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.