Kotz, Siegfried Arthur (1915–1967)

Siegfried Arthur Kotz was a medical missionary and administrator in East and Central Africa, the United States, and Australia.

Early Life

Siegfried Arthur Kotz was born on March 25, 1915, in Kihurio, in the Pare Mountains of southern Tanganyika.¹ He was the son of German missionaries Ernst Kotz (1887–1944) and Hilda Ella Marie (1888–1932). He was the last of three siblings, the eldest being Hans (born 1910) and their sister Ilse (born 1912). The German defeat by the British during the World War I in East Africa complicated things for the German missionaries even though they were non-combatants.² In September 1926, he arrived in New York, with his family, where he continued his education. In 1930, his family moved to Takoma Park, Maryland, after he joined the staff at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.³

On February 2, 1932, Siegfried’s mother Hilda Kotz died when he was only 16 years old.⁴ He continued with his education in the United States at Columbia Union College, Maryland, where he completed his B.A. degree before joining Loma Linda University in California to train as a doctor. He graduated as an M.D. in 1940.

Marriage and Family

On May 5, 1939, he married Ethel Sarar Karr when he was 24 years old. Ethel was born in Canada on May 4, 1914, the daughter of Orrie Arthur Carr (1884-1941) and Nettie V. Clark (1885-1925).⁵ In 1920, at the age of six, she moved with her family to College View, Lancaster, Nebraska. Her mother died in 1925 when she was just 10. After living in South Dakota and Texas, she moved in 1938 to Los Angeles at the age of 24. She met and married Siegried in May 1939, a day after her 25^th birthday. They took up residence in Glendale, Los Angeles, California, working there briefly before moving to Rising Sun, Seaford, Maryland. He served in general practice for several years before joining the staff at the Washington Sanitarium and Hospital. In April 1943, their eldest child, Arlagene Leone Kotze, was born. The following year, his father, Ernst Kotz, died on September 27.

Moving to Africa

Dr. Kotz received the missionary call to serve in Africa. In September 1948, at the age of 33, he left the U.S. for England, where he spent a year attending the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.⁶ After completing studies there, he proceeded to Malamulo to begin his missionary service. He and his wife, Ethel, and their children arrived at the Malamulo Hospital and Leprosarium, where he served as the medical director. He worked with Dr. G. H. McMorland, remaining at Malamulo until 1955 when he moved to Kendu Mission Hospital at Kendu Bay, in Kenya, where he served as the medical director with Ms. Rena Curtis as the matron.⁷ He remained in Kendu until 1960. It was while in Kenya that he was ordained to the ministry. In 1960, their family returned to the United States, where he attended the Yale University School of Public Health, earning a master’s degree in public health there.⁸

Moving to Australia

In 1963, Kotz was called to serve as medical secretary for the Australasian Division. In this new role, he was deeply committed to promoting the Adventist health message within the Church and the public. Kotz worked tirelessly on securing funds for Australian doctors to attend professional conferences abroad and for the Church’s health outreach programs to be held in every conference and mission in the South Pacific territory. In 1964, part-time medical secretaries were appointed in every union, and the first medical council for the Division was held along with similar pioneering medical councils in Greater Sydney. Some health programs that started under his leadership include cooking demonstrations in local churches and camp meetings in cooperation with the Sanitarium Health Food Company, Five Day Plans to Stop Smoking, health education tapes and other materials (e.g., New Life-Health lessons for use by Australian Voice of Prophecy), training of nurses for missionary service beyond PNG, and systematic collection of medical equipment, particularly at the San Hospital and Warburton, and shipping them out to the South Pacific mission field.⁹

Death

Kotz was an able leader who achieved incredible things for the Church. His untimely death on March 5, 1967, was an enormous loss for his family and the Church. Dr. Kotz died of a heart attack at Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia. He was 52 years old. He was laid to rest in the Avondale Cemetery adjacent to Avondale University, Cooranbong, Australia. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Ethel Kotz, and their three children: Arlagene (who became Mrs. Melville Young) and who remained in Australia; Darlene, who at the time of her father’s death was a student nurse in training at the Sydney Sanitarium and Hospital. Then there was Siegfried Jnr. (Freddy) who, at that time, was a second-year medical student at the University of New South Wales. Ethel passed away in 2015.

Legacy

Dr. Kotz’s career as a missionary spanned a period of 14 years. His medical career was marked by a variety of experiences, including four years of general practice in the state of Maryland, two years as a staff physician at the Washington Sanitarium and Hospital, three years as the educational and information officer of the United States Public Health Services from 1961 to 1963, and four years as medical secretary for the Australasian Division from 1963 to 1967. He had more than a decade of service in Africa, five of which took place in Kenya.

Sources

Devine, Lester. “Hearo of Health.” The (South Pacific) RECORD, February 1, 2014.

Hanson, E. D. “Golden Jubilee in Kenya.” ARH, February 28, 1957.

https://www.ancestry.com/

Kotz, E. African Division Outlook, June 1, 1928.

Lind, M. E. “Beloved Physician Called to Rest.” Trans-Africa Division Outlook, April 15, 1967.

Spalding, Arthur Whitefield. Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists. Takoma Park, Washington D.C., Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1962.

Notes

1. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/101199634/person/380039453149/facts?_phsrc=Btm152&_phstart=successSource (accessed January 22, 2024).↩

2. Spalding, Arthur Whitefield, Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists (Takoma Park, Washington D.C.: Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1962) 29.↩

3. He served as the associate secretary at the General Conference. See E. Kotz, African Division Outlook 26, June 1, 1928, 6.↩

4. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/101199634/person/380039453149/facts?_phsrc=Btm152&_phstart=successSource (accessed January 22, 2024).↩

5. Ibid.↩

6. M. E. Lind, “Beloved Physician Called to Rest,” Trans-Africa Division Outlook, April 15, 1967, 3.↩

7. E. D. Hanson, “Golden Jubilee in Kenya,” ARH, February 28, 1957, 20.↩

8. Lind, 3.↩

9. Lester Devine, “Hearo of Health,” the (South Pacific) RECORD, February 1, 2014, 11.↩