SOLUTION CONFIRMED
I tried a minimalist solution first, which didn't work:
I moved the ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard directory and
attempted a login to gnome. This did not seem to have any real effect
and gnome hung again.
The solution recommended in the above thread worked well:
I moved the entire ~/.gconf directory away and was able to login to
gnome. There weren't all that many things that I had to change back,
actually. Which I guess means I hadn't customized too many things
that weren't already customized via my favorite theme.
Thanks for the help, and I apologize for repeating the problem
description in a new thread. For some reason I didn't catch that the
other problem reports were also describing my problem.
Rick Reynolds