Disciples Divinity House

Josephine Gilstrap Blakemore died peacefully on May 10. She was 99. She was an indomitable woman whose great loyalty, intelligence, and spirit were committed to W. Barnett Blakemore, to his deanship and legacy, to their family, and to the Disciples Divinity House and the University that they both loved and served. A fierce defender of excellence in ministry, she leaves her own legacy of service and leadership. Her death, while not wholly unexpected, marks the passing of an era. Not only of a generation, of an era.

Josephine Gilstrap was born in Oregon on October 21, 1914. She was the daughter and granddaughter of Disciples ministers. From 1939-41, she served as Director of Student Work at First Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri, with C. E. Lemmon. Dr. Lemmon, a trustee of the Disciples Divinity House, also proved to be a matchmaker. In the autumn of 1941 at the "C" Shop in Hutchinson Commons, Josephine Gilstrap met Barnett Blakemore, a newly-minted PhD who had recently been appointed to the Divinity School faculty with varied duties at the Disciples Divinity House. It was wartime, they were both older and knew what they wanted; they courted through letters and married on June 2, 1942, in the Chapel of the Holy Grail. Their fathers, both Disciples ministers, presided at the service. Their marriage represented the coming together of two distinct and disparate streams of the Disciples—hers the Disciples pioneers who settled in the northwest United States, his the pioneers of western Tennessee and the Christian Church in Australia. Two children were born to them, William and Jory.

In 1945, W. Barnett Blakemore became the fourth dean of the Disciples Divinity House of the University of Chicago (DDH), which he led until his death in 1975. He would lead the DDH into its second half-century and through its 75th anniversary, teach as professor of ecumenical theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, serve as Associate (acting) Dean of Rockefeller Chapel from 1959-65, chair the Panel of Scholars for the Disciples of Christ and edit its three-volume report, and become a delegate observer to the Second Vatican Council. As he administered, taught, preached, wrote, and served, Josephine Blakemore accompanied him, served alongside him, and immersed herself within the community and University. She was active with the University Laboratory Schools, she became president and a life member of the University Service League, she gave decades of service to and was an honorary life member of the Chicago Lying-In Hospital Board of Directors, she was active in the Women's Board and with the Library Society. She traveled with Dean Blakemore around the world, including to New Delhi for the World Council of Churches and to Rome for the Second Vatican Council. With Dean Blakemore, she oversaw a project of refurbishing the Chapel of the Holy Grail. She organized DDH's Willett Library and its collection.

She and Dean Blakemore welcomed generations of students and their families to the Disciples Divinity House. In those years, there were no women among the Disciples Divinity House Scholars. Mrs. Blakemore offered lessons in hospitality and grace to the students' wives—and became a lifelong friend to many of them. Margie Vargas and David Vargas, now President Emeritus of the Division of Overseas Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), recall, "The warm hospitality she provided us when we most needed it, her friendship and support for our work during the past four decades, her love for Jesus' church, and her passion for the ministry of the DDH will never be forgotten."

After Dean Blakemore's death, Mrs. Blakemore compiled his papers and prepared them for archiving in the University of Chicago Library Special Collections, where they now reside. She met new generations of Disciples Divinity House Scholars and befriended new deans. In 2005, she served as the honorary chair for the 75th anniversary celebration of the Chapel of the Holy Grail, a space she had long championed and cherished.

Last summer, Mrs. Blakemore, together with her son and daughter, sent greetings to a Disciples Divinity House luncheon at which William E. Crowl was honored as the Distinguished Alumnus. Indirectly, those greetings voiced and affirmed a vision of excellence that had animated Mrs. Blakemore's own life. To Bill Crowl they wrote: "In your generous and diligent sharing of your many inner strengths—finding so many kind and original ways to fulfill the biblical call to affirm each other in the faith—you have strengthened and lifted our spirits with your cheerful countenance, your energy, your ingenuity, and the professional focus of your steadfast ministry of love in an ever-changing world." She herself had witnessed immense change in the long span of her life. With generosity, diligence, energy, and ingenuity, she remained constant to causes and deeply loyal to persons. With the same exemplary qualities, she sought also to uplift future generations and to strengthen the organizations that could equip those generations in an ever-changing world.   

In addition to her son, William B. Blakemore, III, and her daughter, Jory Blakemore Johnson (Calvin M. Johnson), she is survived by two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and also by a sister, Fernel Downing. No memorial service is planned. As her son and daughter explained, "She said she didn't want a memorial service—she considered that 90th Surprise Birthday Party (October 2004) at the DDH her wonderful memorial that she was lucky enough to attend... and she wanted it to stay that way."