Meet Your Fellow Humanists By Pat Barr
Pat Barr is the RBH 2012 Volunteer of the Year and writes these personal stories about our members. She is also very involved with our Program Committee and the RBH Community Outreach Group.
If you’d like to share your story, please contact Pat Barr via email to danabarr4@aol.com.
She’d love hearing from you!
Bill Barr
Here Pat recounts the generosity and dedication of two of RBH’s newest members she knows well - her son, Bill, and his wife Claudia Barr. Bill and his family met a young man who was born in poverty in Haiti and helped him fulfill his dream of coming to America and getting a good education.
Mike Scher
Mike Scher is a life-long atheist and proud of his paratrooper days in World War II. When in England, Mike met Ellen, the love of his life, and they were married for 46 years until she died in 2008. He misses her terribly. He loves being a contrarian and usually adds interesting comments at the monthly Forum discussions.
Trudy Lagan
Trudy was raised as a Reformed Protestant. She went to most of the required religion classes, but did not make her confirmation because she had too many questions. After 5 years of bible study, at age 19, she asked the minister to help her to believe. The interaction was positive, but he said she had to have "faith."
Irma & Richard Lester
Irma and Dick have been involved in many social issues such as anti-war, feminism, abortion rights, etc. They promoted humanism by "living it" through activism. Their lives are a testament to how one can be "good without god." Irma passed away in 2017, and will always be remembered this organization for her wisdom and leadership.
Ron Steelman - Founder/President Emeritus
Ron was born in Columbus, Ohio as one of the first baby-boomer babies, exactly nine months after his father returned from WWII. He has two brothers, one three years older and one five years younger. He believes that personality traits based upon birth order are pure silliness. The books say “middle children do not openly share their thoughts or feelings.” If you’ve met Steelman, you know how silly that is.
Adam Green
Adam was raised as an Atheist. His mother was Catholic, but had no real belief. His dad was Jewish [culturally]. They had a Star of David on their Christmas tree. Religion was never really an issue. However, it managed to break up a relationship in high school when Adam's born-again Baptist girlfriend broke up with him because Jesus didn’t want her to date him.
Eric Seldner
Eric is the love child of the late 60's, born in Princeton NJ to very young parents who do not let his arrival interfere with their strong intellectual aspirations. They blended Quaker and non-observant Jewish upbringings to raise Eric in a freethinking way. They always reasoned with him from a very young age, and he loved nothing more than to listen in on the intellectual conversations they promoted among family and friends.
