Kay Tiffney passes on to glory

Katherine (Kay) Tiffney

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - Katherine (Kay) Tiffney (née Schneikart), secretary for Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary (CLTS) in St. Catharines, Ontario from 19761995, passed away on July 19, 2021, at 90 years of age.

Kay will be fondly remembered by former seminary students and their families across Lutheran Church–Canada as the mothering heart of the institution during those years. She was the first recipient of the Doulos Theou (“Servant of God”) award, established by the Concordia Seminary Student Association to recognize those who were especially encouraging during the seminarians’ years of study. Kay also served with the Seminary Guild as editor of the newsletter from 19882015, and as Secretary of the Guild from 1991 to 2008.

Kay and her late husband John, along with their young family, were charter members of Resurrection Lutheran Church in St. Catharines, where she sang in the choir, was active in the Mary-Martha Society, and served as office secretary, historian, Sunday School Treasurer, and keeper of the Cradle Roll.

A service to celebrate Kay’s life was held at Christ Lutheran Church in St. Catharines on Saturday July 24, at 10:00 a.m. If desired, donations in memory of Kay may be made to Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary.

Rev. Thomas Prachar, President Emeritus of Lutheran Church–Canada’s former Central District, was a student at CLTS while Katherine served there, and shares the following reflections:

In September of 1976 when I arrived at Resurrection Lutheran Church, home of the new Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario, I was greeted with the smiling face of Kay Tiffney. I would quickly realize that she was the one who worked behind the scenes typing our class schedules, ordering our books, cataloguing new and donated books for the library, completing administrative work for Dean Roger Humann, copying and distributing materials for our classes, arranging travel and accommodation for visiting professors from Fort Wayne, and generally, making sure that this new seminary ran smoothly.

Kay became like a mother to us, reminding us of important dates or events, or surprising us with little things, like a cake on our birthdays. She became affectionately known as “Mother Superior.” While she did not look after nuns, she made seminary life a lot more pleasant for a handful of young men studying for the Holy Ministry. Like any Christian mother, her love for us was evidence of the strong faith she had in Jesus her Saviour.

I had the pleasure of visiting with Kay about six months before the pandemic descended upon us. At that time, she shared with me one of her favourite Bible verses: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Kay admitted that she took great comfort and strength in God’s Word as it was proclaimed during our daily chapel services, and as it was lived in the lives of her “second” family, her seminary family: students, faculty, and staff.

Rev. Thomas Prachar