As received from the Memorial Chapel Funeral and Cremation Service. If you have questions about, or potential corrections to the content, please contact the funeral home directly.
Dr. Terry Kinzel, 77, a well-known area physician, passed away at home on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, with his family by his side.
Terry was born on March 15th 1949 to Floyd Kinzel and Martha Mallory Kinzel in Grosse Isle, Detroit MI, an only child. Terry was proud of the fact that his grandfather worked in the copper mines on the Keweenaw Peninsula and he came to Michigan Tech with family ties to the region. He was president of the Phi Tau Fraternity during his tenure there and maintained ties with the fraternity brothers throughout his life, serving as fraternity advisor and frequently hiring the students to work for him.
He attended both University of Michigan and Michigan State University for his training in internal medicine. Terry was a doctor to his core; he loved his work, he loved his patients, and he was still working when he went into hospice in April of this year. He started as a partner with Sigurd Janners in the late 1970s, left the Copper Country briefly to do a gerontology fellowship at the U of Kentucky, then came back to work at Portage Health Systems, CC Mental Health and the VA Hospital in Iron Mountain; as the area’s only certified gerontologist he cared for elders far and wide, including many of his dearest friends.
Terry’s first job out of high school was as a summer trail hand at Mt Ranier National Park, and for several summers after that he lived as a ranger in a fire lookout tower on Isle Royale. He developed a profound love for that island which he visited almost annually, hiking, canoeing and kayaking. In 1972 he married his first wife, Susan Ebert, on Isle Royale. Terry married Sue Ellen Kingsley in 1993 and immediately filled the role of father to Karla Kingsley.
Although he wasn’t a “natural athlete,” Terry was serious about his athletic endeavors; he completed somewhere between four and twenty marathons depending on to whom he was talking, he competed in many local bike races including the Chain Drive and the Deer Chase, the Copperman Triathlon, and the Canal Run; he was training to cross-country ski in the Great Bear Chase shortly before being admitted to hospice. In 2017 he rode his bike from Hancock to Detroit for his 50th high school class reunion. Terry was an accomplished kayaker. He and Sue Ellen circumnavigated both Isle Royale and Copper Island in a tandem kayak, the “divorce boat”.
With money that he inherited from his parents, Terry founded the Heart and Hands Award Foundation which was given annually to someone in our community who had given of themselves in the causes of peace, justice and the environment. Terry spearheaded the founding of the Keweenaw Land Trust which has successfully preserved many acres of beloved land in the Copper Country and beyond. To support KLT, Terry and Sue Ellen created the annual Horsetail Scramble as part of their anniversary and fourth of July celebration; he and his family opened up their property containing the Churning Rapids Trail system to the non-motorized hiking, skiing and biking community. Terry loved the fall season; he frequently took a book and his chainsaw with him up into the woods to cut firewood and just sit and read. Although he had no formal religious ties, he aligned at one time or another with the Presbyterian Church and the Society of Friends (Quakers) and was also a practitioner of Buddhism.
Terry was a prodigious reader, he always had at least three books going at a time—a medical text, some heavy philosophy and a light mystery. He loved dogs, all dogs, but especially Irish setters. For many years he and Sue Ellen hosted monthly gatherings of friends for sauna and soup, to discuss issues of the day, but mostly how to live a good life. He lived a good life.
Terry is survived by his wife, Sue Ellen Kingsley and daughter, Karla Jane Kingsley, Karla’s husband Matt Chwierut, and their children Lucille and Juniper; also his cousins Mary Kershner and Dan Steck of Eagle River.
Thanks to Sonia Schumacher at Aspirus Hospice and the Memorial Chapel for enabling us to have a home funeral. Thanks also to our dear friends for all their support over the past few months.
A gravesite service will be held at the Chassell Cemetery Green Burial Section, open to the community beginning at 2pm on Saturday, October 3rd, 2026.
To view Terry’s obituary or to send condolences to the family, please visit www.memorialchapel.net.
The Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service – Hancock Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.
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