This history was published in The SUUSI Mug Book for 1980, celebrating SUUSI's 30th birthday.
Summer Institute's magic has always been thoroughly vested in the people who make it happen each yearâ€"and there have been thousands. From the 35 people who gathered at Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, in 1950 to the 1000 who are with us this year, our festival is a shared experience of joyful community.
In 1945 the Southern Neighbors Fellowship of Liberal Churches, representing the entire Southeast, voted to withdraw from the Joseph Priestley Conference and organize its own Thomas Jefferson Conference. It was this Conference that began the first Southern Family Institute in 1950 where the Rev. Alfred W. Hobart was elected president. His son, Jim Hobart, a UU minister now in Pennsylvania, attended the first five or so Institutes and returns to us this year.
From 1951 to 1966 the Institute was held at the Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, North Carolina. There are wonderful memories of Blue Ridge shared by many of us: get Don Male (who has attended 21 Institutes, maybe a record) to tell you about the rocking chairs, the mountains, the beautiful heritage we share. In 1967 and 1968 we met at the Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina.
In 1969 the Institute was in jeopardy because of a UUA budget deficitâ€"when the UUA was unable to continue financial support, the Thomas Jefferson District alone (by this time the Mid-South and Florida areas had become a separate district) continued the Institute at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Don Male, now a UUA Trustee, was the force behind this decision.
In 1970 Rosemary Morris (now Rosemary Morris Burns, a SUUSI board member) made a critical contribution during this transitional period by marshaling support for the first lay-led Institute which was held at Boone North Carolina, until 1973 at Appalachian State University. In 1974 the Institute moved to Fontana Village Resort in North Carolina.
Finally, in 1975 we moved to our current siteâ€"Radford College, Radford, Virginia, and found a long-time home: a campus large enough to accommodate our growing numbers (from 640 in 1975 to 1000 in 1979) and a warm, helpful University staff. Once again our districts (three by now: Florida, Mid-South, and Jefferson) began working together. A board was formed and the name changed to the Southeastern Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute (fondly known as SUUSI as in "if you knew SUUSI...").