Kittitas Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Our History

A summary of the history of Unitarian Universalism can be found here.

The Kittitas Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation, affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association, is situated at 400 North Anderson, Ellensburg, Washington. Our congregation boasts around 45 active members. We share our church building, formerly a Christian Science church now known as the Ecumenical Church of Ellensburg, with the Ellensburg Zen Group and the Ellensburg Society of Friends (Silent Quaker).

In 1992, the congregation was reformed from a previous Ellensburg fellowship. Throughout the 1990s, they gathered at Woldale School on Ellensburg’s north side. Dorothy Mae Sheldon, who embarked on a ministry career after retiring from Central Washington University, led the fellowship. In 1996, she was officially appointed as minister. By 1999, the congregation had relocated to town, renting a small restaurant for Sunday services. In 2000, they moved into their current building. In 1998, they welcomed another recent graduate and second-career minister, Rev. Alan Merson.

After relocating to town, the congregation grew from fewer than 10 adults weekly to around 25. They then set a goal to expand membership to 30 and sought regular affiliation with the UUA, a process completed in 2001. Rev. Merson passed away in 2005, and Rev. Sheldon retired in 2006, passing away in 2013.

The congregation decided to allocate resources to develop a children’s religious education program, hiring Lita Malone, DMin, as Religious Education Director in 2007. This led to a thriving RE program. In 2015, Rev. Lita Malone stepped down as the Minister of Religious Exploration, and in September of that year, Maggie Patterson was hired as the Coordinator of Religious Exploration. Maggie left the position in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic transitioned the remaining children’s RE programs to a virtual format in 2020. Currently, the RE program is inactive.

Without question, the biggest change that has occurred in our congregation in recent years is our change in ministerial status. For almost a decade, since Rev. Dorothy Sheldon retired in 2006, KVUUC was a totally lay-led congregation. After significant introspection and goal setting and with the help of a program at the UUA and PNWD, we then hired Rev. Bill Graves as a quarter-time minister. Rev. Bill began his duties September 2015.   Rev. Bill served until 2018 when he retired.