The Rest of the Story
(a word of explanation: shortly before retiring, I penned a history of First Unitarian Society, carrying the story through Max Gaebler’s distinguished ministry, which ended in 1987. That historical sketch was posted on the Society’s website, under the dropdown tab “Who We Are". I had hoped and expected that eventually the essay would be updated to cover the thirty years of my own service. Sadly, that has not happened. So, at the urging of a former parishioner, I have made my own attempt to complete the record. I hope that for some of you it evokes pleasant memories.)
Following his retirement in 1987, Max Gaebler spent the next year “unretiring” as visiting minister to the Unitarians of Adelaide, Australia. In the interim, the congregation selected as his successor The Rev. Dr. Michael Schuler, who had already enjoyed successful pastorates in Iowa and Upstate New York. Upon his return to Madison, now “Minister Emeritus” Max Gaebler renewed his relationship with the First Unitarian Society, entering into a warm collaborative relationship with the congregation and his new colleague.
Over his thirty-five years at First Unitarian Society, Max had enjoyed the unstinting support of his wife, Carolyn, and together they raised five children. Michael arrived on the scene with his own wife, Trina, their toddler son, Kyle, and a five-year-old Lhasa Apso, Jhana. Like Carolyn, in addition to parenting Trina made her own contributions to church life over the years, co-facilitating retreats and serving as a lay minister.
In conjunction with this rare ministerial transition, the congregation embarked on a capitol campaign to support two bricks-and-mortar projects that were long overdue: repairs to the historic Landmark Meeting House and construction of a modest addition (the “Lower Meeting House”) on the southwest corner of the property. Work on these projects was completed in 1990. However, within a few years it became obvious that more restoration – including replacement of an expensive copper roof over the Auditorium - was needed. Fortunately, at that point membership had already increased by fifty percent so another four hundred thousand dollars was quickly raised. But it was not be the last time the congregation would be asked to dig deep to preserve Wright’s iconic design and add program space to accommodate rapid growth.
It was about now that the Unitarian Universalist Association began inviting its thousand or so North American congregations to embark on a serious study program making them eligible to become “Welcoming Congregations” – communities informed about and supportive of the larger LGBTQ community. FUS became one of the earliest UU churches to take this important step.
In 1994 Madison Magazine again turned its focus to First Unitarian Society. Reporter Joe Schoenmann’s article “View from the Pew” featured worship reviews of 12 prominent Madison faith communities, with each rated on a 1-4 crosses scale. “It would be hard to justify using crosses to rate First Unitarian, since it borrows from so many different traditions,” Schoenmann wrote, “but it gets my highest rating (four crosses).”
A few years earlier the music critic for the Capitol Times, Madison’s afternoon daily, famously dubbed FUS “Madison’s First Church of Music” owing to its Summer Concert Series, Noon Musicals, and eclectic Sunday programming. (The same publication later invited Rev. Schuler to write a monthly column for its popular “Faith and Values” section, an assignment he pursued for over two years.) Following ellsworth snyder’s retirement, Dan Broner, a talented organist, pianist and choir director from Michigan was hired as Music Director. During his sixteen-year tenure the two vocal groups added many voices, and the Society Choir traveled to Europe and to Carnegie Hall for memorable performances.
By 2003 FUS was nearing the apex of its growth, and a front-page article in the Wisconsin State Journal recognized FUS, with its 1300 adult members, as the largest UU congregation in North America. This was a few years after the Society helped establish a third Madison congregation – the James Reeb UU Church – on Madison’s east side to help ease crowding at the Meeting House. The latter quickly became a thriving enterprise in its own right. In recognition of these achievements the UUA bestowed on FUS the Eugene Pickett Award for exceptional church growth and, a few years later, designated ours as one of four “Breakthrough Congregations” in the denomination.
There were several notable ministerial transitions during this period. Ruth Gibson left after serving for six years as Minister of Religious Education, and after a two year hiatus, Kelly Crocker was called to fill that position. The Revs. Mary Ann Macklin, Scott Prinster, Abhi Janamanchi, and Karen Gustafson all served the Society with distinction at various times.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Meeting House achieved National Landmark status (an upgrade from the National Registry of Historic Buildings) in the early 2000’s – a project shepherded by Kent Mayfield, who had also served as the Society’s first Church Administrator. Shortly thereafter, a third Capitol campaign was launched to double the size of the facility and undertake more restoration. Some six million dollars was raised from over 450 FUS families for this project, which resulted in the creation of our award-winning Atrium Addition - the first Gold Level LEED certified religious building in Wisconsin. Two former presidents of the Society - Laurie Joiner and David Weber - provided yeoman’s service in moving this immense project forward. Regrettably, cost overruns left the congregation with a hefty four-million-dollar mortgage. Nevertheless, the capacious new Auditorium quickly became a favored venue for concerts and recitals, as well as for public forums on a variety of social and political questions.
The Society was expanding programmatically as well. A Saturday afternoon worship service and religious education program came into being, and an annual program guide listed as many as fifteen adult spiritual enrichment offerings each semester. For many years, FUS’s parish minister hosted an annual spiritual retreat at the Pilgrim Center on the shores of Green Lake, and QUEST, a demanding two-year spiritual deepening curriculum led by Kelly Crocker and Janet Swanson, attracted over a hundred participants during its ten year run.
Members of FUS were also committed to giving back to the greater Madison community. Barb Rubin, an enterprising layperson, led the effort to establish a Family-to-Family gift program in conjunction with the winter holidays. Dozens of volunteers and hundreds of contributors keep the effort alive for a number of years, and as much as $80,000 worth of gifts (many of a practical nature) and gift cards was solicited annually during the program’s heyday. Many of these same stalwarts also became actively involved in Dane County United, a broad-based community change organization of which FUS was a charter member.
After completion of the Atrium Addition, church leaders entered into conversation with representatives of Shaarei Shamayim, the local Recontructionist Jewish congregation, which resulted in an agreement to share our facility with that growing faith community. At the time, it was an arrangement quite unique to the Unitarian Universalist movement. Later, and in an effort to build bridges with local African Americans, the Society developed a collaborative relationship with Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church on Madison’s east side.
From the 1980’s through the first two decades of the twenty-first century a number of prominent Madisonians became members of the Society. These included: Michael May, who served for a decade as Madison’s City Attorney, as well as FUS President; State Assembly Representatives Chris Taylor, Spencer Black and Kelda Roys; nationally celebrated environmental historian William Cronon from UW-Madison; and Paul Fanlund, publisher of the Capitol Times. William & Joyce Wartmann, local art patrons and LGBTQ activists, eased the Society’s financial situation with a series of generous contributions to the FUS Foundation, whose assets increased ten-fold during Rev. Schuler’s ministry.
In 2016 it became clear that the copper roof that had been installed twenty years earlier was failing. A rubber membrane was placed over the entire Landmark Building as a temporary fix, but soon the necessity of yet another capital campaign became clear. Schuler deferred his retirement for an extra year to assist with this effort, and the campaign raised the two million dollars needed to install a new roof, complete interior repairs, add a solar array on portions of the Atrium roof, and pay down a portion of the Society’s debt.
Rev. Schuler’s retirement took place in June of 2018, thirty years after he and his family arrived in Madison. An official proclamation from the State of Wisconsin marked the completion of his ministry and read in part: “The members of the Wisconsin State Legislature…hereby commend and congratulate the Rev. Dr. Michael A. Schuler for 30 years of insightful and inspiring leadership at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.”
