G. Kent Keller

Kent Keller loved his sweetheart and best friend of 61 years and wife of 56 years, Janet Golba. They were married on June 20, 1959. He loved their three children, Kurt, Edie, Katie, and their families and was very proud of them and their commitments in their work to serving people, especially the poor, and to science.

Born on January 11, 1937, in South Bend, Indiana, Kent was the son of Marjorie (Cookingham) and George E. Keller. After graduating as valedictorian of his John Adams High School class, he attended and received degrees from Yale University magna cum laude (1959) and Yale Divinity School (1962). At Yale he belonged to the Scroll and Key Senior Society. He was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor and served four pastorates: Dewey Avenue Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York (1962–68); the United Parish of Montbello in Denver, Colorado (1968–74); First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Indiana (1974-87); and First Presbyterian Church in Hastings, Michigan (1987–2002).

Second only to helping Janet raise their family, the Rev. Kent Keller considered his most meaningful achievement to be the establishing of an interracial and ecumenical congregation, a rarity in the 1960s. Beginning in 1968, he was the organizing and founding pastor of the United Parish (now Church) of Montbello in Denver. At the outset it was affiliated with four denominations: the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Reformed Church in America. Interracially, it included African-American, Latino, and Anglo families. While pastor at Montbello, Keller organized and directed a basketball league of 16 teams for boys in the community. In all of his pastorates Keller emphasized thoughtful biblical preaching and small sharing groups for couples and singles, as well as strong Christian education and Christian mission, frequently succeeding in having the congregations give away one-third of their receipts to mission and benevolent causes.

Keller was, above all, an ecumenical Christian. Inspired by the Ecumenical Movement of the 20th Century and the work of the National and World Council of Churches and later by Pope John XXIII and the Vatican Council, he developed a passion for interdenominational cooperation. As an undergraduate at Yale, he was elected president of the Yale Christian Association (Dwight Hall) and the Council of the Yale Christian Community (an organization composed of the leaders of several campus denominational groups). His reading embraced the writings of many Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish theologians and Bible scholars. During his ministry Pastor Keller was active in, and served on occasion as president of, the Maplewood Ministerial Association (Rochester), the Aurora Ministerial Association (Colorado), the Jay County Ministerial Association (Portland, IN), the Hastings Area Ministerial Association (Michigan), and the Interfaith Alliance (Estes Park). He was particularly concerned about fostering better Catholic-Protestant relations, supporting and organizing ecumenical Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Good Friday Services. Starting in 1965 a number of Catholic priests and a bishop have been among his close friends. In Denver the ecumenical United Church of Montbello and the Montbello Catholic Parish shared the same building (1973–76) and worshiped together on several occasions. In 1999 Keller and his Lutheran (ELCA) pastor colleague celebrated in joint worship experiences the Formula of Agreement, which formed the basis for mutual cooperation among four denominations.

In the 1960s and beyond, Pastor Keller was involved in the Civil Rights movement, participating in the 1963 Capital March on Washington, several demonstrations and boycotts, and efforts for fair housing and school integration. Later in his preaching and otherwise, he became a strong advocate for women’s rights, in the churches and in American society.

In his thinking, Pastor Keller was strongly influenced by the theology and biblical studies of Robert McAfee Brown, Karl Barth, Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, C. H. Dodd, Raymond E. Brown and F. Dale Bruner. Among his religious and political heroes were John XXIII, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Martin Luther King, Jr. (whom as a college student he met), William Sloane Coffin, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Vaclav Havel. His favorite books of the Bible the Gospel of John, Ephesians, and Isaiah. Theologically, Keller emphasized “realized eschatology” (i.e., that many of the “last or ultimate things” had been “realized” in Christ’s First Coming: judgement, salvation, resurrection, victory in principle over the power of evil, and eternal life now) and the final reconciliation of “all things” with God (Ephesians 1:9–10): “reunion of all persons with God-in-Christ and with one another.” He also enjoyed mathematics and science and saw no real conflict between good theology and science.

Kent’s most cherished values were Christian faith, family, friendship, respect for persons and the Creation, social equality and justice, and peace and reconciliation. With regard to stewardship of the environment, he was deeply concerned about fostering sustainability of the Earth and avoiding waste (of food, energy, water, paper/trees, and money).

His life was highlighted by the summer of 1954 as an exchange student in Germany, six summers as a camper and then hiking and backpacking counselor at Cheley Colorado Camps near Estes Park, and several trips with Janet to Europe, Asia, the American national parks, and elsewhere. Keeping in touch with friends in the four churches that he served as well as with high school, college, and seminary friends was one of his greatest joys. Listening to classical music was a fond pastime, his favorite composers being Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Wagner, Chopin, Johann Strauss, and Richard Strauss.

Keller was an avid mountain climber. He was especially proud of the first ascent of the Cleaver in Rocky Mountain National Park, which he led on April 22, 1971, and of his ascent at age 60 of Mt. Aconcagua in the Andes, at 22,835 feet the highest mountain in the world outside of central Asia. Among his most significant climbs were Mt. Rainier (1967) and Mt. Adams (1988) in Washington, the Grand Middle and South Tetons (1967–72), Mt. Athabasca in Canada (1972), the Mexican volcanoes (1976–77), the Matterhorn in Switzerland (1985), Mt. Shasta in California (1990), 21,000’ Mera Peak in the Himalaya (1992), and the Gross Glockner in Austria (2010). At age 72 Keller completed climbing all of Colorado’s “14ers,” probably setting a record—59 years—for taking longer than anyone else to accomplish this feat. That he left the nine most difficult 14ers to climb after he turned 70 he attributed to “poor planning.” He scaled the 46 Adirondack 4,000-foot peaks, and the 128 named summits and the 20 unnamed summits in Rocky Mountain National Park. He and his wife, Janet, planned and trekked on five village-to-village trips across passes in the Swiss and Austrian Alps. Kent wrote several articles for Summit and the Colorado Mountain Club’s Trail and Timberline magazines. And he wrote essays and showed numerous slide programs on the experience of “awe” in the mountains and on the importance of respecting the natural creation, the environment. His climbing resume exceeded 900 ascents.

Among his involvements during retirement in Estes Park were the Presbytery of Plains and Peaks, the Interfaith Alliance (ministerial association), the Estes Park Church of the Air (as newsletter chairman and treasurer), the Estes Valley Land Trust (as Board member and Educational Events Committee chairman), Estes Park Newcomers, Estes Park Trail Trekkers (as a hike leader), the Colorado Mountain Club (as a hike leader), and the American Alpine Club.

Included in Keller’s other favorite activities and interests were his grandchildren’s sporting events, backpacking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, photography, reading (especially theology and history), bicycling, flowers, genealogy, bridge, board games, and Christmas.

Surviving him are his wife, their children Kurt (and Cristina) Keller of La Crescenta, California, Edie Keller (and Jerry Twigg) of Estes Park, and Katie KellerLynn (and David Lynn) of Vancouver, B.C., his sister Karen Arsenault of Voorhees, New Jersey, and four grandchildren: August, Sam, Frankie, and Marjorie Grace.

A memorial service will be held Sunday May 29, 2016 at 3:00 PM at Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies in Estes Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, the Estes Valley Land Trust, or the United Church of Montbello (4879 Crown Blvd., Denver, CO 80239).