Today was a special Platform, one we do every other year, titled “The Lives They Lived”, at which we invite people to recall Ethical Culture Society members who’ve passed away and celebrate the ways they touched our lives and contributed to our community. The Bergen Society was founded more than 60 years ago and several generations of individuals and families have enriched our lives. While it is always bittersweet to talk about those who have passed – and it is especially so for people who’ve passed away very recently – as humanists we recognize that they live on in our individul and collective memories and in that sense make us different and better people for having known them.

It was especially appropriate, then, that we began today’s Platform by welcoming new members Carol, Jonathan and Rachel to our Community. This was even more poignantbecause Carol is the daughter of long time member Amy Hausner who passed away at 89 in December. Carol, her husband Jonathan and daughter Rachel, who live in Vermont, became members as a way to honor the memory of Carol’s mother, Amy.