Ruby Wagner was ordained a minister in 1944. According to the Unity magazines, she was a Licensed Teacher at least by 1938. She served in St Petersburg as early as 1945 at 413 Grand Central. She resigned in before June 1972, according to an internal AUC newsletter. A long-time Unity congregant from the St Petersburg area shared the following with me:
That old photo is a real treasure! Ruby Wagner was minister at the St. Petersburg church when I was seventeen, which was quite a bit later than 1944. I would say that is definitely her in the photo though it seems she had brown hair streaked with gray when I met her.
Oh the crowds at her beautiful little white church! There were lines of people on the street waiting to get in each Sunday. My grandmother had been a Unity student for years before she asked if I'd like to go to church with her. I was amazed to find that an entire group of people believed as I believed. I had no idea!!! I continued to go to church with her whenever she invited me. We lived in Tampa so I was dependent on her picking me up and bringing me home. My grandmother lived in St. Petersburg which meant she came all the way into Tampa for me and then went back to St Petersburg, then took me home and turned around and returned to her home. I wasn't close to my mother's mother, so it was a real blessing that she was willing to go to all that trouble on so many beautiful Sunday mornings.
I can't think what I could tell you about Ms. Wagner except that she was quietly and definitely in charge. She had a lovely countenance about her and she was so very respected by her members. I noticed that everyone who attended her church regularly had the same kind of spiritual glow that I'd always admired in my grandparent.Later, when I went to work at Unity Headquarters in Lee's Summit, I noticed that glow was a part of everyone around me. I truly believe the success of Unity was in the fact that every person who worked there was a Unity student. It was mandatory. Our day started at 8 am when we assembled in the auditorium to listen to some of the most fascinating speakers in the world.
I recall that one July morning Marcus Bach was the speaker. The weather was very strange - there was frost on the ground! I remember he began his talk with, "I always said it'd be a cold in July before I'd ever speak at Unity headquarters." And, of course, he had the audience in the palm of his hand from that moment. As I listened to him, I felt the presence of something warm and loving all around me. Afterward, as I walked into the department where I worked, my supervisor, Edna Jackson, called me to her desk. I wondered if I'd done something wrong, but she wanted me to know that I was being given a raise. I was stunned, but I knew there was some connection between the love I felt as I listened to Marcus Bach and what had just happened. I was very young and we, that is, my husband, an equally young YMCA executive, and I were truly struggling. That raise was a blessing, especially since I'd already given notice that my husband's job was taking us to another town. I would only get to enjoy that raise for another month.
