Walter Hutson Kokernot was born Thursday, March 21, 1957 in Johannesburg, Gauteng , South Africa .
he died Tuesday, December 5, 2017. his recorded age was 60.
Born in South Africa on the first day of spring, March 21,1957 and raised there and in South America and the United States, Dr. Walter Hutson Kokernot always claimed Texas as his homestead.
Dr. Kokernot earned both, his secondary teaching certificate in English and History and his bachelor’s degree in History, from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas; his Master of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico; his Master’s of Arts degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas; and his doctoral degree in English from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. In addition, he was given a post-doctoral Fellowship as the top Ph.D. graduate. Dr. Kokernot’s area of expertise was in Victorian Literature.
He went on to teach composition, technical writing and literature at Louisiana State University and was a post-doctoral lecturer at Texas A & M University in College Station, Texas. For almost 20 years he taught literature, composition, and technical writing at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus,Ohio. He was a tenured professor and Division Chair of the English Department for 5 years.
A brilliant and eloquent scholar, Walter also saw the extraordinary in the mundane; beauty and poetry in the simplest things. He was child-like in the way he viewed the world and the miracles and magic that generally only a child can see. He sparked creativity and imagination in his two daughters, Laura and Juliette, and wrote a 500-page journal that chronicled their early years. He adored them more than anything else in the world and wanted most of all to make them proud. He always gave credit for the young women they have become to his former spouse, Lisa.
Walter was a kind and generous man filled with passion for his family, animals, literature and teaching. As a high school teacher and then a professor, Walter had a love of teaching and for his students, many of whom he later became good friends with. He spoke endlessly of his most influential author, Matthew Arnold, and the impact his works had on his life, his faith, and his own teaching style. He also was inspired by the works of Mark Twain and published an award-winning article in the Mark Twain Journal on "The Burning Shame."
He was a father, a brother, a son, a friend and a teacher. But perhaps, most of all he was a human being who, despite any personal struggles, would give himself fully, unrelentingly to those who needed him most, mattering not whether it was family, friend or student. He was generous to a fault. At his deepest he was a giver. One of the last things he was going to do, but was prevented from doing by his untimely death, was to give of his time and talents volunteering at A Ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Columbus, Ohio.
Let this unfinished act of his be a call to action for all of us to give and share and help others the way Walter did in a cheerful, jolly manner. When we think of Walter, a passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians comes to mind, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy –think about such things.”
This brilliant, compassionate, gentle man slipped away quietly December 5th with his family by his side. He will be missed by all that knew and loved him. Predeceased by his father, Dr. Robert Hutson Kokernot and his step-mother, Marlene. He leaves behind his daughters, Laura and Juliette Kokernot, his devoted and loving mother, Edith Babcock Grinnell and stepfather, Bob, his three sisters, Jan Kokernot and her children Brooke, Blake and Derek, Peggy Kokernot Kaplan and her husband Rick, Diana Kokernot Britton and her husband Chuck and her two children Stephanie and Peter and stepsisters, Lisa Stevens, Barb Leonard and stepbrother Gary Grinnell.
Donations to honor his memory may be made to the Dominican Sisters of Peace https://oppeace.org/ministries/peace-justice or to Mercy for Animals at http://www.mercyforanimals.org/tribute
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