The Reverend Kenneth Warren, parish minister and civil rights champion, died on 16 April 2016, aged 93.

Kenneth Roland Warren was born on 21 January 1923 in Oklahoma City to Chester Llewellyn and Marguerite (Packham) Warren. After service in the Merchant Marine (1942-45), he earned a B.A. from Oklahoma City University in 1949, an S.T.B. from Harvard in 1952, and a D.D. from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 1979.

Kenneth was ordained in 1952 by the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City and then called to the Unitarian Church of Barnstable (MA) in 1953, where he served for 38 years and was named Minister Emeritus on retirement in 1991. He went on to interim ministries in Canton, Sharon, Dorchester, Hanover, and Norwell (Assinippi Universalist Church), where in 2001 he was also named Minister Emeritus.

Mary-Elizabeth Brague writes that her father “was a model for us all in standing up for what he believed in, even if his beliefs were unpopular. He expressed his thoughts respectfully and worked to achieve harmony and understanding . . . . He was unfailingly modest, turning the conversation to others, instead of himself. Even at the end of his life . . . he was described by his caregivers as ‘always a gentleman.’”

Kenneth is survived by daughter Mary-Elizabeth Brague and two grandchildren. His beloved spouse of 53 years, Claire (Loring) Warren, died in 2006.

Donations are encouraged to the Social Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church of Barnstable, P.O. Box 285, 3330 Main Street, Barnstable, MA. Condolences may be sent to Mary-Elizabeth Brague, 31 Kerry Drive, Mansfield, MA 02048.