Richard Kinch obit
Richard Kinch
FUNERAL HOME
RICHARD KINCH OBITUARY
Richard "Dick" Kinch
July 27, 1937 - July 24, 2022
KENOSHA - Richard Kinch passed away peacefully at home in Kenosha, WI on July 24, 2022, just 3 days before his 85th birthday. He was born and raised in Michigan, attending the public schools of Traverse City and the community's Northwestern Michigan College. He was a novice of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) from 1960 to 1962. He earned a B.A. and M.A. from Wayne State University and his doctorate from Kent State University (1965-1968).
He taught in the English Department of Racine's Dominican College from 1968 until the college closed in 1974. He was on the staff of Southside Revitalization Corporation (Racine) for two years. From 1976 to 1998, he was a program officer for the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread.
He was twice married, to Elaine Marie Kinch and Linda Stengel, both of whom survive him. Elaine and Richard continued friends. Linda was his beloved soulmate and mainstay for his final 28 years.
He is survived also by daughters Judith (Mark Smithivas) and Rachael (Mark Kangas). Judith is the mother of his grandchildren Amanda and Aurelio. He is survived also by foster sons Claudio Ramos (Enid) and Luis Gonzalez (Erika). Another foster son, Carlos Giron, died in 1992. He was preceded in death by his parents Walter Kinch (1967) and Arlene Orth Kinch (2004) and his sister, Catherine Hamilton (2020).
For several years he was a volunteer with local nonprofits, especially Racine Area United Way and youth-serving agencies, including the local runaway youth shelter. He was a member of the Wisconsin Child Abuse Prevention Board and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. He was coordinator of Amigos de CILAC Freire, Spanish language school, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
He was seriously interested in the natural environment and was a birdwatcher and amateur naturalist. He was also a gardener, first of perennials and later easing into vegetables and herbs, under Linda's guidance. They tried to use native plants extensively. They tried to live green. He was at home in the kitchen.
His literary tastes were fairly academic: his favorite novelists were Jane Austen and Henry James, his favorite poets G. M. Hopkins and A. E. Housman. He belonged to reading groups in Racine and Kenosha. Although his success was modest, he studied the Spanish language for many years. He was fond also of classical music and he and Linda attended many concerts in the area, especially of early music. As a young adult he played the recorder, very badly. He cut his own hair; wrote his own obituary; he made his own salsa verde.
Richard was engaged politically; his goal was social justice, both domestic and international. He was an activist with the Racine/Kenosha Central America Solidarity Coalition (CASC) and in the Racine Coalition for Peace & Justice (RCPJ), founded in 2002 to oppose the US invasion of Iraq. He joined a volunteer harvest brigade to Nicaragua in 1984-85 and later studied Spanish and lived briefly in Mexico. He believed in the final triumph of the human spirit.
Saturday, August 6, 2022
9 am Visitation for relatives and friends
10 am Celebration of Life
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St. Mary Catholic Church
7307 40th Avenue
Kenosha, WI 53142
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Racine Dominican Sisters or CILAC Freire Spanish Language School, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
"And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche."
Prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
MEMORIES & CONDOLENCES
I have enjoyed these 15 years in Spanish class, and the weekends we all gathered. Precious memories.
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