Philocrites

Globe marks death of 99-year-old Unitarian radical.

by Philocrites

Cynthia B. Foster, who died February 1 at 99, was one feisty radical. The Boston Globe obituary today says she attended political protests into her 90s, climbed a mountain at 91, and was still fighting the IRS as a war-tax resister at the time of her death. She joined the Community Church of Boston (a Unitarian Universalist-affiliated church known for its political radicalism) back when it was new in 1924. That's commitment.

The Globe says she often quoted the Unitarian minister John Haynes Holmes in her antiwar work; Holmes helped lead the community church movement. She came by her politics naturally: Foster's mother was a left-wing Unitarian (she covered the costs of the controversial Unitarian minister and editor Stephen Fritchman's biography). Her first husband was an avid defender of Sacco and Vanzetti. Her second husband was a lay leader at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. Ironically, and coincidentally, her memorial service will be held on April 15 — tax day.

Read this amazing obit. ("Cynthia Foster, at 99; was rebel against war, bias for almost a century," Gloria Negri, Boston Globe 2.11.07, reg req'd)

Copyright © 2007 by Philocrites | Posted 11 February 2007 at 5:20 PM

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