Mickelson, Richard Pastor -- 1947 - 1998

MICKELSON

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall
Date: 4/10/2007 at 04:51:28

RICHARD (PASTOR RICK) MICKELSON

Born: Decorah, Iowa, February 19, 1947

Died: Epping, April 20, 1998

Pastor Rick served St Marks Lutheran Church, Epping, from January 1994 until his death.

He arrived in Australia in 1989 as a pastor on loan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and was pastor of the Bethany-Tabor parish, Tanuda, in South Australia's Barossa Valley before moving to Sydney.

Between 1990 and 1993 he was a Board of Aboriginal Missions member which gave him an opportunity to learn about the cultural diversity and impact of one culture on another.

For two years he was a Joint Church Action Group member assisting in leadership training workshops for clergy and laity in responding to the victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

After education at public schools in Moorehead, Minnesota, he gained an arts degree from Concordia college, Moorhead, with a sociology major in 1974.

He served as a student chaplain in clinical education at Bryan Memorial Hospital, Lincoln, Nebraska, from June 1976 to August 1977.

After earning a Master of Divinity degree and certification for the Ordained Ministry of Word and Sacrament from Wartburg Theological Seminary, he was ordained at the Calvary Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 25, 1978.

He enjoyed finding out about the work of people in the area in which he lived and in the Barossa Valley, learned about shearing, grape growing, making wine and wine barrels.

At St Marks he learned about life in a worldclass city and the joys and pressures of urban life.

He was involved in the rebirth of the NSW Lutheran Community Care Committee. As a clergy member and secretary he worked to extend the understanding of welfare ministry in the district.

At his memorial service the pastor was described as a warm, loving person.

Pastor Rick is survived by his wife Carol whom he married in February 1970, their two daughters, Marna and Karyn, and granddaughter, Zoe.

~Daily Telegraph, Sydney, Australia
June 15, 1998