to family and friends. Sara moved into Alder Bay Assisted Living where she remained in good spirits despite her declining health. As we reflected back on Sara’s life, we noted that Sara was a product of her upbringing; doing the right thing, doing your duty, believing in the goodness of others and having a strong moral code. She was devoted to her own faith, family, friends, self, and the betterment of humankind while maintaining her mid-western values of simplicity, honesty, strength and steadfastness. She was never verbose, loud, vain or selfish, but she spoke her mind when a sensible, calm and clear direction was needed, not simply to echo the words of others. She had a strong sense of duty, putting others needs before her own and was a leader in women’s rights, social justice and progressive leadership before it was fashionable.
During her long struggle with Parkinson’s disease, it was no surprise that she maintained her usual grace, strength of character and positive outlook. She greeted friends, family, and care providers with her beautiful smile. She was an inspiration and example of how to handle adversity in life to us all.
Her life took her too many places, but she never forgot where she had come from, the family farm and the entire Guy family who she loved so dearly. Sara leaves behind members of the Guy and Kavich Family as well as many friends. No service is planned, but a celebration of life will be held at a later date when it is safe to do so.
We would like to thank Alder Bay Assisted Living staff for their wonderful care of Sara as well Jennifer Nolen, Peggy Brown, and Hospice volunteers and staff.
Donations can be made to YWCA, Big Brothers/Big Sisters or a charity of your choice."
This obituary was originally published here, by Lost Coast Outpost.
Dr. Echol Lee Nix (STH ’00, GRS ’07)
In memoriam, Dean Moore writes:
Echol Lee Nix, Jr. was a Boston University alum (STM 2000, PhD 2007) with heart of gold and unlimited potential. He came to Boston University with a BA from Morehouse College and an MDiv from Vanderbilt Divinity School. He completed his STM and then a PhD at Boston university. With Robert Neville, John Silber, and Tony Campbell as mentors, Echol worked on exchanging that potential for genuine achievements that laid down a foundation for his future influence. Tony Campbell died during Echol’s degree program, and Echol was with him when it happened; this was a horrific experience that nearly crushed him. Echol was strong, though, and pulled through. Especially with Bob Neville’s support, he established a career and began to exercise his influence on new generations of students, most recently as Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Claflin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Echol died on Thursday September 17, 2020, aged 45, in a car accident. His passing can be measured in the grief of those who loved him, but it should also be measured in the loss of his burgeoning influence and all the good he would have continued to do.
You can read more about Dr. Nix, Jr., on the Claflin University website: https://www.claflin.edu/academics-research/faculty-research/meet-our-faculty/echol-nix-jr. See also the brief entry (open for enlargement) on A People’s History website sponsored by the Center for Global Christianity and Mission: http://www.bu.edu/sth-history/nix-echol-lee-jr/.
Online BUSTH Art Exhibit Now Open
September 2020 – Before the COVID-19 pandemic required social distancing and fewer students to be on campus, the School of Theology Mary Elizabeth and Allen Moore Community Center was a hub for STH students, and artworks on the walls of the Center surrounded them as they studied together, relaxed together, and were in fellowship with one another. Thanks to the ingenuity of STH Archivist and Preservation Librarian, Kara Jackman, STH will continue to offer art exhibitions in a new online medium. The current exhibit is titled “Who is My Neighbor?”, featuring works by John August Swanson. According to Jackman, Swanson’s style is “influenced by the imagery of Islamic and medieval miniatures, Russian iconography, the color of Latin American folk art, and the tradition of Mexican muralists.”
“The year 2020 continues to emerge as a flashpoint for change,” says Jackman. “I cannot think of a better artist to represent the needed inspiration, hope, and positivity than John August Swanson. His use of color, figurative drawings, and quotations from famed luminaries, religious leaders, writers, and philosophers remind us that we are the change agents charged with making the world a more accepting and loving place.”
Entering MDiv Student Named One of Boston’s Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by City Awake
September 2020 – New School of Theology (STH) student Omari Jahi Aarons has had a busy and exciting September. This week, he officially matriculated as a Master of Divinity student at STH, and he was recently named to the City Awake “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders” list, a list that is published each year to recognize young leaders dedicated to civic advancement in the greater Boston area.
Aarons strongly believes in inclusion, and recently completed a three-year term as the national co-chair of the Liberty Employees of African Descent and Allies employee resource group. He is pursuing the Global and Community Engagement track in the Master of Divinity program at STH. About the award recognition, Aarons says, “I’m honored and humbled to be named to this list. This recognition is especially significant [at] this moment as we wrestle with what it means to be “diverse” and “inclusive” in real and consequential terms. Justice isn’t a distant concept for us to analyze from the history books; we’re recording it with our smartphones, watching it on TV, and making choices to enact it every day. More than anything, I hope my work, and that of my fellow honorees provides a blueprint for how we can all make social justice work just as real and consequential as the efforts to fight against inclusion.”
Founded in late 2013, City Awake is a program of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and its mission is to “empower next-generation Greater Boston leaders through programming that builds community and fosters dialogue about the most pressing issues facing our region. Through this work, we work to deepen your connections to the broader business and civic communities and recognize your important contributions to our thriving economy.” The full 2020 list of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders can be found here.
BUSTH Community Day 2020
Boston University School of Theology 2020 Community Day & Distinguished Alumni/ae Celebration
All events are virtual. Now that the events have passed, you can view the recordings by clicking the event buttons below.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
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- Service of Matriculation | 11am-12:30 PM EDT. Matriculation Day service is the academic and liturgical celebration of the entering class of theological students through the doctoral level. More than 110 new students will be welcomed during this event. As a way of demonstrating the legacy to which they will become heir, we are recognizing the 2020 School of Theology Distinguished Alumni/ae and paying tribute to the Class of 1970. This event is open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and friends. Meeting ID: 935 530 1657 | Passcode: STHWorship
- A Conversation with STH Faculty | 1:30-2:45 PM EDT. Meet Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore and chat with a select group of STH faculty about research that speaks to the moment. Panelists include Dr. Hee An Choi, Dr. Rebecca Copeland, Dean Robert Hill, and Dr. Jonathan Calvillo. This event is open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and friends. Meeting ID: 991 7765 7419 Passcode: 821760
- Class of 1970 Time of Fellowship | 3:00-4:15 PM EDT. Gather for a time of fellowship to hear from your classmates. Share your fondest memories and news about how you are doing, where you are, and any other insights and updates you’d like to provide. This event is open only to members of the Class of 1970 and intimate alumni/ae and friends. Meeting ID: 957 6614 5022 | Passcode: 785614
- STH Alumni/ae Time of Fellowship | 3:00-4:15 PM EDT. Gather for a time of fellowship to hear from members of various classes. Share your fondest memories and news about how you are doing, where you are, and any other insights and updates you’d like to provide. This event is open to alumni/ae and friends. Meeting ID: 978 0382 9529 | Passcode: 283281
- Distinguished Alumni/ae Panel & Celebration: The Three Greatest Challenges Facing Us in the Next Decade | 4:30-6:00 PM EDT. The 2020 STH Distinguished Alumni/ae will offer reflections on the three greatest challenges facing us in the next decade. The event will conclude with a celebration of our newest awardees. This event is open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and friends. Webinar ID: 946 3602 3803 | Passcode: 353108
Reverend Raymond D. Peter Graham (STH ’56)
"Raymond Dale 'Pete' Graham, 88, formerly of 1174 East Main Street, Bradford, passed away on Monday, August 31, 2020, at the Bradford Ecumenical Home.
Born on November 5, 1931 in Butler, he was a son of the late Victor Vade and Frances (Brandon) Graham.
He was a graduate of Butler Senior High School, attended Mount Union College for his undergraduate degree and Boston University School of Theology for his Master's degree.
On December 30, 1953 in Butler, he married Lynnette (Wilson) Graham, who survives.
Pete pastored in the United Methodist Church Western Conference in Wurtemburg, Dravosburg, Connellsville, New Castle, Clarks Mills, Smethport, Johnsonburg where he retired. He continued to serve as Associate Pastor in Bradford at the First United Methodist Church.
Pete was a member of Wesley Woods United Methodist Church Camp where he served as Dean of Horse Camp. He was a member of the Bradford Township Lions Club. He served as a leader in Boy Scouts and was awarded a 25 year pin.
He enjoyed needlepoint work and was an avid reader.
Surviving in addition to his wife Lynnette, of 66 years, are two children, Elise Megehee, of Bloomfield, NJ, and, Dr. Nathaniel (Cindy) Graham, of Bradford, one sister in law, Elaine Harbison, of Bradford, four grandchildren, Brandon Graham, Erin Graham Burd, Laura Megehee, and Victoria Megehee, four great grandchildren, Theodore Graham, Charlotte Graham, Zachary Burd, and Alexandra Burd, and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by one brother, Richard Graham.
Friends are invited to call on Monday September 7, 2020 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm in the Hill Memorial United Methodist Church, at 2:00 pm funeral service will be held with Jay Tennies, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Butler County Memorial Park Cemetery.
Memorials if desired, may be made to the Wesley Woods Camp, PO Box 155A RR 1, Grand Valley Pa 16420.
Arrangements are under the direction of Hollenbeck-Cahill Funeral Homes, Inc.
On-line condolences may be made at www.hollenbeckcahill.com"
The original obituary was published here, by WESB.com.
Reverend Young Chan Rhee (STH ’59)
Reverend Gilbert H. Caldwell (STH’58)
The following obituary was written by Heather Hahn and originally published on September 8, 2020 by United Methodist News. It can be accessed here.
The Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell called himself a “foot soldier” in the U.S. civil rights movement. But many across his beloved United Methodist Church remember him as a general for justice.
He died Sept. 4 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in hospice care. He was 86.
Caldwell, who went by Gil, pushed to end discrimination throughout a ministry that spanned more than 60 years and churches in at least five conferences.
He tirelessly and nonviolently advocated for both racial and LGBTQ equality — even when doing so put him at odds with prevailing state and church laws. As Caldwell saw it, he was following the call of Jesus to be inclusive.
“He was gentle but strong, wise but humble,” said retired Bishop Woodie White, who considered Caldwell a mentor, model and friend. “His commitment to racial justice and inclusiveness was unyielding, whether in the church or nation.”
Caldwell participated in many of the civil rights movement’s landmark events — the March on Washington in 1963, the Mississippi Freedom Summer voter drives in 1964, the March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965 and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.
Within his denomination, Caldwell — a co-founder of Black Methodists for Church Renewal — also took an activist role.
“Gil’s passion for equality, justice and inclusiveness inspired others to embrace his dream of beloved community,” said the Rev. Don Messer, president emeritus of Iliff School of Theology in Denver and Caldwell’s friend of more than 56 years.
In 1968, Caldwell was among the silent demonstrators standing at the doorway to the Uniting Conference that formed The United Methodist Church and officially ended the Central Jurisdiction that segregated Black Methodists. Caldwell, a newly named district superintendent at the time, held a sign quoting the title of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final book: “Where Do We Go from Here... Chaos or Community?” It was just weeks after King’s assassination.
At the 2000 General Conference, he was among more than 180 people arrested for engaging in civil disobedience to protest the denomination’s stance against same-gender marriage and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.
Caldwell remained a passionate nonviolent activist until the end of his life. With help from a walker, he took the podium at a Black Lives Matter rally on June 7 in the New Jersey township of Willingboro.
Bishop John Schol, who leads the Greater New Jersey Conference, introduced Caldwell at the rally. The two had been friends since they were both pastors in the neighboring Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
“Rev. Gil Caldwell brought the best of both prophetic and pastoral leadership to ministry,” Schol told United Methodist News.
“His love of God motivated him to care deeply for all people and he was a champion for the rights and inclusion of people of color, the LGBTQ community and women. He was gifted at loving, nudging and challenging people to do the just and right thing.”
Caldwell was born in 1933 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the son and grandson of itinerant Methodist pastors. Both he and his father were named for the 19th century white Methodist Bishop Gilbert Haven, a noted abolitionist and advocate for women’s suffrage.
Caldwell grew up in segregated neighborhoods, segregated schools and a segregated church. Early on, Caldwell committed to change that.
After earning an undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T State University, a historically Black institution, he tried to break the cycle of inequality by applying in 1955 to Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina.
However, the Methodist school — which would not admit Black students until seven years later — rejected his application because of his race. In 2017, Duke invited Caldwell to speak in its chapel to help reckon with its past.
Caldwell ultimately went to Boston University School of Theology, where he met many of the fellow clergy who helped shape his ministry — including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Caldwell first met King in 1958, when the civil rights giant returned to his alma mater to give a speech. King already was nationally famous for his leadership of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, and Caldwell was vice president of the theology school’s student association.
The two would later march together in 1965 to protest school segregation in Boston.
Caldwell was also among the clergy and laity who answered King’s call to come to Selma, Alabama, after police and others attacked more than 600 peaceful marchers on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Caldwell joined in the subsequent march to Montgomery that helped lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
At Boston University School of Theology, Caldwell also met clergy who joined him in pushing to integrate the Methodist Church, including the future Bishop White.
The two met when White was a first-year student and Caldwell had just graduated. They would work together to dissolve the Central Jurisdiction and champion equality as staff members of The United Methodist Church’s then-new Commission on Religion and Race.
Caldwell later became a board member of PFLAG, a secular civil rights group whose name initially stood for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
“I considered Rev. Caldwell a real role model for how to do the work within faith communities, and within communities of color,” Jean Hodges, the group’s former national board president, said in a statement. “As a Methodist — and the mom of a gay man — I was moved and inspired by all that he did to bring more allyship and engagement within the UMC.”
Bishop Karen Oliveto said in an email to the Mountain Sky Conference that Caldwell “understood the intersectionality of oppressions long before others were talking about it, always standing with the marginalized to extend God’s love and justice in the world.”
Oliveto, the denomination’s first openly gay bishop, leads the conference where Caldwell served before retiring from pastoral ministry in 2001.
In 2014, on the eve of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Caldwell officiated at a same-gender wedding even though doing so violated church law and could put his clergy credentials at risk.
In recent years, he eagerly took on the task of telling younger generations about the civil rights movement and helping people understand the progress still needed. He was a prolific writer — authoring four books and publishing articles in multiple outlets, including the Boston Globe and UM News.
“Rev. Caldwell often described himself as a journalist at heart. He valued the power of journalism to increase understanding, speak truth and bring healing,” said Tim Tanton, who directs UM News. “In the last commentary he wrote for us, he expressed concern about the assaults on journalism today and said those who love the Bible should do more to defend journalistic truth. UM News has lost a friend, and our hearts go out to the Caldwell family.”
Caldwell collaborated with Marilyn Bennett, a white lesbian and fellow activist, on the 2016 documentary “From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet?”
“Whoever came into contact with him could take something away,” Bennett said. “He gave a lot of people hope.”
He also worked to pass the torch of social justice advocacy to new United Methodist leaders. One of those is the Rev. Nathan Adams, lead pastor of Park Hill United Methodist Church in Denver, where Caldwell served before his retirement.
“He has forever left his mark on Park Hill UMC as he championed and led our congregation to be the inclusive, community-focused and social justice-minded church it is today,” Adams said.
Caldwell had long worked to change the church from within, and he was greatly saddened at the prospect that the denomination’s debate over LGBTQ inclusion would lead to a church split.
“He experienced personally the hatred of racism, but never failed to express love,” his friend Messer said. “His great disappointment was that The United Methodist Church failed to lead the world in dismantling racism and overcoming homophobia.”
However, Caldwell also never lost faith that the church could manifest God’s love and found hope in this year’s renewed movement toward racial justice.
Caldwell told UM News in June that although, like King, he would not get to the Promised Land with his Black family and allies, he believed if people “keep these moments alive, a semblance of MLK’s ‘Beloved Community’ will be visible.”
He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Grace; sons Dale and Paul; and granddaughter Ashley.