October 16, 1912 – October 9, 2011

by Hanna Kitchin Herring, Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, 2016

Following the death of my mother in the fall of 2011, I learned that a few older priests in the diocese affectionately referred to her as ‘Ms. Episcopalian.’ My mother loved God, her family and her Church, in that order. While God was uppermost on her list of passions, family and Church followed closely. Born in Hartsville, South Carolina, she was baptized in First Presbyterian Church where she worshipped with her family in the parish founded by several of her ancestors.

After graduating from Queens College in Charlotte, she taught school in Scotland Neck, North Carolina. There she met and married William Arrington “Buck” Kitchin and began worshipping in the Episcopal Church. When their eldest son was confirmed in 1950, Hanna also received the Laying on of Hands from the bishop. Because of her strong relationship with her Creator, when she met an issue that she could not fix or change, she often confessed in her journal that she “turned it over to God.”

Following her husband’s death in 1978, now freed from ministering to his needs, Hanna became deeply involved in church work. Her list of contributions is remarkable. ln the local parish she served as a Sunday school teacher, acolyte master and adult choir director. She was the first female Senior Warden to be elected to the vestry of Trinity Church. Her passion was the Altar Guild and she served that organization for many years as its director. As such, she also conducted Altar Guild workshops in numerous churches throughout the diocese and served, in 1989 as Chairperson of the Diocesan Altar Guild. During the years that Trinity Church had an active Episcopal Church Women’s organization, in addition to normal ECW operations in which she participated, Hanna also organized and arranged speakers for Quiet Days which were attended by hundreds of people from surrounding areas.

Hanna was elected treasurer of the Province IV Altar Guild in June of 1994. In 1995 and again in 1999, she served on the Nominating Committee for the National ECW Board. She also attended Altar Guild sessions at our National Church Conventions in Phoenix (1991), Indianapolis (1994), Philadelphia (1997) and Minneapolis (2003).

ln 1983 Bishop Estill appointed my mother to a three-year term on the Commission on Ministry, for which she was justly proud, and in 1992 she served on the Nominating Committee for the next bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina. In 1995 she served as Chairwoman of the History and Records Committee for the diocese.

ln all of these – loving God, her family and her Church – Hanna Law Richardson Kitchin regarded it, as she wrote in her journal, as “serving the Lord.” She died one week prior to her 99th birthday and now rests in the comfort of the God she so loved.