Kuhn was raised in a loving Christian home although, in her words, it was without having "a direct confrontation with living Savior" herself. After experiencing a "pitying sneer" from a skeptical University of British Columbia English professor, Kuhn decided that she did not need to know or seek the God her parents had been teaching her about. She became an agnostic, like many of her peers. A vivacious and popular young woman who did not drink or smoke, Kuhn was taught by her parents to do what was respectable and to "marry well," which meant she was to marry a man with a good education and social status like her own. While at the university, she had gained a lifetime membership in the coveted college drama troupe as a freshman, which was a rare honor.