Rev. Owen GANGSTEAD/Owen PETERSON

GANGSTEAD, SHEFVELAND, PETERSON, DEWEY, KREMER, FERGUSON, GATES, NOVY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/24/2007 at 00:34:59

Mason City Globe Gazette
June 26, 2004

DECORAH — The Rev. Owen Gangstead, 90, of Decorah, died on Thursday (June 17, 2004) at the Aase Haugen Home following a long illness. Memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 5, 2004, at the Decorah Lutheran Church, with the Rev. James Glesne officiating. There will be a private family burial at the Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah. There is no visitation. Fjelstul Funeral Home, 306 E. Water St. in Decorah, is handling arrangements.

Owen Gangstead was born on Oct. 4, 1913, in Linn Grove, Iowa, the second child of Matt and Anna (Shefveland) Peterson. Within six months, tuberculosis claimed his mother, and Matt’s efforts to hold the family together were not feasible. Thereafter, Owen was raised by his father’s sister and her husband, Hannah and Hans Gangstead, on their family farm near Goldfield. He was educated at Goldfield High School and at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1936. For the next three years he was a high school teacher and coach. Owen recounted experiencing an unyielding call to the ministry, and in 1939 he began studies at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He graduated in 1943, and in the same year was ordained at his rural Goldfield parish (Lake) and then installed as pastor of Lakeview Lutheran Church, north of St. Paul. On Thanksgiving Day 1943, he married Doris Davey at Eau Claire, Wis., the start of an enduring and devoted life partnership. Owen and Doris went on to serve Illinois congregations in Long Lake (Trinity) and Chicago (Grace). Their family grew to include Lois, Rebecca, Stephen and Daniel. In early 1957, Owen became pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Forest City, where he served until 1975. There he also worked closely with Waldorf College and was chairman of its board of regents for several years. His commitment to Lutheran higher education guided him to accept a call from Luther College to establish an office of church relations. He retired from the college in 1983, although he never stopped a heartfelt advocacy and ebullient support for Luther, and not least its athletic teams. He and Doris remained engaged in the faith and life of the Decorah community, with Owen performing clergy duties part time at area churches and serving nearly two years as chaplain at the Aase Haugen Home. Owen valued his long time membership in the Luren Singing Society, and took part as steadfastly as he could until his 90th birthday and just beyond. At a convocation in February 2003, Owen was honored with the “Spirit of Luther” award in recognition of his contributions to the college. The citation thanked him “for being a reminder to us of God’s expansive graciousness,” and suggested that “perhaps he always has a smile because he knows how the story comes out: to have a passion for learning and be guided by God’s spirit leads to a life of integrity and richness beyond all measure.” Owen was always a friend and encourager, and his indefatigable zeal for prayer, praise and pastoral outreach marked him up to and on June 17, 2004.

Owen was preceded in death by Doris in November 2002. He is survived by two daughters, Lois and Ulrich Kremer, of Helmstedt, Germany, and Rebecca Ferguson of Spring, Texas; two sons, Stephen, of Minneapolis, and Dan, of Decorah; by his nine grandchildren, Johanna, Nikolaus, Susanne, Pamela, Tim, Peter, Elisabeth, Rachel and Jonas; his brother, Harold Gangstead; sisters, Ruby (Peterson) Gates and Enid (Gangstead) Novy; and by his precious extended family. Fjelstul Funeral Home, (563) 382-5210.