By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Thomas N. Kindness - a self-described country boy who represented Southwest Ohio's 8th District in the U.S. Congress from 1975 to 1987 - knew how to make an entrance.

In 1971, he drove a truck camper to Columbus to take his place in the Ohio House of Representatives. Mr. Kindness parked it in the Capitol lot and lived in it while the House was in session because he didn't like motels. "It's also a great place to hold subcommittee meetings," he told the Enquirer that year.

Two years later, he wore a kilt to a General Assembly session to draw attention to his opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. (His parents had emigrated from Scotland in 1919.)

And in 1984 - when he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Texas, he pulled out a banjo and played while waiting for his luggage at the Dallas Airport.

But Mr. Kindness was serious about his work as a legislator.

"I think he was probably best regarded as a very strong technical legislator," said his son Glen of Fairfield. "Not particularly flashy legislation ... but pretty substantial."

Mr. Kindness - who was also a former Hamilton mayor and city councilman - died Thursday of cancer at the Royal Devonian Hospital in Exeter, England. He was 74.

Born in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1929, Mr. Kindness graduated from the University of Maryland in 1951 and received a law degree from the George Washington University School of Law in 1953.

Mr. Kindness moved to Hamilton from Bethesda, Md., in 1957 to join the legal department of Champion Paper.

He served as Hamilton's mayor from 1964 to 1967 and in the Ohio House from 1971 to 1974.

In 1986, Mr. Kindness lost a bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by John Glenn.

Because Mr. Kindness had to give up his seat in Congress to run, his last term ended in 1987. He then co-founded Chatfield & Kindness Associates, a consulting firm dealing in international relations.

In addition to his son Glen, survivors include: his wife of 20 years, Averil; a daughter, Sharon Kindness Koch of Long Valley, N.J.; sons David of Hamilton and Adam of Nashville, Tenn.; a step-daughter, Jillian Hayes of England; a brother, Ronald of Silver Spring, Md.; his former wife, Ann Meier of Columbus; seven grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.

A memorial service is 11 a.m. Saturday at The Presbyterian Church, 23 Front St. in Hamilton. The remains will be cremated.

Memorials: American Cancer Society or The Presbyterian Church.