Obituary

Rev. Forrest Church, son of Sen. Frank and Mrs. Bethine Church, Passes Away

By Jill Kuraitis, 9-25-09

The respected theologian, author, and minister the Reverend Forrest Church has died of the cancer he fought for three years. He was 61.

Forrest was the grandson of Idaho Governor Chase A. Clark and son of the late Senator Frank Church and his widow, Boise resident Bethine Church. Longtime minister of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City, Church is survived by his mother, his wife Carolyn Buck Luce, his brother Chase, and his children: Frank, Nina, Jacob and Nathan.

Family friend and spokesman, Boise attorney Dan Williams, told NewWest.Net that Church spent his last days in the hospital, but there were no treatments left to try. His family knew he was ending his days and were prepared. Williams also said that memorial services in New York and Boise are in the planning stages.

Forrest Church earned his Ph.D. in early church history from Harvard University in 1978, and was hired by All Souls the same year, when he was twenty-nine years old. He was minister at All Souls until his death.

His friend, NBC newsman and former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw told the New York Times, “Forrest Church made all of our lives so much richer with his friendship, his faith and his optimism. He was a leading citizen in the world of all of God’s children.”

Church was a leader in the field of social justice, often bringing together clergy of many denominations to accomplish a project. In 1985, All Souls was one of the first churches to respond to the AIDS epidemic by providing direct health care services to sufferers.

In 1986, Church told the Boston Globe, “…generally, politicians try to change society for the betterment of the individual. I like to change the individual for the betterment of society.” In his book “Love and Death” he wrote, “The goal is to live in such a way that our lives will prove worth dying for…The one thing that can’t be taken from us, even by death, is the love we give away before we go.”

Note: Forrest Church was a friend and the author of the most influential book I’ve read – “God and Other Famous Liberals.” I am also a friend of the family, as are thousands of Idahoans.

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