Asheville Unitarian Universalist minister and advocate of racial justice Reverend Clark Olsen will receive an award for his distinguished service from the Unitarian Universalist Association, the nationwide organization for the UU religious movement. Olsen will be commended at a ceremony in front of the UUA’s General Assembly on Saturday, June 27, in Portland, Ore.
From Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville:
Asheville – The Rev. Clark Olsen, a long-time Unitarian Universalist minister and advocate for racial justice, has been notified that he will receive the Distinguished Service Award of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The award, the highest commendation that the denomination gives, will be bestowed on Saturday, June 27 at the UUA’s General Assembly in Portland, Oregon.
Rev. Olsen receives the award 50 years after the Voting Rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, where, on March 9, 1965, he and two other Unitarian Universalist ministers – Orloff Miller and James Reeb – were attacked on the street and beaten by racist thugs. Rev. Reeb later died of his injuries in that attack.
Rev. Olsen became a staunch advocate for civil rights and over many years took part with other movement veterans in tours of civil rights sites of the South organized by the Sojourn Project to educate high school students about what happened in the civil rights movement.
Into the 1970s, Rev. Olsen served as minister of congregations in Westborough, MA, Berkeley, CA, and Morristown, NJ. He then became an organizational trainer for nonprofit organizations and Fortune 500 corporations, specializing in strategic planning, organizational culture change, management training and team building. He also served as vice president for planning and programs for the UUA from 1986 to 1988, on its Fulfilling the Promise long-term planning committee and on the board of Starr King School for the Ministry.
He and his wife, Anna, moved to Asheville in 1989. While living here, he has served as chairman of the Buncombe County Task Force on Common Values & Sense of Community; as a member of Asheville-Buncombe Vision; a member of the Pack Place Board of Trustees, and a member and Chair of the Board of the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design. He is a member and past trustee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville.
Rev. Mark Ward, lead minister of the Asheville church, said that Rev. Olsen “has been such a blessing to the Asheville congregation and our entire movement. It is not just his courage but his wisdom and generosity of heart that have served as an example to so many. He amply deserves this award.”
The citation by the UUA’s Distinguished Service Award Committee praises Rev. Olsen as “an exemplar of our faith, one who followed the call to justice, who showed up, and despite injury and intimidation remained a generous and compassionate leader in the cause of freedom and justice.”
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