Featured News

Starting this Sunday, the library here at UUCM will feature the artwork of our own Ruth Ghio. Ruth has a wide range of talents and subject matters, including bold acrylic paintings in both realistic and abstract styles, large pottery pieces, and ceramic masks and plaques.

Over the years, Ruth has developed a wide span of artistic styles and subject matter. Her art ranges from celebrating the simple shape of the egg to complex abstracts to intriguing human studies. Her work in acrylics ranges from quite small canvases to quite large, and sometimes she strays into works of clay and ceramic, one of her other artistic loves. Her work is bold and colorful and expresses the enthusiasm she brings to the rest of her life.

Ruth did not start out as an artist. In elementary school, all of the children in her class laughed at a drawing she had made, but her supportive teacher helped her develop her skills in all areas, artistic as well as academic. She dipped her toe into the art world again in junior college, but did not get the same kind of supportive understanding that her elementary school teacher had provided. She thought she was done with art.

But art was not done with Ruth. She doesn’t remember when she took it up again, but now it is an integral part of her life. She has taken lessons from a variety of teachers over the years, learned a lot about putting paint on canvas, and found she really enjoyed the experience of painting with other people. She attributes the variety of styles she employs to her love of experimentation.

Ruth’s official reception has been scheduled for January 7th (after the busy holiday season), but her artwork will be on display now through mid-January. Stop by, have a look, and leave her a message in the guest book.

Join us on Saturday, November 18, 3-5pm at UUCM.
This is a free event, but we appreciate your RSVP.

This service is a way for the community to come together in support of all transgender and gender diverse people.

Enjoy speakers, music, and a candle honoring ceremony.

We will conclude with a reception of light refreshments.

On Sunday, October 15th, the UUCM Women’s Group honored Anita Wald-Tuttle’s legacy to Unitarian Universalist values with a certificate of membership to the Clara Barton Sisterhood. The UU Women’s Federation awarded Anita the honor

Anita dressed as Clara Barton for
a UU San Diego celebration

In the early 1990s, Northern California Unitarian Universalists living in Grass Valley and Nevada City had to travel 30 miles to the Sierra Foothills Unitarian Universalists church in Auburn.

When Anita Wald-Tuttle became Board President at SFUU and realized just how many people from the North County gave their support, she proposed a once-a-month Sunday morning “Great Ideas” meeting, with the first one in her living room in Grass Valley in 1994. That was the very beginning of what is now the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, a thriving congregation of 130 UUs and friends.

Anita has served UUCM in about every capacity, from helping to obtain the UUA charter in 1995, to being elected President of the Board in 2001, to working on the ministry teams, to bringing her famous deviled eggs to gatherings. The number of committees on which Anita has served is long, and she is the first to volunteer, just to show how it’s done. To boost contributions to the Endowment Fund, for example, she initiated a new tradition of writing a check for the number of years she celebrates each birthday. A simple but meaningful effort that has caught on.

Anita’s contributions did not start and stop at the walls of UUCM. There were decades of contributions to her previous UU churches and to her many community and justice activities (Grandmothers for Peace, League of Women Voters, Ministry for Earth, Stop the Mine Task Force, just to name a few). She has served on numerous nonprofit community boards and shows up and speaks up loudly for justice again and again. Among her many areas of service, Anita:

volunteered in a secret abortion clinic in a small community in the Midwest

successfully worked to get UUCM awarded as a Green Sanctuary

is a member of the Governing Board of 211 (Nevada County regional information and resource organization), where she was also the very first recipient of Gold Country Stage’s Golden Ticket, a free transit pass for seniors over 80 years old.

and so devoted is she to supporting UUCM, she even lived in the apartment upstairs at the church for a time to serve as a caretaker for the building. 

Anita’s reputation for energetic activism is well known throughout Nevada County. Listen to this recent interview on KVMR, a local radio station, for additional insight into Anita’s life.

At 96, Anita continues to be the soul of UUCM, a true “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” cherished by all for her leadership, enthusiasm, service, and wisdom, in addition to embodying the history of our area and this grateful congregation.