Donald Keith Sinclair

The Reverend Donald Keith Sinclair died at age 92 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital on October 10. He was born August 30, 1916 in St. Francis, Maine to John Roy and Delia (Savage) Sinclair. He worked during his youth in his family’s potato and logging operations on the Canadian border. He graduated from Gordon College, 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, Kansas. In 1941, he married Margaret Schroeder and they enjoyed 63 years together before her death May 24, 2005. Mr. Sinclair enlisted as a Chaplain in the U.S. Navy and served in World War II on Wake Island and elsewhere. He was recalled for the Korean War before retiring as Lt. Commander. The Sinclairs served in student parishes in South Egremont, Mass. and Rowayton, Ct. Following WWII, he was the minister at St. Anthony Park Congregational Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, First Congregational Church, Ravenna, Ohio, First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Sioux City, Iowa, 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 a new church building. Mr. Sinclair 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, Kansas, he continued to hold interim pastorates and assist at nearby churches including St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Eudora, St. John’s United Church of Christ, Worden, Church of the Pilgrimage, and as Chaplain at Presbyterian Manor in Lawrence. He took part in many marriages, baptisms, and funerals at the request of families well into his retirement. Mr. Sinclair enjoyed University of Kansas basketball, gardening, children, his beloved dogs, his wife’s cooking, and gatherings of family and friends, and was noted for his sense of humor. In April 2006, Mr. Sinclair moved to Lawrence to be near his daughter and companion, Patricia Sinclair. He also is 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. He was cremated. Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 25, 2008, at Dengel & Son Mortuary in Ottawa. The family will receive friends from 1:00 p.m. to the service hour. Inurnment will be at Highland Cemetery in Ottawa. The family suggests contributions to Plymouth Congregational Church (UCC), Lawrence, Kansas, for their Seminary Fund to assist ministerial students.