The First Church in Belmont, Massachusetts played an important role in the founding of the Unitarian Service Committee (now UUSC) and continues to be a champion of our work today. We owe much of our knowledge of USC’s history with First Church, along with the high level of support from that congregation, in large part to one person — Jim Landfried.
Several years ago, UUSC asked Jim, well known as a historian for First Church, to dig deeper into the early history between First Church and the Unitarian Service Committee (USC). Through his research, Jim gathered a level of detail not previously known about the members and friends of First Church who advanced USC’s work in its early years.
This list of key figures from First Church begins with Robert and Elisabeth Dexter, who witnessed the catastrophe facing the Jews, Unitarians and other oppressed people from the threat of the aggressive German state during their travels to Europe in the 1930s. They returned home to recommend a program to help refugees which led directly to the organization of USC, with the help of donations from members of First Church. Robert was appointed Executive Director and Elisabeth as Associate European Commissioner. Also appointed from First Church were USC’s Vice-chairman, Seth T. Gano, and Treasurer, Edward Witte. And in 1946, First Church friend Dr. Paul Dudley White led the first USC Medical Teaching Mission to Czechoslovakia, where the health care infrastructure had been destroyed by the war.
In addition to expanding our historical knowledge, Jim’s research led him to have a deeper personal connection with UUSC. Jim explains, “UUSC President Charlie Clements asked me to research the history of those early years in 2006 and I soon learned that my retirement had another purpose. “I volunteered at UUSC headquarters for ten years. There I acquired lasting relationships and admired the dedication and professionalism of the entire staff.”
Extending his reach even further, Jim served as the longtime representative for UUSC at First Church. In this role, he raised the profile of UUSC by arranging worship services, coordinating speakers, delivering persuasive remarks from the pulpit, encouraging membership, and conveying the special history between First Church and USC.
Along with helping preserve UUSC’s history and advance our current work, Jim is committed to the future of our programs. That’s why he and his wife Mary Louise decided to include UUSC in their estate planning on top of their generous annual support. “We have been fortunate to acquire enough financial resources that we expect to outlive us so that we can decide how they should be distributed,” Jim explains. “We want an important portion to be preserved for our church and UUSC. Both have been established and dependent on the generosity of so many that came before us.”
Jim and Mary Louise’s annual support and legacy plans are helping ensure that UUSC can continue to be of service to communities facing oppression or being forced to flee their homes today and for decades to come… just as USC was there, led in large part by brave members of The First Church in Belmont, all those years ago.
