In Memory of Bert Steeves (March 16, 1926 – September 16, 2020)

Rev. Bertrand Harlow Steeves died on September 16, 2020 at the age of 94.

Bert was born on March 16, 1926 in Ayer, MA to Elizabeth (Vosmus) and Rev. Earle R. Steeves, who served as minister of the First Congregational Society (Unitarian) in Leominster. Although he briefly joined a Congregational church in his teens, Bert was one of five children—two of whom would go on to serve the Unitarian ministry.

In 1949, Bert received a B.S. in Education from Fitchburg State Teachers College after his studies were interrupted by military service: from 1944 to 1946, Bert served in U.S Army, nine months of which was in Italy.

He enrolled in Harvard Divinity School, during which he served, in the summer of 1950, as a student minister in Temple, ME. He graduated with an S.T.B. in 1952.

In that same year, Rev. Steeves was ordained by the First Congregational Society (Unitarian) in Leominster. Both his brother—by now, a Unitarian minister—and his father participated in the service.

Also in 1952, Bert married Maxine Hertel. The couple would go on to have three children: Jonathan, Kathryn, and Christopher.

From 1952 to 1956, Rev. Steeves served First Parish Church in Pembroke, MA. In 1956, he was installed as the fourteenth minister at First Religious Society, Newburyport, MA. At his installation ceremony, his father, Rev. Earle Steeves. delivered the charge to the minister, while the charge to the congregation was delivered by his brother, Rev. Addison E. Steeves, who by then was serving as minister of the First Church and Parish in Dedham (MA).

Rev. Steeves was deeply involved in denominational as well as community activities. Within Unitarian Universalism, he served on the Clarence R. Skinner Award Committee, the New England Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association Consolidation Committee, and on staff at Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) Week on Star Island. Within the Massachusetts Bay District, Rev. Steeves served on the Nominating Committee, the Fundraising Committee, as Director of the District’s Churchmanship and Ministry Department, and as a ministerial advisor to the Universalist Church of Gloucester, MA.

In the community, he served on the Executive Committee of the American Red Cross (Newburyport Chapter) for twenty years; on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Aid and Family Society for a decade; on the Board of Directors of Visiting Nursing of Newburyport; on the regional board of the Massachusetts Anti-Discrimination Committee; as President of the Merrimac Valley Bible Society; as President, Vice President, and Program Chair of the Greater Newburyport Clergy Association; and as founding member and on the Board of Directors of Link House, one of the first substance use treatment facilities in the North Shore.

During his long ministry in Newburyport, Rev. Steeves was recognized as a leader on justice issues, whether divesting the church’s funds from South Africa in the 1980s—as a condemnation of apartheid—or his 1961 risky, public stand against discrimination and prejudices. For the latter, Rev. Steeves received the city’s Nancy E. Peace Action Against Prejudice Award, and yet his devotion to justice was driven by his ideals. One parishioner recalls Rev. and Mrs. Steeves going out at night, spray paint in hand, to cover racial epithets that had been written on buildings.

Rev. Steeves carried out these aspect of his ministry, and all others, with humility. A former parishioner recalls, “I remember Bert once wryly telling me how he leads in the social action of the Church. He said, ‘I watch how things are developing on any issue to see where the march is headed, and then I run around to the front to show my leadership.’ Of course, that was untrue, but it is an excellent example of his endearing, self-deprecating humor.”

In 1994, Rev. Steeves retired from the Newburyport congregation and was given the title Minister Emeritus. Despite his retired status, and in part to create some distance so that the Newburyport congregation could create their new chapter, Rev. Steeves briefly served the Kearsarge UU Fellowship in New London, NH.

Bertrand is survived by his wife, Maxine (Hertel) Steeves; his children, Jonathan Steeves and his children, Stephanie, Samantha, and Justin and their mother Debra (Baikewicz) Steeves; his daughter Kathryn Steeves and her husband Stephen, and their children, Nathaniel and Jacob; and his son Christopher Steeves and husband Thomas Brewer.

Memorial service plans will be announced sometime in 2021.