TIME U.S. obituary

The House That Fred Built: Exclusive Photos of Fred Phelps and the People He Left Behind

Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church most widely known for picketing U.S. military funerals, died at the age of 84, Thursday, March 20. Photographer Anthony S. Karen captured these behind-the-scenes images of Phelps, his family and his church between 2008-2011, giving a remarkable inside look at the secretive and oft-despised group.

Pastor Fred Phelps, 81 here, in his home office in Topeka, Kans. Pastor Phelps founded the Phelps Chartered Law Firm in 1964, but was disbarred from practicing law in Kansas in 1979 for making false statements. Shirley Phelps-Roper, Pastor Phelp's daughter, protests outside of an Enrique Igesias concert in Kansas City, Mo. Pastor Fred Phelps greets one of his many grandchildren immediately following a one-hour-long Sunday service. Thousands of handmade signs are stored in the home of Shirley Phelps-Roper, which will be used in pickets across the country. Shirley Phelps-Roper leads the daily one-hour bible instruction in the basement of her home Phelps-Roper visits with one of her nieces in her home office in Topeka, Kans. Grace Phelps-Roper plays with two of her nephews outside Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kans. The church is part of a compound which includes multiple Phelps family homes sharing a large, fenced back yard. Pastor Fred Phelps on his back porch during a Sunday pizza birthday party for one of his grandchildren. Graffiti defaces the sign of the Westboro Baptist Church. Jonah Phelps-Roper prepares a picket sign in the “spray room.” The room is part of the sign shop, which is a highly efficient production facility within the Westboro compound. Shirley Phelps-Roper sits in her home in Topeka, Kans.

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