.Greater Nashville Unitarian. .Universalist Congregation.

Families and friends, join us on Friday, September 10, for our annual excursion to Shakespeare in the Park. This year’s production is Love’s Labor’s Lost with one of our own youth playing the part of Dumain, one of the Prince’s friends who swears off women and other pleasures and quickly breaks his vow. There is a sword fight and dancing as well as the usual wordplay.

Meet between 6:00 and 6:15 at the Centennial Park Bandshell. We usually set up blankets and then walk to Calypso to pick up dinner. You are also welcome to bring a picnic dinner or to choose from onsite street vendors. Pre-show entertainment begins at 6:30, the show starts at 7:30 and usually ends by 9:30.

High school youth can attend without parents if the parents sign the permission slip provided by Kristin Reveal. Younger children require parent supervision. All ages welcome!

Bring large blankets, water bottles, and money for dinner/snacks. A $5 donation is also suggested to support Shakespeare in the Park. T-shirts are also for sale. Contact Kristin Reveal with questions.

Please wear your name-tag in church. If you do not have one or cannot find your name-tag, please sign the list near the name-tag board so Nikki can make one for you.

Because of the bad weather, Saturday’s Pickin’ Party and Sunday’s Services, Religious Education classes, choir practice, committee meetings and Credo Discussion Group have been canceled. The Pickin’ Party will be rescheduled.

During Thanksgiving week, Nikki will be in the office on Monday, November 23, and Tuesday, November 24, from 9am to 3pm and on Wednesday, November 25, from 8am to 11am. The Church Office will be closed on Thanksgiving Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27.

We are soliciting both contributions for and assistance with the Annual Garage Sale to be held Saturday, October 10.

Contributions can be put into the storage building at the back of the church or into the old nursery in the church building. If you need someone to pick up your contributions, please call Mike Morgan at home (228-2509) or let him know when you see him at church.

We can use assistance on Friday October 9^th, sorting, pricing, and arranging, and assistance on the 10^th with selling and clean-up afterwards.

We would also like for someone to take charge of advertising, which includes placing an ad in The Tennessean and putting up signs in the area to advertise the sale.

Offers of help for set up, for selling during the sale, for clean-up, and for pick-up of items would be greatly appreciated and can be directed to Mike Morgan (228-2509) or Sandy Blanz (646-4584).

Nikki will be on vacation from August 6-12. When she returns to the office on Thursday, August 13, her regular office hours will resume–Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9am-2pm.

A memorial service for Eva Touster will be held on Sunday, June 7, beginning at 4:00pm, to be followed by a reception. Memorial gifts may be given to either of the following organizations: Greater Nashville Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 374 Hicks Rd., Nashville, TN 37221 (designated for the Eva Touster Memorial Fund), or The Tennessee Art League, Inc., 808 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.

Eva passed away Tuesday night, May 26, 2009, at St. Thomas Hospital. She was 94 years old. Eva was Professor of English, Emerita, of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. A long-time, highly esteemed teacher, she was beloved by many students, who feel that she was a lasting influence in their lives. She received a PhD in English from Vanderbilt in 1951. She was a founding and continuing editor of the Cumberland Poetry Review, a highly regarded poetry journal, for the entire period of its publication (1981-2004). For many years, a group of poets met at her home every other week, sharing and critiquing one another’s poems. Her poems have been published in poetry magazines in England, Canada, and the US, as well as in Homewords, an anthology of Tennessee writers. A collection of Eva’s poems, The Wind, the Rose, and the Stone, was published in 2005.

Eva married her husband, Oscar, in 1944. Oscar Touster is Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Emeritus, at Vanderbilt, and a former chair of the Department of Molecular Biology. She and Oscar are founding members of GNUUC. Their daughter Alison Touster-Reed, who also is a Vanderbilt English graduate, a fine poet and sculptor, lives at the Touster home. Eva has two “extraordinary” (as Eva put it) adult-age grandchildren, Julia and Jeremy. She has donated her body to Vanderbilt School of Medicine.

We hold Oscar, Alison, Julia, Jeremy and their family close in our thoughts and prayers. Dan and our Caring Committee are in close contact with the family during this difficult time.