Rolla Sheldon Kenaston (1898 - 1949)

Born 18 Feb 1898 in Hamilton, Caldwell, Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Elvira (Phillips) Kenaston — married Jun 1925 in Fayette, Missouri, USA

Descendants

Died 17 Jun 1949 at age 51 in Huntington, West Virginia, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Diane Kenaston [send private message]

Biography

Rolla was born in 1898 in Hamilton, Missouri, to James Sheldon Kenaston and Maria (Hastings) Kenaston. In the family Bible, his name is listed as "Rollo." Family lore has it that he was originally named Rollo, perhaps after a comic strip character; by the time he was in college and the military, he consistently used his preferred "Rolla."

During World War I, he served in the United States Navy, and his journal from that time is in the possession of Joseph Kenaston.

Rolla was educated in Missouri and graduated from Central (Methodist) College in Fayette, Missouri. He later served as a trustee of Central College, and they gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1937.

While at Central College, Rolla met Mary Elvira Phillips. He raised the money to buy her engagement ring by working with a traveling evangelist. They married on June 11, 1925. They had two children, Laura Nelle and Glenn Sheldon.

Rolla served several churches in the Southwest Missouri Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South), including St. Charles Methodist Church in St. Charles, and Fourth Street and Central Churches in Kansas City. During his time at St. Charles, he took classes at Eden Seminary in St. Louis. While at Central Methodist Church (South), the church helped to host the 1939 Uniting Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South), the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Methodist Protestant Church.

In 1940, Rolla, Mary, Laura, and Glenn moved to Huntington, West Virginia. Rolla became pastor of Johnson Memorial Methodist Church in the West Virginia Annual Conference (Pittsburgh Episcopal Area). This began an almost ten-year ministry in Huntington, in which the membership rolls of Johnson Memorial had a net increase of 1036, and the church became the largest in the Pittsburgh Area. He was elected delegate to the 1948 General and Jurisdictional Conferences of the Methodist Church. He became famous for remembering names, even if you only met him once.

Rolla loved poetry, incorporating it into his sermons and regularly walking around the house reciting poems.

One of his favorite Scriptures was, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10a). One colleague wrote, "Rolla Kenaston was a prince of a man and had outstanding abilities as a preacher, a pastor, and as an administrator of a large church."

He died at home, in the parsonage of Johnson Memorial Methodist Church, on 17 June 1949. He was only 51 years old. Although he had known of a serious heart condition, he refused doctors' recommendation to slow his pastoral work, which was his passion. He died of a heart attack. For his funeral, 5th Avenue had to be closed in order to accommodate the large number of mourners. He is buried in Huntington, West Virginia.

Sources

• "Family Register," Kenaston Family Bible, photocopy in possession of Diane Kenaston.
• "Rolla Sheldon Kenaston," biography written by [[Kenaston-83|Diane Kenaston] in 2000 based on conversations with his son, Glenn, and grandson Joe Kenaston.
• Hugh E. Kelso, "Rolla Sheldon Kenaston" (Memoir), West Virginia Annual Conference Journal of The Methodist Church, pages 420-421.
• Rev. Dr. J.B.J. Yoak, Jr., "Rolla S. Kenaston," hand-typed one page memoir in possession of Diane Kenaston.