IN MEMORIAM

Rev. Kara Baylor

The Rev. Kara Baylor, Carthage’s campus pastor for the past nine years, passed away May 25 at age 52 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

Joining us in 2014 as campus pastor and later adding the title director of congregational relations, she drew students in with warmth and honesty.

Pastor Baylor embodied ELCA institutions’ commitment to be “Rooted and Open,” strengthening Carthage’s Lutheran roots while developing a full slate of interfaith programs.

“We may not believe in the same things,” she would say, “but we all believe in something.”

From the outset, she also took an active part in the College’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The nationwide racial reckoning in 2020 awakened her anger over lingering injustice, stirring Pastor Baylor to come off the sidelines and more fully “claim my Blackness.”

Before accepting the call to Carthage, Pastor Baylor spent more than 20 years in youth ministry for congregations in Minnesota, North Dakota, and here in southeastern Wisconsin.

Kate Colbert – Kenosha, co-authored “Commencement: The Beginning of a New Era in Higher Education” with industry expert and podcaster Joe Sallustio. Published in November, the book derives insights and recommendations from interviews with more than 100 college and university presidents. A review in Forbes called it “the indispensable touchpoint for what’s being said in, about and around higher education right now.”

Remembered as a consummate Carthaginian, Irma (Niekamp) Anderson ’48 of Racine, Wisconsin, died Jan. 15. She was 96.

Together with her husband, former Carthage president Alan Anderson ’50, she helped the College navigate two critical points: the move to Kenosha and the ramp-up to unprecedented growth. Her Carthage giving spanned 42 consecutive years. The couple established a scholarship for children of alumni, and another fund was named in Mrs. Anderson’s honor.

A true ambassador, she was the last surviving member of the “Legacy Ladies” who attended every groundbreaking ceremony on the current campus. Mrs. Anderson received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1999.

All of her children — former trustee Ross Anderson ’75, Jolene (Anderson) Morris ’77, and longtime staff member Jane Anderson Spencer ’80 — are Carthage graduates. The extended family totals 19 alumni.