Max Coots, minister of this church for 34 years, was born in Canisteo, New York, in l927. He grew up in Waverly, spent summers on his grandparents’ farm (a formative experience he referred to often), and studied art at Waverly High School. After a stint in the Navy, he attended art school before going to Elmira College and Bucknell University, from which he graduated in 1950. He received a master’s degree in religious education from Columbia University and a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary.
During his years at seminary, Max served as the Assistant Minister at the Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity in New York City where he was ordained a Universalist Minister in 1953. After four years as minister of the First Universalist Church in Cortland, in l958 he became minister of the Canton Universalist Church (which became the Unitarian Universalist Church at the time of the denominational merger in1961). He served until his retirement in 1992. He was a poetic preacher, wise counselor, inveterate punster, and general church handyman. A visitor to the church once mistook him for the church custodian and was surprised to find him in the pulpit when she attended services the next Sunday
Max adopted Canton and the North Country as his own. He was a community activist, helping spark the creation of the St. Lawrence County Chapter of NYSARC, the Church and Community Program, and North Country Freedom Homes. He aided those concerned with nuclear warfare, penal reform, civil rights, alcoholism, family planning, and Vietnam and Iraq war resistance.
He was often in demand in the area as a public speaker and for seven years (1968-1975) he taught “Contemporary Social Problems” at Clarkson College. He was also regularly invited to speak at other Unitarian Universalist churches and regional conferences and had particularly strong ties with the Unitarian Church of Barneveld, New York, and the Unitarian Fellowship of Kingston, Ontario. In retirement, he became the supply minister for the Central Square (NY) Universalist Church, preaching there two Sundays a month for several years.
In 1978, he was awarded a Doctor of Sacred Theology by Starr King School for the Ministry. In 1983, he was awarded the Human Services Award by the State University of New York at Potsdam. St. Lawrence University honored him with a North Country Citation in 1990.
In retirement, Max returned to his early love of the arts and took up sculpting. He audited all the available ceramic courses at St. Lawrence University. His sculptures were full of whimsy, puns, and fanciful creatures, and always brought smiles to viewers’ faces. In 1999, St. Lawrence University hosted a show of his sculptures, “The Sublime and the Ridiculous.” The St. Lawrence County Arts Council honored him in February 2009 for his dedicated service to the arts, exhibiting a show of his works in Potsdam.
Max enjoyed woodworking and had a workshop in his barn on State Street where he recycled old lumber as well as new. He also loved gardening and for more than 50 years raised vegetables in plots near his home. That love of vegetables–and people–is best expressed in his well-known meditation known both as “Thanksgiving” and “Let Us Give Thanks.” It has been artistically rendered in poster form and is available from the church office. He also wrote three books: Seasons of the Self in 1971, View from a Tree in 1989, and Leaning Against the Wind: A Selection of Sermons in 1992. All are available in the Coots Library.
Max Coots was married three times, to Emilie “Fritzie” Fritz from 1950 to 1977, to Betty N. Hutto from 1978 until her death in 1993, and to Charlotte Ramsay from 1999 until his death in March 2009. He had three sons from his first marriage, Brian, Douglas, and Daniel.
Adapted from an obituary in the Watertown Daily Times, March 6, 2009, and Jessica Cambio’s blog on the UU Ministers Association website, May, 13, 20l0.