Historical Timeline
During the 2019 UCC General Synod meeting delegates and visitors enjoyed viewing an historical timeline of the UCC and Wisconsin UCC history displayed on a large professionally created display board. The Historical Committee decided to name this display in honor of recently retired committee member Howard Kanetzke, and to make it available in physical and digital form for Wisconsin churches.
Howard served on the Historical Committee for over forty years as its resident historical advisor and expert because of his professional experience as a staff member of the Wisconsin Historical Society and active membership in Community of Hope UCC in Madison. He was a student of church music at Augustana College in Illinois, served as a Chaplains Assistant in the army, and graduated from the UW Madison in history and school curriculum. At the Historical Society he edited Badger History magazines, later booklets, used by fourth graders in Wisconsin schools. As a member of the Historical Committee Howard served as liaison to the Wisconsin Historical Society as well as editing The Historian’s Handbook, a popular resource for local church historians.
Kanetzke combined his love of history and music by serving his local church and the Conference as accompanist, and by creating and performing programs of Wisconsin historical music with his wife, Lucetta. Howard’s collection of Wisconsin-oriented sheet music, tapes, vinyl and CD’s became the basis of the Wisconsin Music Archive in the Mills Music Library, UW Madison.
The “Howard Kanetzke UCC Historical Display” has been on tour in the Wisconsin Conference and when the “Safe at Home” restrictions are lifted will once again be available to churches in the Conference. If your congregation is interested in utilizing it, please contact Rev. Scott McLeod to schedule a display time. In addition, the Historical Committee plans to create an annotated digital document which can be utilized in new member and confirmation classes as well as for general education.
This project was funded by generous donations from the Wisconsin Conference UCC, St. Paul’s UCC in Wausau, First Congregational UCC in Elkhorn and private individuals.