Happy birthday to the Rev. James Reeb

The Philadelphia Tribune has a fantastic profile of James Reeb our congregation’s namesake. James Reeb would be 93 on Jan 1st, 2020.

This married father of four was born in Wichita, Kansas, and ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1953 before moving to Pennsylvania, where he was appointed chaplain at Philadelphia General Hospital.

But Reeb resigned four years later following his conversion to the Unitarian Church because of its emphasis on social action. As a Unitarian clergyman, he immediately began his activism in the Civil Rights Movement and called on his white parishioners to do the same.

Philadelphia Tribune, 12/27/2019