Piper, Edward Alan (1929 - 2003)

PIPER, PETERSON, GROOM, ROGERS, WOLFF, DOERING

Posted By: Debbie Nash (email)
Date: 10/6/2003 at 16:28:04

Edward Alan Piper

Edward Alan Piper, 73, formerly of Fairfield died after a long illness Sunday afternoon, Sept. 21, 2003 at Cheyenne Lodge in Jamestown, Kan.

The funeral was held Sept. 25 at Zion Lutheran Church in Beloit, Kan., with the Rev. Bruce Keck officiating. Burial was in Elmwood Cemetery in Beloit.

Mr. Piper was born Nov. 18, 1929, the son of the Rev. Edward Albert and Tina Marie Petersen Piper. He married Patricia Aileen Groom Nov. 4, 1962, in Davenport. She died Jan. 2, 1989.

Mr. Pipers family moved to Fairfield in 1939. His father was the pastor of First Lutheran Church until retiring in 1958. He attended Lincoln Elementary School and graduated from Fairfield High School in 1948. He attended Carthage College in Carthage, Ill., where he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1952. He answered the call to the ministry in 1952 and enrolled in the Gettysburg Seminary in Gettysburg, Pa., serving his internship at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Des Moines. He graduated with a masters of divinity degree in 1956.

After seminary, he ministered at Zion Lutheran Church in Princeton, for three years. He served a chaplaincy internship at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines and worked in the Yonker Rehabilitation Center along with the psychological and general hospital units. Mr. Piper then became engaged in secular work and became chaplain of the formerly Iowa Annie Wittenmeyer Home in Davenport. He became a certified mental health chaplain. In 1971, he became pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Beloit, serving until 1979. While in Beloit, he was president of the Beloit Ministerial Association. He served as pastor of Denmark and Vesper Lutheran churches. Besides his pastoral duties, he was chairman of Sunflower Mental Health Center in Concordia and served as vice-chairman when Sunflower became part of Pawnee Mental Health Center in 1978. He then was chaplain of the Beloit Youth Center for several years.

Survivors include one son, Brian Piper and his wife Robin of Grapevine, Texas; one daughter, Melissa Rogers and husband Robert of Liberal, Kan.; one brother, Donald Piper of Silver Spring, Md.; one sister, Carol Jean Wolff of Huntington, W.Va.; and three grandchildren.

Besides his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents; and one sister, Margaret "Peg" Doering.

Courtesy of The Fairfield Daily Ledger Inc.; October 6, 2003