Worship Leaders: Rev. Margalie Belizaire / Judith Stein-Farrall / Aubrey Connely – Candelario / Linnea Nelson / Charles Connelly-Candelario / Charlotte Kendall / Wendy Derrow / Joan Nelson

Come meet, connect with and honor the Reverend Mary Augusta Safford.

Our Mary Safford Historical Marker

Our Spring Congregational Meeting truly made history on March 19, as we dedicated a heritage marker honoring the Rev. Mary Augusta Safford — leader in the fight for votes for women, Unitarian trailblazer, and early member of our church. Following a special reception, Orlando District 4 Commissioner Patty Sheehan spoke about the marker’s significance and the essential role of voting in our democracy. She then joined Rev. Margalie, guests, and 1U folks to unveil the marker and cheer our church’s long commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equality.

Commissioner Sheehan, who has represented our District 4 since 2000, is a trailblazer in her own right as Central Florida’s first openly gay elected official. Also representing the city were Jennifer Fritz-Hunter, Orlando’s historic preservation officer, and Kathleen Russell, the mayor’s special assistant for community collaboration. The event continued a Women’s History Month celebration that began March 7 with the unveiling of a sister marker at 37 N. Orange Ave. that honors Orlando as the birthplace of Florida’s Equal Suffrage Association in 1913. It also pays tribute to Safford as the association’s president.

Both Orlando markers are part of the National Votes for Women Trail, an initiative of the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, with funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation of Syracuse, New York. The Trail includes more than 200 markers across the nation as well as an online database containing more than 2,200 sites related to women’s suffrage (for more information, click here).

The Rev. Safford led women’s suffrage efforts in Florida for most of the decade before the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920. She also led the suffrage movement in Iowa. Her friend since childhood, the Rev. Eleanor Gordon, was our church’s founding minister. Both women, who were part of the famed Iowa Sisterhood, moved to Orlando because of their friendship with Caroline Groninger Gore, the wife of Orlando pioneer Mahlon Gore and the inspiration for Gore Hall’s name.

At the March 19 program, 1U member Joy Wallace Dickinson also talked about the marker’s use of the women’s suffrage colors of white, violet , and sunflower gold. You’ll find the Mary Safford marker on the Hampton Street side of the campus, near the sidewalk leading to Gore Hall and the Sanctuary. It’s a great reminder that our present has strong roots in the past.

Written by Joy Dickinson