A diploma, 60 years in the making
Jean De Servien-Kenwood will honor his late wife’s wish when he earns his PhD in French this spring
It was Jean De Servien-Kenwood’s late wife’s wish for him to go back and finish his PhD.
Jean De Servien-Kenwood and his wife, Madeleine. All photos provided by Jean De Servien-Kenwood.
De Servien-Kenwood completed all of the coursework to receive his doctorate degree in French in the 1960s, but never got around to finishing his dissertation.
Now, over 60 years later, the 91-year-old graduate is finally making that happen and will graduate this spring.
“It was something I wanted to do for her and for me,” De Servien-Kenwood remarked.
Born in France in 1934, De Servien-Kenwood and his wife, Madeleine, moved to the United States from Spain in the early 1960s. Initially, they both taught high school but decided, in an attempt to be taken more seriously, to get American diplomas and applied to the French department University of Colorado Boulder where they were accepted as master’s students.
After receiving their degrees in 1964, they both began their coursework for their PhDs. However, neither finished before they moved to Montclair, New Jersey, to become French professors at Montclair State University and where Madeleine eventually served as chair of the department. While there, Madeleine took time during a sabbatical to come back to 鶹Ƶ to finish her dissertation and made De Servien-Kenwood promise he would do the same. But he never did.
When Madeleine became ill, they moved to Milwaukee to be closer to two of their sons, where De Servien-Kenwood served as her caretaker until she passed away in January 2020.
It was only then that De Servien-Kenwood began to write.
“I always wanted to write. That was the thing I wanted to do, but as I was working, I was not able to do both,” De Servien-Kenwood said.
At first it was fiction. In three years, he wrote three different books:Ames Bienveillantes,L'abbé Baurel andLa souveraine andalouse, all in French. But in 2023, he changed course and decided to do the thing he always promised his wife that he would do: go back to finish his degree.
“It was the memory of my wife which pushed me back to school,” De Servien-Kenwood reflected.
Jean De Servien-Kenwood holding his dissertation.
He reached out to 鶹Ƶ to see if he'd be allowed to just write his dissertation as he’d already completed his course work. The answer was yes, but on a condition. He had to pass an examination first. De Servien-Kenwood passed and began writing his dissertation, "La Spiritualité dans les romans de Georges Bernanos" or “Spirituality in the Novels of Georges Bernanos.”
Georges Bernanos (1888–1948), a French author, wrote 13 books over the course of his career, with his best-known beingSous le soleil de Satan (1926) and theJournal d'un curé de campagne (1936). A devout Catholic with monarchist leanings, his books often explored spiritual struggles, grace and the tug between good and evil.
“Although I did not personally share the author's views, one cannot dismiss his work for it opens and raises a wealth of spiritual questions,” De Servien-Kenwood said.
De Servien-Kenwood examined four of Bernanso’s books and how they delved into those concepts of grace and salvation and how they intertwine. By exploring these topics, De Servien-Kenwood argued that the soul is the essential element that leads to salvation as it’s the unique bridge between the creative spirit and the human being.
“It stands as the subtle resonance underlying the very architecture of our existence,” De Servien-Kenwood added.
“Directing Jean's dissertation has been one of the highlights of my career,” remarked Warren Motte, distinguished professor emeritus in French and De Servien-Kenwood’s committee chair. “It has been both an honor and a pleasure to work with him.”
Now finished, De Servien-Kenwood has no plans to slow down, instead working on his fourth book,The Countess of Monte Cristo.
“I’m excited to be done with it, yes, but I really enjoyed doing it,” De Servien-Kenwood said, adding, “My professor was amazingly encouraging to me, and I am very thankful to him and the department for giving me the chance to earn my PhD.”