Category: Obituary: K

The Reverend Bill Kennedy—remembered by Judy Welles as a “cherished colleague [with] a warm heart [and] acerbic wit” and by Thomas Anastasi as “the best intern minister you could ever have”—died on 28 April 2019, aged 69. Bill’s colleague in chaplaincy, Theresa Hardy, recalled him as “a joy [who] welcomed you, encouraged you, made it feel like somebody was thrilled you were there at the moment for that event, large or small.”

The Rev. Dennis G. Kuby died on April 23, 2019 at the age of 84.

Dennis is survived by his wife Jeanne Kuby and his son Paul “Scott” Kuby.

Memorial donations may be made to the charity of one’s own choosing. UURMaPA will contribute $50 to the UUMA Endowment Fund in honor of our colleague’s ministry.

Rev. Kuby had a pre-planned memorial service attended by friends and family on his 60th birthday in Bratenahl, OH. Another memorial service will not be held.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Jeanne Kuby or Scott Kuby, at 1250 Queens Rd, Berkeley, CA 94708.

A more complete obituary will be forthcoming after biographical research has been completed.

The Reverend Bjarne (“Ben”) Kjelshus—parish minister, public servant, and a life-long activist and advocate for civil rights, mental health, environmental and food sustainability—died on 9 November 2018, aged 95.

Mr. Kjelshus remarkably found his deepest calling in retirement, pursuing what was essentially an environmental ministry as a co-founder of the Kansas City Greens in the mid-1980s. He worked toward replacing the industrialization of the world’s food supply with a community food system, with sustainable agriculture and cooperation between local growers and consumers embodied in the Kansas City Food Circle. The Circle grew under Ben’s leadership from its first “Expo” in 1999 to a community of 100 member farmers and by 2015, a regular annual Expo attendance of about 2,000.

Bjarne O. Kjelshus was born on 9 March 1923 in Hanska, Minnesota, to Benjamin and Ovidia Kjelshus. Returning from US Army service (1942–45), he earned a B.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1949 and a B.D. at Meadville Lombard in 1954.

Mr. Kjelshus was ordained on 1 May 1955 by the Universalist Church of Webster City IA while serving there for two years (1954–56). Following that, he was settled at the First Universalist Church in Junction City KS (1957–62) and the UU Church of Kent OH (1962–65). “The main task in life,” he wrote in 1964, “should be to encourage the ways of love and diminish hate.”

At his death, Ben was survived by his wife of 68 years, Carol, children Jon, Karen, and Eric, grandchildren Letty, J.R., Amber, Mikkel, Kristin and Jennifer, and great-grandchildren Lauren, Brian, Emma, Annie, Wyatt, Lachlan, and Sterling.

A celebration of Ben’s life took place on 17 November 2018 at All Souls UU Church in Kansas City MO

The Reverend Eileen Karpeles—parish minister, creative writer, teacher, liturgist, skilled conflict mediator, and free spirit, who came to UU ministry in midlife—died on 25 October 2018, aged 93.

Eileen had a lifelong interest in writing, with pieces appearing in both secular and UU publications. Her 1951 poem, “Postwar Panorama: Europe, 1945,” won second honors prize at Ohio University.

Eileen Julia Botsford was born on 8 June 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Grace Alnora (Tong) and Laurence Calvin Botsford. After her parents’ separation when she was two and her mother’s death six years later, she was raised by Christian Science grandparents.

By 1960 the family, now with three daughters, had settled in Maryland, and Eileen took a part- time position on the English faculty at Towson State College. Both she and Leo became active in the Towson UU church, and eventually Eileen, “drawing on her love of writing, music, and theater…developed a collection of sermons that she delivered from guest pulpits around the mid-Atlantic region,” daughter Tamia recalled.

She earned a Ph.B. from the University of Chicago (1947) and then went to Ohio University (Athens) for a B.S.Ed. (1950) and a M.A. in English (1951). Eileen headed out to Seattle to teach high-school English and discovered University Unitarian Church, where she met a young medical student, Leopold Karpeles, whom she married in 1951.

After separation from Leo in 1970, Eileen expanded her UU involvement, finding an outlet for her creative teaching ideas in planning, staffing, and directing youth camps at Murray Grove. Somebody commented, “You ought to become a minister.” She took the cue and in 1977 finished work for her M.Div. from Starr King School.

Ms. Karpeles was ordained on 28 September 1977 by her “home” congregation, the Towson UU Church in Lutherville MD. After settlements at All Souls UU Church, New London CT. (1977–80) and the Orange Coast UU Church, Costa Mesa CA (1980–83), she turned to interim ministry, serving over the next decade in Albany NY, Springfield MA, Eugene OR, Sarasota FL, Boca Raton FL, Sacramento CA, Miami FL, and Williamsburg VA, before retiring from the active ministry in 1993.

Daughter Tamia looked back: “In many respects, my mom was fearless with an independent spirit that could be both terrifying and inspiring, For example, she loved to drive, and continued to hit the open road on solo trips well into her 80s, visiting friends around the country and car- camping at night in Wal-Mart parking lots. Her life was an adventure…”

At her death, Eileen was survived by daughters Katherine Maeda, Robin Magdalene, and Tamia Karpeles, and a granddaughter, Kendra Maeda.

A family remembrance was held in Maryland on 15 December 2018. Memorial donations were encouraged to a charity of one’s own choosing as well as to UURMaPA.

Margret H. Kolbjornsen, widow of the Reverend John M. Kolbjornsen, died February 3, 2018 at the age of 94. She was born in Hannover, Germany in 1923, and came to New York City with her family in 1926. She attended Staten Island schools and earned a BS in Mathematics from Douglass College in 1946. She loved the outdoors and began working with the Girl Scouts of America.

Margret had first met John Kolbjornsen during a neighborhood snowball fight when they were children. In 1948 they married and moved to Copenhagen, where he served in the American Embassy, and where their first child was born. In 1952 they returned to the US, as John attended Harvard Divinity School, and they welcomed a second daughter. Two sons were born in the next few years.

After John’s ordination to the Unitarian ministry they served churches in Sharon, Massachusetts; Williamsville, New York; Norwell, Massachusetts; Sioux City, Iowa; and Springfield, Vermont. Margret contributed her beautiful singing voice to the choirs of every church her husband served, and also sang with the Buffalo Schola Cantorum, the Scituate Choral Society, the Morningside Singers in Sioux City, the Seacoast Singers in Durham, and the Monadnock Chorus from which she retired two days before her 93rd birthday.

In 1971 Margret earned an MEd and began teaching 6th grade math and science in Durham, NH, where she remained until her retirement and relocation to Peterborough. Her summer vacations were spent visiting her German cousins and traveling in Europe. In several trips she sailed the Danube from its source to the Black Sea. Star Island, a UU Conference Center off Portsmouth, was part of her summers as well; she attended the Natural History Conference, beginning in 1974, and volunteered in the Island Gift Shop. She was an accomplished gardener, and kept her hands busy knitting “comfort dolls” that physicians took on medical missions to third-world countries.

A Memorial Service was held March 24, at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church. At her request, memorial donations in her name may be made to the Church and to Summerhill Assisted Living.

The Reverend Gene Kreves—greatly admired for passionate preaching on humanistic liberalism and social justice and remembered by his daughter Joy for his “impish sense of humor”—died on 11 December 2017, at the age of 96.

Eugene William Kreves was born on 24 May 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Mary and Joseph Kreves. While at Ohio Wesleyan University he met fellow student Corrine Strong, to whom he was married in 1942. He earned a B.A. in English in 1945 and a B.D. from Hartford Theological Seminary in 1949, and was ordained in the United Church of Christ.

During his service to the First Congregational Church in Lisle, IL, the church became riven by debates over “Freedom of Conscience” and its records report “disunity becoming rampant in the church.” In early 1955 the Rev’d Mr. Kreves resigned, having meanwhile been admitted to American Unitarian Association ministerial fellowship. He took with him a substantial number of “followers” who chartered a Unitarian congregation (now the DuPage UU Church) in the nearby town of Naperville. Gene served that church for 24 years, was active in both the local ACLU and the DuPage Valley Peace Center, and was a proud signer of the second Humanist Manifesto (1973). On retirement he was named Minister Emeritus; in 1994 the church dedicated its new Kreves Hall in his honor.

At the time of Gene’s death, survivors included children Tim, Dawn, and Joy, four grand- children, and two great-grandchildren. Spouse Corinne died in 2000. Memorial donations are encouraged to the Lakota People’s Law Project and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The Reverend Joan Kahn-Schneider—religious seeker, family counselor, parish minister, and organizational consultant—died on 18 June 2017 at the age of 86.

Joan Kahn was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 13 September 1930 to Emanuel “Jerry” Kahn, Jr. and Selma Andorn Kahn. In the Cincinnati area Joan owned and ran a small book store and later took up counseling in private practice. After a mid-life phase that she called her “Madalyn Murray O’Hair Period,” she found a new spiritual home in 1971 at the Northern Hills UU Fellowship (now “The Gathering”) in Cincinnati.

Joan wrote, “My life leading to ministry and beyond came together more like a patchwork…” Studying psychology at Antioch College (OH), she found herself drawn increasingly toward theology and philosophy and enrolled at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH. In earning an M.Div. in 1981, she came to “the realization that everything I had done had led me to the parish ministry.” Ms. Kahn-Schneider was ordained in 1981 by her home congregation. She served congregations in Michigan (1981-85), Ohio (1987-89), and New York (1989-97), with a “hiatus” at the UUA during which “I discovered that I was definitely not a bureaucrat, but rather a parish minister.” With another degree (M.Ed. in organization and management) she took up a series of interim ministries in New Hampshire (1997-99), Connecticut (1999-2000), Tennessee (2000-01), and South Carolina (2001-2002), a settlement in Savannah (2004-09), and a final interim at her old home congregation (2013-14). Along the way she rendered service in multiple roles to the UUA and UUMA.

Joan’s spouse Charlie died in 2006, following a stroke. She is survived by children  David Friedman, Jim Friedman, Robin Guethlein, and Jerri Menaul, eight grandchildren,  and sister Lu Cohen.

A memorial service took place on 29 July 2017 at the UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, NC. Memorial donations are encouraged to the UUA Living Tradition Fund or to a charity of one’s own choosing. Notes of condolence may be sent to Jim Friedman.

The Reverend Dr. Robert Kimball—Tillich scholar, seminary president, deeply thoughtful and visionary educator, and beloved mentor to a generation of UU ministerial students—died at age 88 on 29 May 2017.

Early in his career, Bob Kimball became a close student of the work of theologian Paul Tillich, who appointed him, at age 31, to be his literary executor, a role Bob filled for nearly thirty years.

Robert Charles Kimball was born on 6 June 1928 in Rochester, NY, to parents Frederick Booth Kimball and Marguerite Steinmiller Kimball. He earned a B.A. in psychology from Oberlin

College (OH, 1951), an M.A. in philosophy from Oberlin Graduate School (1953), a B.D. from Oberlin Graduate School of Theology (1955), and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of religion from Harvard Univ. (MA, 1960).

After service as a religious educator to United Church of Christ congregations while still a student, the Rev’d Dr. Kimball began nearly four transformative decades of teaching theology (but really a formational counselor) on the Starr King faculty (1959–98), including many years as the school’s president (1968–83) and dean (1983–97).

His profound personal influence is legendary in the memory of students. Michelle Tonozzi recalls “the radical YES [that he spoke] to each student for their most authentic self.” 

In individual student conferences, recalls Keith Kron, “Bob often saw two layers below the [surface] problem or question.” And Barbara Pescan adds, “He cut out the extraneous. He saw through lies, even when they were self-effacing, or denying some sadness: ‘Do you always laugh when you mean to cry?’”

Robert Kimball is survived by children Seth, Jeanette, Amy, and Paul, plus six grandchildren, and is revered by scores of Starr King School graduates.

Lorna Jean Kimball, spouse of the Reverend Dr. Bob Kimball, died 26 May 2017. She was born 8 December 1929 in Bombay, India and spent most of her childhood in India. Her father was a missionary and her mother taught in a school for the deaf. Lorna came to the U.S. as a young woman to attend Oberlin College in Ohio.

While attending college, she met Robert Kimball, and they were married 25 August 1951. They had four children , who kept her very busy while Bob completed his education, became ordained, and began his career. When his career took him to Starr King School for the Ministry and the family was established in California, she returned to university and earned her credentials to teach special needs students. That became her career, which she pursued for many years.

Lorna had many interests which sustained her, aside from her work and family. She loved to play music and for most of their lives together always had a piano or keyboard standing by. Another passion was bird watching. Lorna loved growing things, and had a special gift for growing orchids and getting them to bloom.

After she left her school and Bob retired from Starr King, they moved to Alameda and settled into a quiet life. They took frequent walks and often took their meals in local establishments. They were a team and attended to each other. This became more difficult when she developed Alzheimer’s and struggled with dementia. Her final months were hard, but Bob and their children looked after her until the end.

Lorna is survived by her children; Seth, Jeanette, Amy, and Paul; six grandchildren; her brother, Owen Thomas; and sister, Patricia Becker.

The Rev. Roger Otis Kuhrt, 70, died January 17, 2012. A native of Seattle, he earned his BA from Whitworth College, his MA from the University of Washington, and his PhD from Columbia Pacific University. He also studied at Washington State University. Originally ordained by the Disciples of Christ, he was called to serve the UU Congregation in Olympia, WA. He also served the Tahoma UU Congregation in Tacoma, WA. During his ministry, he was a consulting minister to several congregations in the Pacific Northwest District. Colleagues described him as a “lover of knowledge and seeker of truth.” He was a member of a number of professional, community, and religious organizations over the years, serving on the boards of many. Roger is survived by his wife, Pam Gill-Kuhrt; his daughters, Sharene Kuhrt-Nelson and Stacey Kuhrt; and a grandson.