William Duncan Kilpatrick was a native of Owosso, Michigan. He graduated from Olivet College in 1895, and from the University of Michigan with the degree of LL.B. in 1898. He practiced law for two years in Owosso, and from 1900 to 1907 in Washington, D.C., after which he was in the land and lumber business for several years.
Mr. Kilpatrick became interested in Christian Science in 1899, and became a member of The Mother Church and had primary class instruction in 1905. Several years later he left the business world to go into the public practice of Christian Science. For three consecutive years he was appointed Committee on Publication for Michigan. He left this work in 1917 upon election to membership on the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. Except for periods taken for the study of Christian Science, he lectured continuously in the United States and abroad until July of 1944. He became a teacher in 1919, holding his class and Association each year in Detroit, Michigan. He was made head of Committees on Publication at The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts in July, 1944, and was serving in that capacity when he passed on.