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Kenneth Daniel Perkins, the retired clergyman and Navy chaplain who documented the history of Hawaii's Episcopal Church, died Tuesday at Castle Medical Center. He was 92. Padre Perkins,
chronicler of Episcopal
Church, diesFormer AUW director dies
OBITUARIES
By Janine Tully
Star-BulletinPerkins was born at Himrod in Yates County, N.Y. He graduated from Bard College, N.Y., in 1929, and from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in 1932.
He came to Hawaii and was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church at St. Andrew's Cathedral on Feb. 3, 1933. That year, he taught at Iolani School when it was still along the banks of Nuuanu Stream.
Perkins served for six years as assistant at St. Andrew's under Dean William Ault. During this period he conducted weekly chapel services at St. Andrew's Priory, and is still fondly remembered by graduates who are now in their 70s and 80s.
From 1939 to 1941 he was vicar of Holy Apostles Church in Hilo.
In 1941, Perkins began a 21-year career as a Navy chaplain, serving as one of the chaplains at the dedication service at the opening of Punchbowl National Cemetery on Sept. 2, 1949.
World War II took him to Midway Island, where he saw two Japanese destroyers shell the island for 20 minutes on Dec. 7, 1941.
In July 1945, Padre Perkins (a title used for chaplains on a ship) was chaplain of the USS Augusta, which took President Truman to the Potsdam Conference. The padre had the honor of preaching to the president and his party.
Upon retiring from the Navy in 1962, Padre Perkins began a 10-year pastorate at St. George's Episcopal Church in Pearl Harbor. In 1972, 40 years after his arrival in Hawaii, he retired and was elected rector emeritus of the parish.
"At his retirement he announced that he planned to read the entirety of Will and Ariel Durant's 14-volume history of the world, and he did," said Sigrid B. Southworth, a close friend of the family and librarian with Kamehameha Secondary School.
Perkins spent the rest of his life documenting the history of the Episcopal Church in Hawaii, serving as the historian for the dioceses of Hawaii until a few years ago.
He assisted Rianna Williams in writing her book "From Royal Gardens to Gothic Splendors." Published in 1996, it documents the history of St. Andrew's Cathedral.
"No one could have written the cathedral's history without Ken's detailed knowledge of the Episcopal Church and the cathedral itself," said Williams. "He was the epitome of a gentleman and a joy to work with."
He read nearly a book a day and continued to do the crossword puzzle -- without aid of a dictionary -- a day before his death, friends say.
Perkins is survived by his wife of 51 years, Ruth Kirkpatrick Perkins; a sister, Mildred Louise Schmidt of Columbus, Ohio; and a nephew, Luther Calvin Perkins of Hammondsport, N.Y.
The family asks that instead of flowers, a contribution be made to the Rev. Ken Perkins Scholarship Fund, Iolani School, 563 Kamoku St., Honolulu 96826, or to charity.
Services will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday at St. Andrew's Cathedral. Inurnment will be 11:30 a.m. Feb. 2 at Punchbowl Cemetery.
Bruce Wolgemuth, Aloha United Way director here for nearly 17 years, died Jan. 16 at his home in Ocean Shores, Wash. He was 71. Bruce Wolgemuth,
former Aloha United
Way director diesBy Harold Morse
Star-BulletinWolgemuth, who became mayor of Ocean Shores after he retired there, was born in Seattle.
He graduated from the University of Washington in 1952 and earned a master's degree in social work at Ohio State University in 1957.
His Hawaii connection began in 1969 when he became campaign director of what was then called Aloha United Fund. He became AUF executive director in 1970 and remained in that post until he retired in 1986.
He served in the Navy from 1952-54 and was a campaign assistant with Seattle United Good Neighbors in 1954-55.
Later, he was associate campaign manager with United Appeal, Cincinnati, in 1957-60, and executive director of West End United Fund, Ontario, Calif., in 1960-63. He served as executive director, Riverside Area United Fund, in California, from 1963 to 1969.
He was mayor from 1992 to 1994 and in city government a total of five years, having become a council member in 1991, his wife Kathleen said. "He certainly loved Hawaii and hated to leave. But his mom was over here, and he felt he really needed to be back here with her."
In addition to his wife and mother, Helma, who is 102, he is survived by daughter Beth, son Eric and sister Joan Wolgemuth.
Services will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Ocean Shores Convention Center. The ashes will be scattered in waters off Ocean Shores.
Contributions in his memory may be made to Aloha United Way or Ocean Shores Friends of the Library, P.O. Box 669, Ocean Shores, WA 98569.