John H. Reppe ’53 G.Th. died on September 12. He served congregations in northern Minnesota.

Curtis A. Fox ’57 B.D. died on April 26. He led Lutheran parishes in South Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, and Washington, and served as an interim pastor in Washington and Minnesota.

Theodore J. Vinger ’57 B.Th. died on September 11. He spent 35 years serving parishes in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He also spent two years as a writer and editor at Augsburg Publishing House.

Gerald Allen ’59 B.D. died on July 22. He led congregations in Minnesota and also served as registrar, director of admissions, director of student services, and as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota–Duluth.

R. David Keesey-Berg ’59 B.D. died on July 13. He was a parish minister in Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin and served congregations in crisis as an intentional interim minister.

Ronald C. Golberg ’60 B.D., ’76 M.Th. died on April 20. Over 38 years of parish ministry, he served congregations in Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Jack R. Lewis ’61 B.D., father of Professor Karoline Lewis, died on September 26. He served churches in Washington and California.

Russell Wangen ’62 B.D. died on February 20. He served rural congregations in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Harry Vibe ’62 B.D. died on June 26. He served Lutheran congregations in Minnesota and Canada, and he was district secretary of the Canadian Bible Society for Manitoba for seven years.

John E. Fahning ’65 B.D. died on April 1. During his career as a minister, he taught at St. Olaf College, worked for the ELCA Lutheran Church district office in St. Paul, Minnesota, and served as an interim pastor for several churches throughout the Midwest.

Charles D. Gavin Jr. ’65 B.D., ’93 Th.D. died on July 18. “Chuck” served for 22 years as a pastor in the ELCA, leading multiple Lutheran church communities and campus ministry at Indiana University. He returned to graduate school at Luther Seminary at 48 to pursue his dream of teaching religion at the college level. Upon graduation, he taught religion and philosophy at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa.

Howie Wennes ’66 B.D., ’71 M.Div. died on July 12. His ministry took him to parishes in the Western United States and mission work in Japan; ministry work with Lutheran Retreats, Camps, and Conferences; the World Council of Churches; Lutheran World Relief; the Inter-Lutheran Task Force on Health and Wellness; and Spirit in the Desert in Arizona. He was bishop emeritus of the Grand Canyon Synod and president emeritus of California Lutheran University.

Bruce E. Anderson ’69 B.D., ’95 M.Div. died on April 15. He served churches in Minnesota before being called as director of church relations at Concordia College–Moorhead.

Norman Belland ’78 M.Div., ’10 M.Th. died on July 19. He served parishes in rural Minnesota and Wisconsin. From 2000–03, he served as pastor of the American Lutheran Congregation in Oslo, Norway. He finished his ministerial career in 2021 as a hospice chaplain.

Robert W. Kleinke ’80 M.Div. died on July 12. He touched many lives through his ministry in the Midwest and Arizona.

Joseph Erickson ’81 M.A. has been named a Fulbright Scholar for the 2022–23 academic year. Erickson, a professor of education at Augsburg University and a psychologist by training, will spend spring 2023 collaborating with a team at the University of Ljubljana to adapt a tool used to measure racial attitudes in the United States for the Slovenian context.

Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo ’87 M.Div. died on July 22. A member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, she was the first female Native American pastor ordained in the Lutheran church. She was pastor of All Nations Indian Church in south Minneapolis and a co-founder of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

John B. Salveson ’93 M.A. died on September 21. He was the organist and choir director of several Lutheran and Catholic churches in the Fargo and Twin Cities areas. He most recently served at First Presbyterian Church of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Brentwood Studios has hired Tim Paulson ’98 M.Div. as general manager. Paulson joins Brentwood after previous roles with HarperCollins Christian Publishing and 1517 Media.

Kimberly Vrudny ’01 Ph.D. was named associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas effective September 1, 2022. A member of the faculty since 2001, her studies of theology and religion have encompassed interdisciplinary examination of diverse fields. She is the author of “Beauty’s Vineyard: A Theological Aesthetic of Anguish and Anticipation.”

In June, Scott Johnson ’03 M.Div. was elected bishop of the Nebraska Synod of the ELCA. He previously led campus ministry at Midland University and Iowa State University, and served congregations in Iowa and Minnesota.

Erik Gronberg ’05 M.Div. was reelected in April to serve a second term as bishop of the Northern Texas–Northern Louisiana Synod of the ELCA. Prior to becoming bishop, he served as senior pastor of congregations in Texas and Wisconsin.

In April, Victor Padmore ’05 M.Th. was elected to a five-year term as bishop of the Lutheran Church in Liberia.

Northeastern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA has named Joy Hensel ’07 M.A. as synod minister for mental health and wellness. She has worked with the synod as a mental health program consultant since 2019 and brings more than 20 years of experience to this new role.

Tracy Paschke-Johannes ’08 M.Div. was installed in October as the Rev. David P. and Carol Matevia endowed pastor at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

Thomas Oduro ’94 M.A., ’04 Ph.D. was recognized at the 75th anniversary of Christ Holy Church International in Nigeria for his role in the development of theology in the church and work with African Independent (Initiated) churches.

In June, Adam White ’11 D.Min. was called as senior pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Waconia, Minnesota. For the past 12 years, he served as a pastor and taught on the campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He also occasionally teaches as an adjunct instructor at Luther Seminary.

After leading congregations in Minnesota for many years, Dan Foster ’11 M.Div. became chaplain at St. Luke’s Lutheran Care Center in Blue Earth, Minnesota, in May. He and his wife also recently welcomed their first child.

Paul Erickson ’12 D.Min. was reelected in May to a second term as bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA. Prior to becoming bishop, Erickson served as director of Agora, a ministry helping to develop lay leaders for immigrant and multicultural congregations in Minnesota and South Dakota, and as assistant to the bishop for evangelical mission in the Saint Paul Area Synod.
Joe Skogmo ’13 M.Div. was installed as lead pastor of First Lutheran Church of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in July. He previously served St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Lowry, Minnesota.

Eric L. Bodenstab ’14 Ph.D. was installed as the new pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Kent, Ohio, in July. Bodenstab has served congregations in Kansas, Minnesota, the Chicago area, and Ohio.

In July, Dianne Haulcy ’22 M.Div. was named CEO of The Family Partnership, a nonprofit that runs preschool, mental health, and anti-sex trafficking programs. She has previously served as the organization’s chief operating officer, as a senior police aide for Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, and led St. Stephen’s Human Services. She is the creator and host of “Early Risers,” a public radio podcast about how to discuss race and racism with young children.

Amy Van Valkenberg ’24 M.Div. was appointed minister of the Alexandria Methodist Church in Alexandria, Minnesota, in July. Previously she served Joyful Spirit UMC in Wadena/ Deer Creek and the Rosendale and Atwater UMCs.