A short Biography of Fr. Henle.
Fr. Henle was born in Germany, and emigrated with his family to the USA as a teenager. He received the B.A. and M.A. degrees in Physics from the Universities of Bridgeport, CT, and Wisconsin-Madison, WI, concurrently minoring in organ music. He served in the US Army, Nuclear Effects Lab at Edgewood Arsenal, MD. While stationed there, he was music director at Old Spesutia Church in Perryman, MD and was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1970. After the Army and a year of study at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, he completed a Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in hyperthermia and radiation biology.
In 1973, he married his wife JoAnn (from Hamilton, Ontario) in Downingtown, PA. Together they had two sons, Nikolas and Alexander. A Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Research brought the family to the University of Utah Medical School in 1976, where Kurt began his teaching and research career as a Research Assistant Professor. In 1981, he accepted a faculty position in Oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Dept. of Medicine. With numerous grant awards from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the US Navy, he published more than 100 research, review articles and book chapters, dealing mostly with the cellular stress response, thermotolerance, heat shock proteins, and stress-induced protein glycosylation. In 1989, he was promoted to Professor of Medicine in Hematology/Oncology and Professor of Physiology/Biophysics.
Throughout his career he held positions as organist/choir director in a number of Christian denominations. In 1992, the Henles left the Episcopal Church and found a temporary refuge in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Kurt left his position as Elder and music director at Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in 1997 to help plant St. Thomas Reformed Episcopal Church in Little Rock, together with JoAnn and the Rev. Robert Bowman.
In Jan. 2001, Kurt accepted early retirement as Professor Emeritus in Medicine and completed the M. Div. degree from Cummins Memorial Seminary in 2003 under the direction of the Rev. Dan Thornhill and Bp. Daniel R. Morse. From June of 2003 until October 2008, JoAnn and Kurt worked in St. Louis to grow Holy Trinity Anglican Church (History of Holy Trinity Anglican Church). The Henles then followed God's call to plant a new AMiA Mission in Traverse City, Michigan.
May God continue to prosper His work in every corner of the earth.
Blessings in the name of our Triune God!
Holy Trinity Anglican Church
became a full Parish of the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) in January 2006. With this transition, Fr. Kurt Henle became the first Rector of the Parish. At the end of October 2008, Jo-Ann and Fr. Kurt moved to Traverse City, MI, to plant a new AMiA Church.
