Reverend Robert Miles Eddy

1930 - 2018

Reverend Robert Miles (Bob) Eddy

Pensacola - Reverend Robert Miles Eddy (Bob) led an active life full of intellectual curiosity, service and travel. Born September 23, 1930 Bob grew up in Saratoga Springs, NY before attending Syracuse University (BA 1953) and Drew Theological Seminary (1956) and completing postgraduate training in Family Therapy at Albany Medical College in Albany, NY in 1972. After serving Methodist churches in upstate New York, Bob joined the staff of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) as Peace Education Secretary in 1958 and served a four-state region (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky). Bob entered the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1963 and served Unitarian Universalist congregations in Farmington, MI; Schenectady, NY and Denver, CO.

Long before becoming an adult Bob honed his "rabble rouser" skills when he organized his fellow paper boys into a union in protest against unfair payment practices. As a youth Bob had the great fortune to meet Agnes Smedley, an uncompromising activist. Later in life Bob and his wife, Geraldine Dixon Eddy, visited Agnes's grave in China.

Just causes and civic action motivated Bob throughout his life. Although ordained as a Methodist minister he left after finding he was unable to truthfully recite the creed. He next worked with the Friend's Service Committee (Quakers) as the Peace Education Director organizing protests accompanying civil rights and peace activities on AFSC Midwest tours including Rustin Bayard, Milton Mayer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Linus Pauling. During his time as a Unitarian Universalist minster he marched in Washington DC, visited Haight Ashbury for E.S.T. training, scandalized the Readers Digest readership with an article advocating pre-marital co-habitation, organized non-violent demonstrations against the Vietnam War and wrote damn-good sermons. He inspired many people in his congregations. Of all his duties as a minister, he was most drawn to pastoral duties regarding family and individual counseling specializing in grief counseling.

After leaving the Unitarian Universalist ministry (for the first time) Bob co-founded the Grief Education Institute in Denver, CO and was president of the Colorado Hemlock Society. His time in Colorado also transformed his health as he joined his active wife, Gerry, on hikes, cross-country ski trips and bicycle tours. In 1979 for their 25th wedding anniversary Bob and Gerry bicycled from Michigan to New Jersey visiting all the homes they had lived in. In 2004 for their 50th wedding anniversary they rode bicycles 450 miles along bike trails from Pittsburg to Washington DC. And, on his 85th birthday he bicycled 85 kilometers along the beautiful Pensacola shoreline. Altogether Bob and Gerry rode an estimated 25,000 miles on 'loaded bikes' (with camping equipment) in the US, Europe (France being their favorite), New Zealand, and Australia and rode another 25,000 unloaded miles.

But the ministry always called Bob. After 13 years away from the ministry, he accepted interim minister positions first in Boulder, CO then in Adelaide Australia and Indianapolis, IN. Finally, after a year of RV-ing in Mexico and across the length of the US, Bob served as the fulltime minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola (UUCP), officially retiring at age 80. Bob left this world as the proud minister emeritus of UUCP and a grateful voyager on this boat we call earth and in this dream we call life.

In retirement, when he wasn't riding, he pursued his life-long interests in history of religions, epistemology, and genealogy and preached as a visiting minister up until 4 weeks before his death.

Bob was pre-deceased by his beloved wife of 62 years (Geraldine Dixon Eddy), his brother (Stanley Eddy) and his niece (Cindy Eddy Neilen). Bob always called Gerry his better half and attributed any and all good qualities he had to her. Bob's decades long photography hobby resulted in capturing 1,000s of images of Gerry and Bob together in every adventure.

Bob leaves behind his three children Lee Eddy (Seattle, WA), Pam Eddy (Bloomington, IN), Miles Eddy (Bloomington, IN), son-in-law Shawn Reynolds (Bloomington, IN), grandchild McCarry Reynolds (Santa Cruz, CA), his brother's lovely family (Francis Eddy LaPlante, Denise Eddy Hoffman, Sharron Eddy Cataldo, Stanley Eddy, Jr., and his wife's family (Francis Dixon, Carole Dixon, Richard (Dick) Dickson, Anna Dixon and many great nieces and nephews).

Bob's memorial service will be on Monday, August 13, 2018 at 9:30 AM at: Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola 9888 Pensacola Blvd. Pensacola, FL 32534-1244. To share your memories and learn more about Bob go to www.UURev.org. A Celebration video recorded in 2011 for his 80th birthday will be live-streamed August 26, 2018 on Facebook and YouTube with interactive comments. Remembrances can be made to any of the following organizations Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola, American Civil Liberties Union, Rails to Trails or Southern Poverty Law Center.