Freethinking Healer and Rabble-Rouser Helen Kagin dies at 76

A beloved freethinking activist, and member of the Secular Student Alliance, passed away on February 17^th, 2010 after a long battle with cancer. Helen worked as a physician in Cincinnati, OH for over thirty years.

I had the pleasure and honor of knowing Helen for just shy of eleven years. The joy, intensity, and brilliance with which she lived her life are totally impossible to capture in words. At Camp Quest Ohio, most of the kids and younger counselors played this vigorous, no-holds-barred version of keep away in the pool with a ball. There was no leader, no ref, no written rules, no score keeping. It just came together organically, summer after summer. With a small handful of exceptions, only the youngest staffers played with any regularity. Well into her seventies, Helen could be counted on to play every time her and the ball were in the pool at the same time.

Helen was a long time member and supporter of the Secular Student Alliance. The last time I saw her was at our 2009 conference on the campus of Ohio State University.

In humanist and atheist circles, Helen is best known for starting Camp Quest with her husband Edwin Kagin in 1996. Edwin and Helen were jointly named "Atheist of the Year" by American Atheists in 2005 for their work starting and running Camp Quest. Helen was the registrar and quartermaster of the Ohio camp until she retired from Camp Quest in 2005.

Memorial gifts can be given to the Helen Kagin Memorial Campership Fund of Camp Quest Inc. by mailing them to Camp Quest Inc., P.O. Box 2552, Columbus, OH 43216, with the notation "Kagin Fund." Donations may also be made on the Camp Quest Web site, www.camp-quest.org.

A trouble-maker (in the most noble sense of that word) to the end, Helen manged to upset the Creation Museum even with her obituary. Her obituary mentioned her work in organizing the Rally for Reason that protested the opening of the Creation Museum.

In addition to the pool game, the thing that may stay with me the most about Helen, is my memory of her leading us singing the Phil Ochs song "When I'm Gone".

Part of it goes...
"And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone
Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here"

Helen did.

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August E. Brunsman IV is the executive director of the Secular Student Alliance and has volunteered with Camp Quest Ohio since 1999. He is now the volunteer camp director of the Ohio camp. He is also the Secretary of the Secular Coalition for America.