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Stephen
Washburn
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Stephen
Washburn
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Steve grew up as an only offspring of parents from Plymouth, MA, living first on North Main Street and then
Glendale Road. His parents had moved to Sharon when Dr. Walter Griffin treated Steve’s mother at the Sharon
Sanatorium. Dr. Griffin became Steve’s godfather. Steve was raised as an active member of the Sharon Unitarian
Church and sang in the choir led by Mrs. Dorothy Richardson, a daughter of a Fisk University Jubilee Singer
and degree holder in Gregorian chant. He also studied piano with Mrs. Wager Swayne on Summit Avenue for seven
years. In his senior year at High School he was voted president of his Church’s Liberal Religious Youth, which
included Jews as well as Gentiles.
Steve attended Miss Glover’s Nursery School on Cottage Street, then kindergarten at the School Street School.
He attended elementary school at High Street, fifth grade at the Wilbur School and sixth grade at the Sharon
High School building. His grades seven and eight brought him back to the Wilbur School where he joined the
chess club with Jerry Nash. He and Jerry often enjoyed chess at each other’s homes, where they disciplined
themselves to create a pun on the one just told by the other before making the next move.
In High School Steve was a member of the Classical Music Appreciation Club chaired by Alice Rothchild. For one
year he threw the shot-put with Stanley Spack as part of the school team. He also took part in Operation
Understanding, a voluntary school day during a February vacation in which students of color from inner city
Boston met high schoolers from Sharon in order to learn about each other’s experiences. Later this helped to
foreshadow today’s Metco program.
With his family Steve sailed during high school years at the Massapoag Yacht Club, then coached sailing at
Nobles Day Camp in Dedham, MA. An avid railroad enthusiast, he was befriended by several operating employees
who hosted him for rides in cabs and cabooses. He is volunteering with the NH RR Historical & Technical
Association, to make a film about an engineer’s 1960’s workday.
After graduating from Sharon High School in 1965, Steve earned his B. A. degree majoring in History at
Haverford College, a Quaker founded school outside of Philadelphia in 1833. By 1971 he had earned a Master of
Arts in Teaching at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT). He went on to teach History at public and independent
schools for seven years in MA, PA and New York City. As possible, he introduced African, Chinese and Japanese
Histories to their curricula.
Also for one year between teaching jobs, Steve volunteered as a lobbyist with Citizens for Rail Transportation
in MA. In this role he joined others in advocating for Governor Francis Sargent to set a national precedent by
returning a Highway Trust Grant intended to build Interstate 95 through Boston in order to replace it with funds
for a balance of intermodal transportation improvements. Working with suburban and inner city conservation and
community allies, this led to upgrading Route 128 in order to divert I-95 around Boston. This enabled
reconnection of Southwest Corridor communities, safeguarded natural resources by and funded commuter rail plus
local transit improvements.
After meeting at King’s Chapel in Boston, Steve married the Rev. Dianne Arakawa from Honolulu, HI in 1978. In
1982 he earned his Master of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary in NY and entered ordained Christian
ministry. Beginning in 1983 he and Dianne co-pastored a congregation outside of Chicago. Then in 1990 they
returned to Massachusetts to start a family on the South Shore. In 1994 they were blessed with the birth of
their only offspring, Jonathan, who now lives with his Spouse Valerie in the home where Steve grew up on Sharon’s
Glendale Road. Eventually both Dianne and Steve specialized in ministries of change. They served transitional
pastorates with the United Churches of Christ, Congregational in NH, MA and CT. Steve retired from pastoring in 2018.
Currently Steve and Dianne live in Marshfield, MA. He serves as the Historian of the Church of the Pilgrimage in
Plymouth and moderates an educational non-profit Ira Reid Foundation. This non-profit has just created a documentary
film about Dr. Ira De Augustine Reid, the first African American to become a full-time tenured professor and
department chair at an elite Northern “white” liberal arts college (Haverford College) in 1946-7. The film has been
shown at Haverford College and the International Black Film Festival in Nashville, TN. In New England it has also
screened at the Rhode Island Historical Society, King’s Chapel in Boston, on Martha’s Vineyard, MA and in Newport,
RI. It is now viewable online through Maverick Films. A condensed version is being created for use by Haverford
College in orientation of students, faculty and staff.
Steve and Dianne look forward to gathering with ’65 classmates for the 60th Reunion on Saturday, September 6. May
all be safe and well! All aboard!
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