ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

Kenneth Storer (1924-2007)

This obituary was first published in the journal of the Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist, Forerunner, No. 50, Winter 2007-8. It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Fellowship.

Kenneth Storer died at the age of 83, after a short illness. His funeral was served by Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, at the parish church in Westbourne, Hampshire, on November 13th, 2007. It was a beautiful service, attended by many friends and relatives of the family, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox.

Kenneth led a long and active life, which fell into various, quite different, phases. He went up to Oxford University in 1941 to read English, but this period of study was interrupted by the war. He returned to Oxford to finish the degree in 1947 and there met his future wife, Jill, who was studying French at St Anne’s College. Kenneth stayed on to do a course in teacher training, after which he joined the colonial civil service and went to Nyasaland (later to be called Malawi) as an inspector of schools. Kenneth and Jill were married in 1957 and their two children, Catherine and Andrew, were born in Africa.

Returning to England in 1968, Kenneth then worked for the Administration of Further Education in the West Midlands, commuting to Birmingham from his home in Stratford upon Avon. It is soon after this that both Kenneth and Jill became interested in Orthodox Christianity and in Byzantine Studies. They attended the weekly seminars held in the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Birmingham. Jill undertook an M. Litt degree in the same department, writing a thesis on the iconography of the Anastasis scene in Byzantine art under the supervision of Zaga Gavrilović.

Kenneth also began attending the Orthodox Church in Oxford, where he was instructed by Bishop Basil and received into the Church in 1982. After Kenneth retired from work in the early 1990s, he and Jill decided to move to Hampshire in order to be closer to their children, who had now both married and were beginning to start families. Although Kenneth continued to collect books and to read widely in church history and especially the study of liturgy and church music, he and Jill also became interested in local history and in church archaeology.

They also spent much time looking after their grandchildren before and after school, filling in the gaps when Catherine had to be at her demanding job as a teacher. Jill describes Kenneth as a ‘brillliant grandfather’; he gave much time and attention to the young children. The houses in both Stratford upon Avon and in Emsworth were always beautiful and restful havens, from which Kenneth and Jill offered warm hospitality to their many friends and relatives. Kenneth devoted much time to the gardens in each, dividing his spare time between work outdoors and extensive reading in the garden shed which he had converted into a library.

Most members of the Fellowship will remember Kenneth from the conferences that he regularly attended, as well as from pilgrimages organized by the Anglican and Eastern Churches Organization and the Friends of Mount Athos. He served as Secretary of the Diocese of Sourozh between June 1987 and November 1993. As Bishop Basil reminded us at the funeral, Kenneth performed many vital services both for the diocese and for the wider Church community in this role. After this job ended, Kenneth dedicated himself to working for the Voice of Orthodoxy.

His friends remember Kenneth above all as a man with complete integrity and dignity—even statesmanlike qualities. Physically, he stood very straight and tall; this stance seemed to reflect his inner character. Kenneth was also someone who undertook every task very seriously and worked at it methodically. He was never known to let anyone down with regard to something that he had promised to do. But beyond this, friends and colleagues remember his calm presence, good humour, and great charm. He was quiet and retiring, but when talking with him one had a sense that he was completely focused on the conversation. Occasionally he would interject a wry comment with a twinkle of good humour and wit—these were moments which made dialogue with Kenneth a great treat for those, like myself, who only saw him rarely. Kenneth was also extremely knowledgeable about many aspects of church life, including liturgy, music, and theology. He was nonetheless modest about displaying this wisdom. It seemed that after discovering Orthodox Christianity some twenty-five years ago, Kenneth blossomed especially as a result of his life in the Church. He made many friends in the Church, as well as in the wider ecumenical circle, and seemed to find in Orthodoxy a true spiritual home.

As a loyal friend and dedicated husband, father, and grandfather, Kenneth will be missed by many. May his memory be eternal!

Mary Cunningham Corran
5 December 2007