Robert Kipling Heth (Kip) died December 14, 2016 of complications of colon and liver cancer at his home in Carthage. Kip was born September 29, 1953 in Ottawa, Illinois to his parents George William and Rita Claire (Burke) Heth. He was the grandson of George Linton and Ruth Ella (Rietgraf) of rural Ottawa and Walter Patrick and Dora Lee (Garret) Burke also of Ottawa.
Kip grew up on homes his parents built on what is known as Parr Hill just west of Marseilles, Illinois. He attended Rutland School for eight years and then graduated from Ottawa Township High School in 1971 from both of which he had many longstanding friends. He went on to graduate from Illinois Valley Community College and Illinois State University with an emphasis in Biology, Chemistry, and Secondary Education. He taught for one year at Jerseyville High School in Jersey County, Illinois before making a commitment to enter the ministry. He graduated with a Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas in 1978.
While at seminary Kip met the love of his life, Ollie Sine of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, a fellow student. They married September 1, 1978 and have two daughters. Gabrielle, born in Alton, Illinois in 1984, is an English teacher at McDonald County High School in southwestern Missouri. Rachel, born in 1986 in Phoenix, Arizona, is now a stream ecologist for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Jefferson City.
Kip served first in ministries at outreach centers for Bethel Neighborhood Center in Kansas City. He then served for five years as the Associate Pastor of Cherry Street Baptist Church in Alton, Illinois. Kip and Ollie then relocated to Phoenix, Arizona where he served Valley Christian Center and directed Phoenix Urban Indian Ministries for two years. Leaving warm Phoenix, they then served at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma where Kip served as the pastor of the Bacone College Baptist Church, as campus chaplain, and as chemistry professor. Kip has had an auto immune liver disease which was finally diagnosed as primary sclerosing cholangitis in 1980. Slow development of the disease led to a liver transplant at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas in 1993. Following recovery, while continuing his campus duties, Kip went on to complete an M.S. in College Teaching at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and then continued with a Ph.D. in stream ecology under Dr. Art Brown at the University of Arkansas. After 15 years at Bacone, Kip came to Missouri Southern State University in Joplin where he served as a biology professor with an emphasis in aquatic ecology. Health issues led to his retirement in January of 2016.
Kip was proceeded in death by his father George, his grandparents, his older brother Michael, and his youngest sister Georgia. On his father’s side he is survived by his Aunt Ethyl (Sis) Pfeifer of Lewiston, Texas and his Uncle Robert Pfeifer and cousins Jennifer Flodstrum (Keith) of Boulder, Colorado; Gwen of Lewiston;, Carol Stewart (Michael, children Natalie, Phoebe, and Claire) of Highland Village, Texas; and Robert Dean (Tiffany, children Hunter, Denton, and Luke) of Boerne, Texas. Also on his father’s side he is survived by his Uncle Robert Craig Heth (Pat) of Newark, Illinois and children Craig (Veroica, children Amber, Audrey, and Sophia of Grayslake, Illinois), and his cousin Melanie Trunkhill (Bill and children Lacey and Maggie) of DeKalb, Illinois. On his mother’s side he is survived by his Aunt Helen DeBernardi and son Peter of Modesto, California; and his cousins Jane Apte and Jane Cline both of Calaveras County, California.
Of his immediate family, he is survived by his mother Rita Heth, his sister-in-law Sheila (Michael) of Princeton, Illinois and their sons Matthew (Jennifer and children Natalie and Audrey) and Daniel (Tina, daughter Avah Grace); his sister Lisa Coon of Sheridan, Illinois (Denny, children Megan Eline (Doug, children Theodore Douglas and Alexander Regan), Brian of Yale, U. (Laran, children Henry Jax and Isla Marie), and Jacquelyn Coon of Burbank, California); his brother Timothy of Metamora, Illinois (Sherrie, children Sara, Nicholas, and Katherine); and his brother-in-law Jeff Stohr of Mendota, Illinois (children Ryan and Jacob).
On Ollie’s side he is survived by his sister-in-law Cecelia of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin and her son Eric Sine (Dawn and daughters Elise and Elianna) of Portage, Wisconsin; by his nieces Leah and Erin Winneshiek of Wisconsin; by his sister-in-law Roberta (Allen, children Allen and Aaron) of Canada, sister-in-law Elaine of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; and sister-in-law Diane Tallmadge of Wisconsin Dells (children Kendall Tallmadge of Broomfield, Colorado and Kelsey Tallmadge of Lyndon Station, Wisconsin).
An extended open house will be held for family, neighbors, and friends at their home at 1135 Forest Street in Carthage from 4-8 p.m. on Saturday, December 17, 2016. Memorials may be given to the following: the Fred E. Young Scholarship Fund at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas; the Mary Williams Scholarship or the Samuel Gibson Scholarship in care of the MSSU Foundation; or the Missouri Academy of Science where Kip was a past president. Online condolences may be expressed through www.knellmortuary.com. Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of Knell Mortuary, Carthage.
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