Constance Kahn Starr's Obituary
Constance Kahn Starr died peacefully at Allen Morgan Health and Rehabilitation Center on September 7, 2012, eleven days short of her ninety-ninth birthday. She was born on September 18, 1913, in Memphis, Tennessee to Samuel Lowenstein Kahn and Catherine Page Kahn. She was predeceased by her husband of thirty-nine years, James Henry Starr, by her brother, Samuel Clifford Kahn, and by three of her six children: Phillip, Timothy Thaddeus and Jonathan Edwin Starr. Constance is survived by her son, Paul Louis Starr (Brenda Roberts Starr), her daughter Mary Teresa Starr, and another son, John Richard Starr. She also leaves numerous nieces, nephews and friends. Constance’s father, Sam Kahn, worked at The Commercial Appeal for fifty-three years as cub reporter, Tri-State editor, city editor, food editor, music editor and Sunday editor. Constance graduated from West Tennessee State Teachers College in 1934. During the Second World War, she was one of four co-founders of the short-lived Memphis Civic Theatre. For many years, she read The Commercial Appeal for West Tennessee Talking Library, the forerunner of WYPL. She also enjoyed gardening and was an avid reader. Constance taught at Memphis Parents’ School for the Deaf on the Lindenwood campus. Later she worked for H & R Block, and ended her professional life as a self-employed tax preparer. A lifelong Memphian, she lived for ninety-one years in the same home. She was fondly termed “the mayor of Buena Vista Place.” The visitation will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, September 10, 2012 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The funeral will be at the Cathedral at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, with interment following at Memphis Memory Gardens. The family requests that donations be made either to Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception or to Trezevant Episcopal Home.
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