Rev. Donald Keith Sinclair 1916 - 2008

SAVAGE, SINCLAIR, SCHROEDER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 5/2/2019 at 20:08:54

Sioux City Journal
23 October 2008

SIOUX CITY -- The Rev. Donald Keith Sinclair, 92, of Lawrence, Kan., formerly of Sioux City, died Oct. 10, 2008, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Dengel and Son Mortuary in Ottawa, Kan. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery, Ottawa, Kan.

Visitation with the family will be 1 p.m. until service time Saturday at the funeral home.

The Rev. Sinclair was born Aug. 30, 1916, in St. Francis, Maine, to John Roy and Delia (Savage) Sinclair. He worked during his youth in the family's potato and logging operations on the Canadian border. He graduated from Gordon College in Boston and from Yale Divinity School in 1944.

He was ordained as a minister in the Congregational Church and was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Lawrence, Kan.

In 1941, he married Margaret Schroeder and they enjoyed 63 years together before her death on May 24, 2005.

He enlisted as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy and served during World War II on Wake Island and elsewhere. He was recalled during the Korean Conflict before retiring at a lieutenant commander.

The Sinclairs served in student parishes in South Egremont, Mass., and Rowayton, Conn. Following World War II, he was the minister at St. Anthony Park Congregational Church in St. Paul, Minn., First Congregational Church in Ravenna, Ohio, First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Sioux City and other Iowa churches before retirement. He was named minister emeritus at First Congregational Church in Sioux City following 15 years as minister there, which included the construction of the new church building.

He participated in statewide and national leadership activities of the Congregational Church as it grew to become the United Church of Christ and afterward. He was involved in many community activities, particularly as a leader in ecumenicism and civil rights. In Sioux City, he was on the board of directors of the Kiwanis Club, American Cancer Society, Siouxland Rehabilitation Center, Planned Parenthood and the Volunteer Bureau and was past president of the Sioux City Ministers Association and the Sioux City Council of Churches.

After retiring to Ottawa, Kan., he continued to hold interim pastorates and assist at nearby churches and took part in many marriages, baptisms and funerals at the request of families well into his retirement.

He enjoyed the University of Kansas basketball, gardening, children, his beloved dogs, his wife's cooking and gathering of family and friends. He was noted for his sense of humor.

In April 2006, he moved to Lawrence, Kan., to be near his daughter and companion, Patricia Sinclair. He is also survived by a daughter, Margaret Ann Sinclair and her daughters and son, Rachel, Anastasia, Alexandra and Owen Fowler and his wife, Sheri; and a great-grandson, Caleb Fowler.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret; his eight younger siblings; and a granddaughter, Sarah Olin Fowler.

The family suggests contributions to Plymouth Congregational Church (UCC) in Lawrence for their seminary fund to assist ministerial students.