Expert at consoling the bereaved
Veteran minister wrote seven books, served in churches around the country
By Maureen O'Donnell
Staff Reporter / mmoconnell@suntimes.com
The Rev. Robert G. Kemper used to joke with brides and grooms that they shouldn't get nervous during their wedding ceremony if they happened to glance over and notice he was holding his minister's book upside-down.
"I've got it memorized," he'd say.
It was a good thing, too, because Bob Kemper was legally blind.
The book was a prop — he memorized church services and had such prodigious powers of recall that he easily could unfurl touching sermons that people would quote decades later.
"Any time he would preach, the church would fill up, said a friend, Nancy Conforti.
Services were held recently for Mr. Kemper, 75, who died at Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital in July from heart issues.
Vision loss honed his empathy, helping him to comfort people who were grieving losses. He served 25 years at First Congregational Church of Western Springs and a minister for 40 years in all.
His book. "An Elephant's Ballet," helped many cope. In it, he wrote about losing his sight, at 37, to macular degeneration. His wife Margie summarized a passage: "The linger I lamented what I lost, the worse I became; but when I realized what good things still remained, I became better."
Mr. Kemper also chaired Evangelical Health Systems. After a 1995 merger, it became Advocate Health Care.
Mr. Kemper was born in Alton, IL, the son of a minister. His family moved around the country as his father served different churches.
Mr. Kemper attended Cornell College in Iowa, where he majored in English. He loved to eat. In fact, it was a missed slice of cake at a wedding that brought him together with his future wife, then Margie Klontz.
"He had to leave early and was lamenting he didn't have a piece of cake, so I mailed him a piece," she recalled. By the time he got it, it was very hard and dry, but he was touched."
At 20, Mr. Kemper began ministering in Port Byron, IL The Kempers married in 1959. He earned joint degrees in ministry from the University of Chicago and the Chicago Theological Seminary. Later, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the seminary.
He served at churches around the USA. A stint in New Jersey allowed Mr. Kemper to indulge his love of Broadway shows, including a favorite night at "The King and I" with Yul Brynner.
In 1968, the Kempers returned to Chicago, where he was asked to be founding editor of Christian Ministry magazine, an offshoot of Christian Century. He moved to full-time ministry in 1973 at the Western Springs church, where some found his sermons so meaningful, they would even take notes. Others were so inspired that they became minsters themselves.
He wrote six other books before retiring in 1998.
He continued going to plays. Though he couldn't see the actors, he gloried in their language.
"He loved the poetry of the Old Testament," said church minister Rich Kirchherr. "He would find rhythms and patterns in Shakespeare's writing that he found in the Book of Common Prayer."
... Mr. Kemper also is survived by two daughters, Betsy, and Ginny Freiberger; a son, Edward; a brother, Larry, and six grandchildren.
