Kristin Karwehl Herzog

Kristin Herzog, age 91, died in Durham, North Carolina, on January 4, 2021.
Kristin Herzog was born in Osnabrück, Germany, on March 1, 1929, as the third child of Richard Karwehl, a Lutheran minister, and his wife Margarete, a former teacher. She attended primary and secondary schools and universities in Germany and became a teacher for German and Religion in German secondary schools. In 1958 she married Frederick Herzog who was teaching at a seminary in Wisconsin. Since December 1959 they lived in Durham where he taught Systematic Theology at Duke University Divinity School until his death in 1995.
Kristin received her Ph.D. in English at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1980 and became an independent scholar and writer, publishing books and articles on literature and theology while also working closely with her husband on various local and global issues, especially a relationship to Peru which she visited every year from 1987 to 2007, continuing her husband’s work after his death.
She loved gardening and crafts and was active in Pilgrim United Church of Christ by teaching Sunday School, serving on various boards and committees, and founding a program for teaching English to Durham’s Latinx community. The ministry is called Bilingual Exchange and is ongoing.
She is survived by her daughter, Dagmar Herzog, son-in-law Michael Staub, granddaughter Lucy Staub, and sisters-in-law Hannah Neugaard and Brigitte Karwehl and their families.
A service will be held at Maplewood Cemetery in Durham on Saturday, January 9, 2021, at 2 pm.
The Herzog family is under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service. Online condolences: www.hallwynne.com – select obituaries.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts in honor of Kristin Herzog can be offered through Pilgrim United Church of Christ to support two organizations serving the unsheltered in Durham: Urban Ministries and Open Table Ministry. Donations can be made ** here. **