| Kathryn Kuhlman | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 9, 1907 Concordia, Missouri, U.S.A |
| Died | February 20, 1976 Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. |
| Cause of death | complications from open heart surgery. |
| Nationality | American (of German ancestry) |
| Occupation | Evangelist |
| Known for | Faith healing |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Spouse | Burroughs Allen Waltrip (Mister), October 18, 1938- ? 1948(divorced) |
| Parents | Joseph Adolph Kuhlman and Emma Walkenhorst |
Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman (May 9, 1907–February 20, 1976) was an American faith healer and evangelist.
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Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was born in Concordia, Missouri, to German-American parents.[1] She was born-again at the age of 13 in the Methodist Church of Concordia, and began preaching in the West at the age of sixteen in primarily Baptist Churches.
Kuhlman traveled extensively around the United States and in many other countries holding "healing crusades" between the 1940s and 1970s. She had a weekly TV program in the 1960s and 1970s called I Believe In Miracles that was aired nationally. The foundation was established in 1954, and its Canadian branch in 1970.
Following a 1967 fellowship in Philadelphia, Dr. William A. Nolen conducted a case study of 23 people who claimed to have been cured during her services.[2][3][4][5] Nolen's long term follow-ups concluded there were no cures in those cases.[6][7] Furthermore, one woman who was said to have been cured of spinal cancer took off her brace and ran across the stage at Kuhlman's command; her spine collapsed the following day and she died four months later.[6][8]
By 1970 she moved to Los Angeles conducting faith healing for thousands of people each day as an heir to Aimee Semple McPherson.[9] She became well-known despite, as she told reporters, having no theological training.[9] In 1935, Kathryn met Burroughs Waltrip, an extremely handsome Texas evangelist who was eight years her senior. Despite the fact that he was married with two small boys, they soon found themselves attracted to each other. Shortly after his visit to Denver, Waltrip divorced his wife, left his family and moved to Mason City, Iowa, where he began a revival center called Radio Chapel. Kathryn and her friend and pianist Helen Gulliford came into town to help him raise funds for his ministry. It was shortly after their arrival that the romance between Burroughs and Kathryn became publicly known.
Burroughs and Kathryn decided to wed. While discussing the matter with some friends, Kathryn had said that she could not “find the will of God in the matter.” These and other friends encouraged her not to go through with the marriage, but Kathryn justified it to herself and others by believing that Waltrip’s wife had left him, not the other way around. On October 18th, 1938, Kathryn secretly married “Mister,” as she liked to call Waltrip, in Mason City. The wedding did not give her new peace about their union, however. After they checked into their hotel that night, Kathryn left and drove over to the hotel where Helen was staying with another friend. She sat with them weeping and admitted that the marriage was a mistake. She decided to get an annulment.
In 1975, Kuhlman was sued by Paul Bartholomew, her personal administrator, who claimed she kept $1 million in jewelry and $1 million in fine art hidden away and sued her for $430,500 for breach of contract.[10][11] Two former associates accused her in the lawsuit of diverting funds and illegally removing records, which she denied and said the records were not private.[12] According to Kuhlman, the lawsuit was settled prior to trial.[6]
In July 1975 her doctor diagnosed her with a minor heart flareup and she had a relapse in November while in Los Angeles.[13] As a result, she had open heart surgery in Tulsa, Oklahoma from which she died in February 1976.[1] Kathryn Kuhlman is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. A plaque in her honor is located in the main city park in Concordia, Missouri, a town located in central Missouri on Interstate Highway 70.
After she died, her will led to controversy.[14] She left $267,500, the bulk of her estate, to three family members and twenty employees.[14] Smaller bequests were given to 19 other employees.[14] According to the Independent Press-Telegram , her employees were disappointed that "she did not leave most of her estate to the foundation as she had done under a previous 1974 will."[14] The Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation has continued, but in 1982 it terminated its nationwide radio broadcasting. She influenced faith healers Benny Hinn and Billy Burke. Hinn has adopted some of her techniques and wrote a book about her.[15]
Many accounts of healings were published in her books, which were "ghost-written" by author Jamie Buckingham of Florida, including her autobiography, which was dictated at a hotel in Las Vegas.[16] Buckingham also wrote his own Kuhlman biography that presented an unvarnished account of her life.[17]
Many other faith healers, including Benny Hinn, who have been inspired by Kathryn Kuhlman have faced similar suspicions about their methods and practices.