First
Parish Unitarian UniversalistIn the News:
Rev. Boke Named New Minister of First Parish UU in Canton
Canton Citizen - September 22, 2011
First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Canton has called the Reverend Beverly Morrison Boke to its pulpit.
Rev. Boke has previously served parishes in New Hampshire, Vermont and Virginia. She has most recently worked in Beirut, Lebanon, at the American Community School, from 2008 through June of 2011. She was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist Ministry in 1985 at the Unitarian Church of Barnstable.
Rev. Boke is married to Nicholas F. Boke, who has remained in Beirut for the current year. He will return to the United States next June. The Bokes make their home in Canton and are the parents of one child, a daughter now preparing for a doctorate in anthropology at Cornell University.
Rev. Boke was born in Quincy and raised in Wollaston, Waltham and Sandwich. She graduated from Sandwich High School and Nathaniel Hawthorne College and prepared for the ministry at Georgetown University, Wesley Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School.
The congregation formally installed Rev. Boke at a service of worship on October 23.
First Parish is a consolidation of the two oldest churches in Canton. First Parish Congregational was officially gathered in 1717 and voted to become Unitarian in 1829. The present sanctuary was built in 1825. A Paul Revere bell hangs in the steeple. The Parish Hall was added in 1878 and the connecting wing in 1955.
The First Universalist Church began with a series of meetings in 1806, leading to the establishment of the Norfolk Universalist Society several years later. In 1847 a church building was erected at the corner of Mechanic and Washington streets, which remained in use for 127 years.
In 1964, the two congregations began a ten-year period of shared ministry and programs, culminating in their formal consolidation on July I, 1974. The Universalist Church building was sold and its steeple bell relocated to a place of honor on the First Parish lawn.
First Parish Unitarian Universalist is located at 1508 Washington Street and holds weekly worship services on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. from September through June. All are welcome. Additional information about First Parish and Unitarian Universalism can be found at www. fpuucanton.org or by calling the church office at 781-828-0296.