DAVID KAULA

1928 - 2021

KAULA--David Charles. October 22, 1928 - June 24, 2021, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Western Ontario. While COVID-19 continued to oppress Toronto, David succumbed to chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Elisabeth Hegenbart, his life partner for almost three decades, supervised his care in the midst of the pandemic as he bravely endured a different kind of relentless disease. He leaves Elisabeth; his daughter, Robin Otto (Joel); his grandchildren Fletcher, Carlyle, Ulysses, and Rose; his three nieces. His brother, Bill, predeceased him (2000). Strong intellectual and imaginative influences impressed themselves on David's thinking as a child and young adult. In particular, he experienced various arts and cultures with immediacy through his parents. His mother, Edna Mason, an Australian of British descent, worked as a commercial artist; she was a well-known author and illustrator of children's books, as well as books for Portraits of the Nations Series. His father, Edgar Kaula, an American of Czech descent, was transferred as an oil executive, with his young family, from Australia to New Zealand, Holland, and the United States. David's formal education, combined with his less formal introductions to various world cultures, would help to shape his unique and disciplined analyses of literary arts during the English Renaissance. In New York's Greenwich Village, he attended high school at Friends Seminary, a Quaker institution emphasizing such moral values as integrity and equitableness. His post- secondary education followed at Cornell (BA), the University of Connecticut (MA), and Indiana University (PhD). After completing his studies, David served his delayed mandatory two-year military term in the US Army. Charged with designing promotional material for the Army and located in Hawaii, he was exposed to the art and culture of the Far East through assignments in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Japan. When his military service ended, David began his academic career at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH (1957-64), an Ivy League institution of higher learning. In subtle ways, its mission would have resonated with that of Friends Seminary: considerations of moral and ethical matters supported its modus operandi. As a result, David matured into a respected scholar with an appreciation of the arts, knowledge of theological history and moral philosophy, and openness to the attractions of foreign cultures. David spent the latter part of his career at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario (1964-88), becoming a Canadian citizen in 1979. A conscientious teacher of undergraduate and graduate students, he also participated in faculty seminars at Dartmouth College and the University of Western Ontario. He published research, and his output was continuous and persuasively argued, appearing in first-rate, peer-reviewed journals: Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Studies, Shakespeare Survey, Studies in English Literature. (A couple of these essays were reprinted in books.) When he stepped outside his special field of Shakespeare studies, his work was welcomed by experts in other areas: e.g., he authored "On Noh Drama" for Tulane Drama Review, and he served as co-editor for the Spenser Newsletter over several years. His book, Shakespeare and the Archpriest Controversy: A Study of Some New Sources, combines his interests in six Shakespearean plays with his knowledge about the late sixteenth-century history of the Roman Catholic Church. After David retired in 1988, he moved to Toronto, which became his point of departure for world travel and art appreciation. He took courses in Chinese and Japanese at the University of Toronto; taught two semesters in the Foreign Languages Department at Liaoning Normal University in Dalian, China (the largest teachers' college in Liaoning Province); documented trips as an accomplished photographer to Central and South America, as well as Europe; visited museums and monuments of all kinds in North America; and listened to music ranging from Baroque to Bluegrass. Despite his accomplishments as a teacher and scholar, and his active, wide-ranging intellectual life, David's demeanor remained modest. J. Alan B. Somerset, Chair of the English Department at the University of Western Ontario when David announced his intent to retire, accepted the decision "with real regret." Responding in a letter, he wrote: "You have always approached your responsibilities with professionalism and tact; as a result, you may rest assured that you have many friends here." The Chair's sentiment applies not only to David's colleagues at the University of Western Ontario, but also to everyone who knew him well. Expressions of sympathy and fond memories may be shared at: www.turnerporter.ca