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Cyrus Jeffries Kephart (1852-1932), American Bishop was born in Decatur, Pennsylvania on February 23, 1852 to Reverend Henry and Sarah Kephart. He attended Western College from 1869 to 1874 where he graduated the valedictorian. During his time at Western he entered the ministry in 1871 and married, Sarah Perry, in 1873. He began his ministry in Toledo, Iowa but quickly moved to Dayton, Ohio where he entered Union Biblical Seminary. During this period of his ministry he served as pastor of the Ludlow Street United Brethren Church in Dayton. He graduated Union Biblical Seminary in 1878 and was ordained by Bishop Milton Wright the following year.
Following his completion of training at Union Biblical Seminary he became the principal, and later president, of Avalon Academy (College) in Avalon, Missouri. He remained here until 1885, when after a sabbatical, he and his family returned to Toledo, where he became employed by Western College. For the next twenty years Cyrus Kephart moved back and forth between the clergy and academe. During this time he served as pastor of the East Side United Brethren Church, Summit Park United Brethren Church, in Des Moines, Iowa and in Lisbon, Iowa. He also served as the General Secretary of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Association from 1894 to 1897. In academe, Kephart for a second time was president of Avalon College and Western College, which during his time became Leander Clark College in 1905.
In 1908, Cyrus Kephart became the pastor of the First United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio. Serving with distinction, he was elected to the office of Bishop in 1913 by the United Brethren General Conference, held in Decatur, Illinois. Afterward he was supervisor of the Southwest District from 1913 to 1925. He retired from active ministry in 1825 and continued to live in Kansas City, Missouri until his death on July 20, 1932.
His published works include: Jesus the Nazarene (1894), The Life of Jesus for Children, The Public Life of Christ, What is a Christian? (1910), Jesus Lord and Teacher (1913), Christianity and the Social Weal (1914), with Dr. W.R. Funk, The Life of Isaiah L. Kephart (1909), and numerous other articles.
*Biographical Information from:
Koontz, Paul Rodes and Roush, Walter Edwin. The Bishops: Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Dayton: Otterbein Press, 1950.