Released By Bryan Blair and Joan C. McKinney of Campbellsville University

Campbellsville, Ky. – Doris Wefwafwa of Kenya, a student assistant volleyball coach at Campbellsville University, and a former All-American for the Lady Tigers Volleyball Team, died unexpectedly Monday afternoon after a short illness.

Wefwafwa, who was to graduate Friday, Dec. 14 with a bachelor of social work degree, died at Hardin County Memorial Hospital. She was 34.

Wefwafwa was from Nairobi, Kenya and transferred to Campbellsville University for her senior year in 2006 after playing at Columbia College for three seasons.

She helped lead Campbellsville to a perfect 10-0 Mid-South Conference Regular Season Championship in 2006. Wefwafwa was named the Mid-South Conference Volleyball Player of the Week six times last season and the NAIA Region XI Volleyball Player of the Week four times.  She was the Mid-South Conference Volleyball Player of the Year at the conclusion of last season.  She was also an NAIA All-Region XI selection and was Second Team NAIA All-American last season. 

Wefwafwa was ranked second nationally in kills per game in the NAIA last season, averaging 5.63 per game. Campbellsville University finished last season with a 35-7 record en route to the program’s first ever Mid-South Conference Regular Season title.

Wefwafwa missed the last five matches at the Mid-South Conference and NAIA Region XI Tournaments at the conclusion of the 2006 season due to the death of her mother in Kenya.  She returned to complete her education last year and was named as a student assistant coach at the beginning of the 2007 season.

During her career at Columbia College, Wefwafwa was selected as an 3rd Team NAIA All-American in 2003 and a 1st Team NAIA All-American in 2004.  She was a three-time first-team All-American Midwest Conference player in 2003, 2004 and 2005. She was named two times to the first-team of Region V in 2003 and 2004 and was named Conference Player of the Week eight times.

Randy LeBleu, volleyball coach at Campbellsville University, said, “Doris was an amazing person. Many of us knew her as a great volleyball player, but she was even a better person. 

“In her short time with us at Campbellsville, she touched many people.  Even if your day was not going very well, she could make you smile or comfort you with a hug.  A hug from Doris was not just courtesy; she had feeling with every hug. 

“She will be missed, but we will all remember how she could light up a room

with her smile. I am just deeply saddened by her leaving us so soon.  “My prayers go out to her family in Kenya and all of the people she has touched here.”

Wefwafwa was a student employee in the physical plant at Campbellsville University. “Doris was a special person who became a friend to everyone she met,” said Jo Ann Harris, secretary in the physical plant.  “She immediately loved them unconditionally without ever knowing them. She saw everyone as a brother or sister in Christ and that was good enough for her. Her capacity to love was phenomenal.”

Shannon Thomas, instructor at CU, had Wefwafwa in class and said she was “always smiling and wanted to learn. She was always positive, always glowing. She was always so respectful, and worked really hard in class. I smile when I think about her calling me ‘Madam.’ She taught us a lot.”

Wefwafwa was the daughter of the Rev. Moses Wanyama Wefwafwa and the late the Rev. Rose Nabucha Wefwafwa.