Disciples Divinity House

Edward H. Kolbe, entering class of 1956, died July 10 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was 91. A congregational pastor for forty years, he was a specialist in evangelism and an enthusiast of reading, gardening, football, current events, public television, and TCU's Horned Frogs. He dubbed himself "Boy Recruiter" and regularly sent students to DDH.

Ed Kolbe was born in Cypress, Texas, on June 8, 1934, to Louis and Emilie Kolbe. In 1956, after graduating from the University of Houston, he entered the University of Chicago as a Disciples House Scholar. “I was the last Disciples student of Dr. W.E. Garrison while he was teaching religion and philosophy at the University of Houston,” Mr. Kolbe remembered. (W.E. Garrison had served as the second dean of Disciples Divinity House from 1921-28.) “This was the catalyst for a lifetime of influence of Disciples House in my life.”  

Ed served churches in Wichita Falls, TX; Warrensburg, OH; Bedford, IN; Lincoln; Corvallis, OR; Seattle; and Arlington, TX. He earned a DMin at Christian Theological Seminary. He and Mary Ruth Judd married in 1961; she died in 2017. Mary Ruth taught nursing at universities and community colleges. During their fifty-five years of marriage, led educational tours to Israel and Europe, and volunteered in many clubs and organizations. Ed was active in Kiwanis wherever he lived, and served three separate terms on the DDH Alumni/ae Council.

He is survived by three children, Ruth Cooper (Brian), Charles Thornton-Kolbe (Jennifer), and Tom Kolbe (Laura Salem), and six grandchildren. In 2019, his family joined with him to establish the Edward H. and Mary Ruth Judd Kolbe Fund in celebration of his 85th birthday and DDH's 125th year.