NTAUUS
Recognition Awards

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The Call for Nominations for the NTAUUS Recognition Awards continues for 2011-2012.

Please click here (PDF 213KB) to view the call for nominations.

The goal is to recognize and honor those who contribute to the cause of the Unitarian Universalist religion and congregations in North Texas, to identify role models and Best Practices across NTAUUS, and to make visible the contributions of our congregations to the wider North Texas and UU communities. The NTAUUS Recognition Awards are designed to recognize valued volunteers, staff members, and ministers of NTAUUS congregations.

Nominations may be submitted by individuals or congregations, and there are no requirements of age or length of membership of nominees.

There will three categories of awards, for service by ministers, lay staff members, and volunteers. The Robert Raible Award honors the twenty-two year ministry at First Unitarian by the beloved ‘Daddy Bob,’ the Ruth Clark Award recognizes the many years of dedicated service by the first paid DRE in the Southwest Conference, and the Marty Robinson Award commemorates the decades of wide-ranging contributions of this treasured volunteer and member.

Details on these three remarkable individuals can be found below.

Please consider whom you would like to nominate, and click here (PDF 213kb) to download a PDF of this announcement to display on your bulletin boards and in your newsletters.

Please click here (PDF 230kb) to download the required nomination form and complete program details.

We have named our recognition awards after three pioneers from our North Texas UU history.

Ruth Reinhardt Clark

Ruth Rienhardt Clark was instrumental in building the Unitarian Universalist presence in North Texas. The first person to be a paid Director of Religious Education in the Southwest Conference, she was on staff at First Unitarian of Dallas, as well as a leader in the Women’s Alliance. In 1987, she and Harold retired to Denton where they joined the Denton UU Fellowship, and were active until Harold’s death in 2002, after sixty-five years of marriage. Ruth remained part of the congregation until her death in 2009, shortly after giving her blessing to naming our award in her honor.

With a warm smile and sparking blue eyes, she welcomed an ever-increasing number of children and parents to RE classes. Ruth found time for each and every child, and helped them all to feel special; it was that leadership that helped build the RE program into one nurturing two hundred children a year.

Ruth also helped build the programs at other NTAUUS congregations, mentoring numerous other Directors of RE and helping them ‘learn the ropes’ of implementing curriculums as well as recruiting and training teachers. We owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude for laying the foundation of our Religious Education programs.

Her boundless curiosity ranged from theology and the nature of the universe to science, poetry, art, mythology, literature and Texas birds and flowers; creative as well, she blessed many friends with her ceramics, drawings, and paintings. She had a rarely matched enthusiasm for life and great patience and affection for those around her, and this award is our attempt to pass on that zest for life.

Marty Robinson

Having first joined a Florida congregation, Marty Robinson became part of Jefferson Unitarian Church in the early 1970s, and headed up the RE program before moving to Germany. When she returned a few months later, she had to settle in Dallas - she said "she couldn't go back to Ft. Worth after they had given her such a big send-off!"

Marty went on to serve as President of First Unitarian in Dallas, and in 1986 helped found Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church in Farmers Branch/Carrollton. She has been instrumental in its continued growth and success, serving in many capacities, including President and chair of Pastoral Caregivers.

Marty has also served as President of SWUUC, (the SW District of the UUA) and Chair of Volunteers for the 1994 General Assembly in Ft. Worth.

Rev. Robert Jules Raible

The Rev. Robert Jules Raible was minister of First Unitarian Church of Dallas from 1942 until 1964. When he arrived in Dallas, the congregation had 175 members and was meeting in rented space; five years later, they had purchased land on Preston Road and moved into their current home. By the end of his tenure, three building phases had been completed, with the new sanctuary completed in time for his retirement.

"Daddy Bob," as he was affectionally known, had "a twinkle in his eyes and a warm tone in his voice that made everyone he met feel special," according to Elaine Wildman, whose wedding ceremony he performed in 1955. He was especially good at persuading all to be involved, but did not hesitate to send someone to another church if our theology was not a good fit. When a person would announce their desire to join, he would first ask, "Have you been to XYZ Church?" He also worked for social justice in conjunction with Temple Emmanu-el at a time when there were few liberal voices in the area, and publicly pressured the Dallas school board to move ahead with desegregation.

Though he was not large physically, his legacy is not minor: he helped build First Unitarian into a strong and viable institution as well as starting the congregations in Oak Cliff, Denton, and Fort Worth. He even maneuvered to have new congregations accepted chronologically instead of alphabetically so that Oak Cliff, after the 1961 merger, would be the first chartered by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Raible Place is appropriately named in his honor, as it was the first integrated apartment complex in the North Texas area and the national ideal for the HUD program that helped us build this affordable housing project. Its sale in 2001 provided the endowment which continues to today help build our congregations.

It is with this history that we name the NTAUUS ministry award for Daddy Bob, who did so much to establish our faith institution in North Texas.