Rev. Roger S. Burkhart (’64, ’69)
The following obituary was originally posted by Sea Coast Online and can be found here.
Rev. Roger S. Burkhart, age 86, passed away peacefully on November 14, 2024 at Havenwood in Concord, New Hampshire after several days surrounded by his loving wife and daughters. Born February 4, 1938 in Walla Walla, Washington, Roger was the youngest of Robert and Mabel (Dumas) Burkhart’s family of seven children raised on a dairy farm with a half acre garden and a fruit orchard. There was always a place at the table for visitors, especially those down on their luck. The siblings worked on the farm and in the kitchen and also made their own fun creating crawl tunnels through giant haystacks and racing barefoot in the first snow each year.
Roger graduated from Walla Walla High 
School in 1956, Northwest Nazarene College in 1960, and Boston University School of Theology in 1964 and 1969. Roger was a United Church of Christ (Congregational) minister, serving churches in Somerville, Melrose, East Boston and Cotuit, Massachusetts; Union, Northwood, and Ossipee, New Hampshire; and Deer Isle, Maine. He also served as a chaplain at the Seamen’s Friends Mission in Boston. He was especially concerned with civil rights, peace, social justice and the care of the Earth and served on various UCC committees throughout his pastoral career. He was inspired by Thomas Berry’s interpretation of evolutionary thought and religious vision which became a prime theme in his sermons, councils, writings and actions in face of growing climate disruption. He established the Spirituality and Earth Stewardship Committee at the NH UCC Conference which he led for 11 years. He received an Environmental Justice Award from the NHCUCC in 2022.
Roger married Jeanne (Bergsten) in 1969 and they had three daughters. Jeanne had left her small Oklahoma town, gotten her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Illinois, then came east to be an educator and be part of positive social change. In 1972 they purchased Thirteen Colonies Farm in Milton, New Hampshire where they ran a summer camp bringing inner city and suburban youth together to farm, do crafts and swim in the river, and then youth groups from the Cotuit Church on Cape Cod. In 1985 the family moved to the farm full time where Roger split his time between a part time parish in Union, and tending cows, chickens, gardens, pastures, an orchard and a woodlot. Cancer took Jeanne in 1987 and Roger became a single parent but somehow always cooked meals for the family and saw to it that his girls were well educated while caring for a diversified farm and a parish, whew! In 1996 he left the farm in the hands of caretakers to serve a parish in Deer Isle, Maine. In 2002 he retired to the farm and milked a few cows, as dairy farming was a passion that he greatly enjoyed. In 2004, he married Ellen Lankhorst, another UCC Minister with whom he had much in common: a pursuit of peace and social justice, care of the Earth, and intellectual curiosity. When his aged body prevented him from continuing at the farm, Roger and Ellen moved to a house in Rochester where Roger tended a large garden and small orchard. He was an avid reader, a poetic writer, a woodworker and craftsman, and a watercolor painter. He loved substantive conversations and enjoyed telling funny stories. Roger is survived by his wife Ellen Lankhorst, daughters Carissa Burkhart Korites and children Margot, Max and Sam of Halifax, MA; Wendelin Burkhart-Spiegel and children Klara and Astrid of Madison, NY; and Raenya Burkhart Morann and daughter Sophia of Rochester, NH; and numerous nieces and nephews. A funeral service will be held at First Church Congregational, 63 Main Street, Rochester, NH on December 21, 2024 at 11 a.m. (and on zoom) with reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to NH Peace Action; First Church Congregational in Rochester, NH; or the Society for the Protection of NH Forests.