Greetings to Harvey’s family and friends everywhere.
 
We look forward to seeing many of you in Sun City West, Arizona, this Saturday for Harvey’s memorial service at Lord of Life Lutheran Church at 1PM and reception thereafter.   And don’t forget the “global toast” (scotch preferred) at 3PM Pacific, wherever you happen to be. 
 
We have set up a website for remembrances of Harvey, and for his memorial  http://www.streaming.webcastandbeyond.com/harveystegemoeller/
 
The site will hopefully include a photographic history of Harvey’s life on Thursday (which will also be shown at the reception in Az),  and the site will remain up for some period of time after the memorial, but I wanted to get the website out if you would like to log in on Saturday and see (barring technical glitches) Harvey’s service streaming live over the internet.    I’m sure the ticket scalpers will get wind of it, but you heard it here first – scripture readings by John Gienapp and Harold Haas, and a eulogy by Curly Haas to go with a sermon by Ron Moe-Lobeda (no pressure, Ron – how many of your old professors are on this email list?).   There are something like 100 slots for the live streaming, and if you are not available at that time, or for some reason you can’t get on live, the service will be available on “tape delay.”
 
There is also a space on the website for you to post your favorite memory of Harvey (feel free to paste in your prior email condolences if that’s easier), and we will add content to the site after the service, the interment of Harvey’s and Marian’s ashes in the Lord of Life Columbarium, and the reception.  
 
Going through Harvey’s archives was fascinating, and I thought some of you would be interested in the attached.   After Harvey was called from his professorship at Concordia Senior College in Ft Wayne to the presidency of Concordia College in St. Paul in 1971,  he gave the commencement sermon to the graduating seniors at CSC as his “farewell.”   That sermon (with his chicken scratches) is attached.  He preached on Paul’s famous reconciliation text from II Corinthians 5: 17-21.   In another file, I found his first “call to service” to Fort Wayne in 1958 (where he became an assistant professor for $435/month).  Lo and behold – the text imprinted on the first page was II Corinthians 5:18.   So the “bookends” of his ministry as a professor and counselor in Fort Wayne, which he cherished his whole life, were tied to this beautiful promise of reconciliation.  I will never forget my August trip to Ft. Wayne with Harvey for his last reunion (for the time being, anyway…) with many of you.  He would be the first to tell you that he had a great life, and to give thanks for all of you who were part of it.
 
Please join us in celebrating God’s final reconciliation with Harvey on Saturday.  Much love, Mark

Rest eternal grant her, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon her.

Services at St. Paul’s, Wednesday, October 28, 11 a.m. 

Elmer was born in Davenport, Iowa, on March 11, 1918, the second of five children of Fred C.E. and Carrie Hansen. His father was a Lutheran minister and his mother was a school teacher. The family moved around the Midwest to the various churches where the Rev. Hansen served as pastor. Elmer was a basketball player and cross country runner at Milwaukee’s Riverside High School, from which he graduated in 1936. After working at various jobs he studied at Dana College in Blair, Neb., before joining the Army Air Corps during World War II. He served in the Air Corps as a B-17 pilot and pilot instructor, which lead to a lifelong interest in aviation.

Elmer and his first wife, Evelyn, whom he met in Council Bluffs, Iowa, moved to Southern California in 1958 with their daughter Kathleen. He became an agent for   Allstate Insurance, a company he would remain with for 38 years.

The family eventually settled in Santa Monica and became members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Following Elmer’s retirement, he and Evelyn moved to Solvang. Alzheimer’s disease claimed Evelyn’s life in December 1993.

Elmer and Charlotte Bayer renewed acquaintances when he was in Santa Monica to attend a Sunday service at St. Paul’s in early 1996. They began meeting for lunch dates in Ventura — the midway point between their respective homes in Solvang and Santa Monica. They were married at St. Paul’s on Dec. 7, 1996.

During the next 12½ years they spent weeks at a time living at Charlotte’s longtime home in Santa Monica Canyon, then drove up to Solvang for lengthy stays at Elmer’s condominium there. They enjoyed the camaraderie of a wide circle of family and friends in both communities and worshiped regularly at both St. Paul’s and at Bethania Lutheran Church in Solvang. They traveled often, including trips to Scandinavia, Canada, New England, the Midwest and the Northwest in addition to touring California extensively.

Elmer was hospitalized after a fall in June and his health began to steadily decline. He passed away Oct. 13 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica at the age of 91.

He is survived by his wife Charlotte, daughter Kathleen Quigg of Paso Robles, three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, his sisters Rhoda Daggett of Wisconsin and Deloris Bengtson of Illinois, and numerous nephews, nieces and step-relatives. 

In addition to today’s memorial service at St. Paul’s, a graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Solvang Cemetery, where he will be buried next to Evelyn. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you make a donation to St. Paul’s, the Alzheimer’s Association or the charity of your choice.