Throughout the 2020-2021 program year, we are profiling various lay leaders in our congregation. This week, we feature Kathy Kaufmann, the Chairperson of our Stewardship Committee. Kathy joined UU Wellesley Hills in December 1978.
Kathy has lived in the same house in Wellesley Hills for 49 years; she purchased it with her late husband John, who died in August 2019. The couple became members of UU Wellesley Hills when their two children were aged 2 and 5. Their daughter, Amy, now lives in Montclair, NJ with her wife, Ruth, and their children, Ollie, Lucy and Charlie. Their son, Andy, and his wife, Apple, live in Natick.
Recently, Kathy met with Board of Trustees Chair Kathy Coolidge to answer a few questions about herself.
Q. Where did you grow up and go to school?
A. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, went to public schools there, and then came east to attend Wellesley College, from which I received a bachelor’s degree in psychology. I then earned a master’s in social work from Simmons University and a doctorate from Harvard in Human Development. I met John, to whom I was married for 50 years, when he was a law student at Boston College.
Q. What was your religious background?
A. My mother was Methodist, and my father was nominally Jewish. My sister and I attended a Baptist church, then a Christian Science church. Ultimately, when we moved to the suburbs when I was in the 5th grade, we became members of a Unitarian church, where John and I were married.
Q. What did you do for work?
A. I was a psychotherapist and worked for many years in community mental health and then had a private practice in my home, seeing individuals, couples and families.
Q. In what areas of congregational life were you most involved?
A. I’ve been involved in almost every area of church life and happily so. I founded the Women’s Retreat and the UU Learning Community.
One of my biggest commitments was co-chairing the capital campaign, LEGACY, with Bill Koteff from 1994-1998, which raised over $1.6 million. With those funds, we built the west entrance, handicap ramp and parking lot. We installed the elevator and renovated the entire vestibule. We upgraded the heating system, relocated the nursery school, and created the Sharp Room. It was an amazing experience, with 97% of the congregation contributing.
I founded the Gay/Straight Coalition, now called the LGBTQ+ Task Force, and led the charge to become a Welcoming Congregation in 2000, and I was deeply involved in the founding of WAGLY, which morphed into OUT MetroWest.
I created the Planned Giving Circle and enjoyed two stints on the Standing Committee (now the Board of Trustees), once in the early 1990s and again from 2001-2004, during which time I served as chair.
Q. Now, you’re the chair of Stewardship! Tell us about Stewardship.
A. I’m someone who enjoys fundraising. Fundraising is about connecting people to a mission and helping them generously demonstrate their commitment to that mission. I want to educate the congregation more intentionally about the financial realities of the church and of pledging and to make the written materials a bit more user-friendly. I’m excited about our launch on January 24th, and have every confidence that we will have a successful 2021 pledge drive.
Q. How has social distancing affected you?
A. As a relatively new widow when the pandemic began, I was worried about how I was going to manage, especially because I’m an extrovert. Fortunately, phone, text, e-mails, Zoom, and FaceTime kept me connected with my wide circle of friends and family, and I took walks and had dinners on my patio with my friends in the summer.
Q. What’s most important to you right now?
A. Remaining connected to my family and friends is most important to me, as is continuing my volunteer work with various organizations, including UU Wellesley Hills. I’m also emerita on the Wellesley College Board, the OUT MetroWest Board, and serve on the Council of Advisors of the Wellesley Centers for Women.
We are very glad to have Kathy Kaufmann serving as one of our exceedingly capable lay leaders here at UU Wellesley Hills!
Tags: Meet Your Leadership