Youth Ministry and Other Diversions
Introducing G. Richard Kuch: from lonely hours in a student room to religious leader
Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I went pretty deep down a couple rabbit holes working on some posts that never quite came together. One of them I realized I needed to devote a lot more time to and the other led eventually to this one.
Originally this was going to be a valentines day themed post about the lonely hearts letters from Dear Mister Ward. However once I started digging into one of those letters I found more than I expected.
I was hoping by now to be announcing a series of staged readings in the midwest but I still haven’t figured out the logistics or financials to make that happen. If you know anyone who wants to sponsor a Dear Mister Ward tour let me know!
I am going to try to be a little more reliable about posting, at least until I get through the intros of the letter writers I planned. But it does get harder to motivate myself to sit in front of a computer on my days off when the weather gets nice.
As I’ve learned more about the people who wrote the letters in the collection I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the preconceived notions folks often have when I describe the project. Most people think they know what to expect from the letters and have an idea about who the people were who wrote them. They expect letters from angry farmers yelling in broken English about broken tractors. There are a few in that vein and I’m sure my grandma responded to plenty of letters like that in addition to the ones she decided to save. But most of them are far more interesting and surprising.
I’ve also started to think about my first impression of the letters. That they were written by people living in isolation. That also is apparently accurate for a few of them but for many it couldn’t be further from the truth. Only some of the places these letters came from were especially isolated. Some come from very small towns scattered among the plains with few neighbors and signs of modernity but others come from cities like Minneapolis and St Paul. People who were essentially my grandma’s neighbors when she corresponded with them. More importantly most of these folks had families. They didn’t always have spouses or children but only a few that I’ve been able to track down were truly isolated.
Nor were they all stereotypical rural people living on wind swept farms. I’ve already introduced you to a founding member of a socialist commune, and an outspoken female newspaper editor and poet and now we have G. Richard Kuch, a progressive minister who was instrumental in the growth of the Unitarian Universalist Church.
One of my favorite parts of the interview my uncle did with my grandma about the letters is when she recounts one of the responses she sent. G. Richard Kuch had written in to exchange his ring for a radio because he had broken up with his fiancé so no longer had a use for the ring.
When you actually read the letter it appears that My grandma’s memory is not entirely accurate. The line she remembers writing about the “lonely hours” came from the letter itself. Still, it gives a detailed account of the process for responding to letters and the creativity and care that clearly went into their responses. Mr Kuch’s letter is also creative and eloquent with lines like “Business letters should confine themselves to business but the business of the girl is the business here, and so I speak of it.” He also tries to find a silver lining that without the cost of the ring he can afford to enjoy “other diversions” like a “radio phonograph” for this “student room.”
You’re probably wondering, as I always had, what happened to “the girl.” Did Mr. Kuch survive his lonely hours in his “student room?” Did he ever find another cause to buy a ring?
Yes he did, not just once but 3, or possibly 4 times.
The letter isn’t dated so there’s no way to know whether this is the engagement that resulted in the breakup and his exchanging the ring for a radio. But it seems unlikely since not long after this announcement was published he did in fact marry Jeanne Tobin. So he didn’t spend too many lonely hours with his radio.
The student room in question was at the University of Chicago from which G. Richard graduated in 1941. He paid for his tuition with earnings from the Civilian Conservation Corps, and after graduating from the University of Chicago he was recruited to attend Meadville Theological School. While attending Meadville he became a leader in the Young People’s Religious Union which was part of the Unitarian Church. He would become a leader in recruiting youth to join the Unitarian church through events, camps, speaking engagements and other forms of outreach.
He had think pieces published a number of times in the Christian Register throughout the 1940s and 1950s a weekly publication of the Unitarian Church, and republished in local papers on topics including atomic power, segregation, anti-semitism, and civil rights. He led youth conferences, several congregations and groups and eventually moved into fundraising for the church. He was also listed as a “sponsor” of the group “People’s Institution of Applied Religion” which was accused of being a communist front by John Francis Cronin.1 That will have to wait for another post.
He and Jeanne appear to have been married for 20 years or so. I haven’t been able to find a divorce record but she remarried in 1967 and he remarried in 1965. In fact it appears he married not just once in 1965 but twice. This is where things get a little murky and also where I started to question how deep I should be digging into this man’s personal life. A conflict I have dealt with before in regards to other letters. But to paraphrase G. Richard’s letter the business of his marital status is the business of this post, and so I speak of it.
According to the obituary published in the Unitarian Universalist Association 1995/1996 Directory G. Richard was married 3 times, and divorced twice. The second marriage mentioned was in 1965. However, on Ancestry I found a marriage license and divorce record also from 1965 to a different woman in a different city. The divorce coming only a few months after the marriage. I have found no other information about the marriage beyond those two records which provide no details. I’ve found no evidence of another G. Richard Kuch so it would seem to be the same man. The woman’s obituary doesn’t mention a marriage or any children so she remains a mystery.
I’ve decided to err on the side of discretion and not mention any names and not dig too deeply as I believe at least one of his wives is still living. While one of my main goals with writing this blog and continuing my research is to connect with as many descendants and relatives of the letter writers as possible it doesn’t seem necessary to unravel his marital history. Although this doesn’t seem to be as big a family secret as one revealed in a different letter it’s not really that relevant anyway. The most important thing is that unlike some of the other writers of the lonely hearts letters G Richard seems to have had several occasions to purchase rings and probably a few radios. I plan to write more about Mr. Kuch as he led a very full life. Hopefully at some point I will be able to connect with one of his descendants and learn about him from them directly. I’ve reached out to a few but so far to no avail.
Please enjoy this interpretation of Mr. Kuch’s letter from the performance at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls on December 2nd, 2002.
First editions of Dear Mister Ward with optional signature and 2nd editions straight from the printer are available now and make a great Father’s Day gift
"The Problem of American Communism in 1945: Facts and Recommendations" (1945)