As a foremost lecturer and teacher in the early years of the movement, Mr. Kimball had a great talent for presenting Christian Science to vast audiences throughout the world, and his explanations of it are as timely today as they were then.
Edward Kimball was born in Buffalo, New York. He attended public school in Buffalo, and later pursued a successful business career in Chicago, Illinois. He was a partner in a company manufacturing lumber, paving blocks, and roofing material. He married Kate Davidson in 1873, and they had two children, a son and a daughter.
In the early 1880s, Mr. Kimball became ill and his illness finally forced him to withdraw from business. He and Mrs. Kimball traveled abroad searching for a medical specialist who could help him. In her efforts to care for Mr. Kimball, his wife began to show signs of failing health. Returning to the United States, they learned of Christian Science from Mr. Kimball’s sister, who had been cured of a serious illness through Christian Science treatment.
Turning to Christian Science, they were both soon healed. They were accepted in Mrs. Eddy’s Primary Class of March, 1888, and again studied with her in 1889. They were also in her last class of 1898. Following the 1888 class, Mr. Kimball retired from business to devote his full time to the practice of Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy asked him to take charge of the Christian Science presentation at the World’s Parliament of Religions, part of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. In 1895, he became First Reader of First Church in Chicago, and contributed greatly to the building of the church edifice dedicated in 1897. He was appointed to the Board of Lectureship when it was formed in 1898 and lectured throughout the United States and abroad, delivering as many as 1,800 lectures in nine years. His ability and judgment were so highly regarded by Mrs. Eddy that the Kimballs often traveled to Concord to confer with her and receive instructions from her regarding teaching and lecturing.
At one time, during the Woodbury trial, Mrs. Eddy transferred all of her copyrights to Mr. Kimball to protect them during the trial, and afterward they were transferred back to Mrs. Eddy, showing the trust and confidence she had in Mr. Kimball.
Mr. Kimball was appointed to teach in the Massachusetts Metaphysical College when it was reopened as the Board of Education in 1899. He taught both Primary and Normal Class until 1903. In 1909, he was asked by Mrs. Eddy to teach the Normal Class of 1910, but he passed on before he could fulfill the appointment.