Aarona Merle Kohlman

Aarona Booker Kohlman, 93, died on the morning of December 20, 2006, at the Independence Regional Health Center. She was born July 7, 1913, in Wellston, Ohio, the daughter of Norman Lafayette and Frances Cochran Booker. She lived on Grand Cayman Island with her parents from 1925 to 1928. Her father was a missionary for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She attended Graceland College, graduating with an AA degree in English. Later in life she earned a MS in English from Iowa State University. Throughout her life, Aarona was active in the Community of Christ: serving in the office of elder, on the Council of Women, and on various other committees. She was a faculty member in the English Department at Graceland University from 1964 to 1978 during which time she sponsored numerous Winter Term classes in Grand Cayman. Aarona authored: Under Tin Roofs and Wotcha Say, accounts of life and language in the Cayman Islands. In her retirement years, as professor emerita, Aarona taught ESL and Winter Term courses. Traveling was a strong interest of hers, and she remained involved in a variety of intellectual and physical activities. She was preceded in death by her husband, Leslie W. Kohlman, who died earlier this year, and her brother Raymond Booker. Survivors include her five children: Fay Davis of Kennewick, WA; David Kohlman of Colorado Springs, CO; Kathleen Sparkes of Bellingham, WA; Richard Kohlman of Independence, MO; and Linda Thomson of Bellingham, WA; and eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at White Oak Chapel, 1515 West White Oak, Independence, MO, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 23. Memorial contributions may be made to Graceland University or to the Grand Cayman Mission of the Community of Christ.