Another great loss for Edenvale as Chaplain Claude Kidwell dies
He was married to Helen and the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2013.
Chaplain Claude Kidwell died on Friday afternoon.
Claude was the first Chaplain to assist the old Johannesburg Fire Department during 1990.
He was married to Helen and the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2013.
Claude and Helen met while they both lived in Port Elizabeth.
After their marriage the couple stayed in Port Elizabeth for two years before moving to Ndola in northern Rhodesia, now called Zambia.
Claude and Helen became involved with the Baptist Church before moving to Sailsbury, now known as Harare, Zimbabwe. Following independence between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the couple moved back to South Africa and lived in Queenstown.
In 1968, Claude and Helen moved to the ‘Reef, as it was known, and lived in Edenvale for the past 47 years.
The couple bought a house along Homestead Road and back then it was in the middle of a field.
In 1983, the Edenvale Baptist Church invited Claude to take up a part-time pastoral position, which he did until 1988, when he became the church’s full-time associate pastor.
He held this position until his retirement in 1997.
Claude was invited to become an honorary chaplain to the Johannesburg Fire Department in 1990.
This started as an outreach ministry which, together with three other pastors from Boksburg, Germiston and Roodepoort, became the National Chaplain Ministry involved in all aspects of emergency services.
Today there are about 228 registered chaplains nationwide.
After his retirement from the chaplaincy, Claude and Helen set out to continue their work, and produced Daily Thoughts of Encouragement, a book aimed at emergency services personnel and the community.
Claude would prepare passages for the book while Helen typed each word.
“We started with only 250 copies and are currently distributing 2 000 each quarter,” Helen said.
Claude is survived by Helen, his two daughters, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The funeral service for Chaplain Claude Kidwell will take place at the Edenvale Baptist Church at 11am tomorrow,
