Aug. 18, 2020
Father Andrew Herman Kuykendall
Fr. Andrew H. Kuykendall, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita for 42 years, died Tuesday, Aug. 18, in Wichita. Andrew Herman Kuykendall was born on Oct. 4, 1952, in Wichita to Andy and Irene (Posch) Kuykendall. He attended Christ the King Grade School and graduated from Bishop Carroll Catholic High School. As a seminarian, he studied at St. Thomas Seminary College in Denver, St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, and St. Mark Priory in South Union, Kentucky. Father Kuykendall was ordained a priest on May 20, 1978, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita by Bishop David M. Maloney.
His first assignment was as an assistant at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Wichita. He began teaching religion at Bishop Carroll High School in 1981, the same year he was named director of the Catholic Youth Office. In 1985 he also began serving as a chaplain at Mt. St. Mary’s Convent in Wichita. Father Kuykendall was named the chaplain at Trinity High School in Hutchinson and pastor of St. Agnes in Castleton in August of 1986. Two years later, he was named pastor of St. Teresa Parish in Hutchinson. He was granted a sabbatical in 1993 to study at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. In 1994 Father was assigned as an assistant at Church of the Blessed Sacrament and a few months later as an assistant at Sacred Heart in Colwich.
Father Kuykendall was named pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Haysville in January of 1995. In 2007, after serving on several diocesan boards, he was named pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Schulte. In 2015 he was assigned as a chaplain at the Catholic Care Center in Wichita.
He was named to the Priest Retirement and Education Fund Board in 2017 and served on several other diocesan presbyteral councils during his priesthood.
Fr. Kuykendall’s Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on August 24, 2020. He was buried next to his parents at Resurrection Cemetery in Wichita.