The Rev. Canon Lou Ann Haaheo Guanson, a longtime active for peace and nonviolence, died December 14 at 74.
She was born in Tokyo and a graduate of Lewis and Clark College and the University of Southern California, where she completed a doctoral degree in education. She was ordained deacon in 2018 and priest in 2019. She served as a curate at the Parish of St. Clement in Honolulu. She later served as an associate priest at the Cathedral of St. Andrew, dean of the Waiolaihuiʻa Center for Ministry, and an adviser to the bishop.
After her retirement, she was installed as an honorary canon of the Cathedral of St. Andrew (filling the Kaʻiulani Canon’s Chair) in 2024.
As the founding director of the Matsunaga Institute for Peace at the University of Hawaii, she taught nonviolence and reconciliation around the world for many years. She was also the cofounder of the Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center and served as the national vice chair of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
She is survived by her husband, David Hagino; a son, and a grandchild.
The Rev. Abigail (Abby) Jane Hamilton, one of the first women ordained to the priesthood after General Convention authorized the practice, died December 2 at 84.
She was born in Orange, New Jersey, and was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Union Theological Seminary. She completed her studies at Union before General Convention’s vote on ordaining women.
Hamilton was ordained deacon in 1970 and served at St. Paul’s Church in Morris Plains, New Jersey. She was ordained priest in January 1977. A family obituary said she was the fourth woman in the country to be ordained a priest after General Convention’s vote, and the first in New Jersey.
She first served as rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Newark, a neglected urban parish with a small membership. In an interview with the Daily Record in 1981, she was asked about the biggest challenge in her church. “Paying the fuel bill,” she said.
In 1990 she became rector of Holy Innocents Church in West Orange, New Jersey, where she remained until her retirement in 2006. She also began service on Executive Council. In retirement, she turned her primary attention to being a grandmother and cheerleader for her grandchildren.
She is survived by a daughter, a son, and four grandchildren.
The Rev. Dcn. Gary David Kovach, who worked in aviation for much of his life, died December 10 at 82.
He was born in Pittsburgh, spent his early childhood in the coal-mining village of Wildwood, Pennsylvania, and moved with his family to Miami. He attended the University of Florida before serving in the Air Force from 1962 to 1965 as a flight line mechanic. He enjoyed seeing South Korea, Turkey, and Vietnam through his work.
After returning to Miami, he worked for a defense contractor and Eastern Airlines. He obtained a pilot’s license from Dade County Junior College, but flying did not become his vocation.
He worked in his family’s Gulf gas station in the early 1970s, and with his wife, Gerry, he operated an Exxon station in Candler, North Carolina. He enjoyed working with his hands throughout his life, taught horseback riding to his daughters, and pursued photography as an avocation.
When he sensed a call to ministry, he pursued studies at the University of the South and was ordained deacon in 2002. He served at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Asheville until 2013, with a focus on aiding the indigent and homeless.
He assisted in regular church services, delivered sermons and ministered in care facilities, sharing Communion and company with hundreds of people. He helped coordinate a meal program at the Church of the Advocate in Asheville and mentored future deacons.
He is survived by two brothers, two daughters, and a grandson.
Other Deaths
The Rev. Robert Switz, Nov. 20
Douglas LeBlanc is an Associate Editor and writes about Christianity and culture. He and his wife, Monica, attend St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Henrico, Virginia.
