Don’t forget your Annual Fund giving!
Each year nearly 10,000 alumni, parents, and friends support the Annual Fund with gifts from $5 to $50,000.  Strong support from alumni helps Luther secure additional funds from foundations and corporations, and your gift each year helps us to reach our goal of 30% alumni giving to the Annual Fund.  Here’s how your class is doing so far this year:

CLASS of 1949 TOTAL GIVING:  $15,058.60 from 34.09% of the CLASS*

Have you made your 2011 gift to Luther?  Please visit www.givenow.luther.edu to make a difference for Luther students.  Thank you!

Please note: Your Spring 2012 class agent letter will include a listing of your classmates who gave to Luther during 2011.  Be sure to make your gift before December 31 to be included.

*as of October 21, 2011

Class Notes
JERRY MOE and his wife, Birthe, to whom he has been married for the past 56 years, went on a Russian river cruise, from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Jerry is interim pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Merrillville, Ind.

Obituaries
JOHN “JACK” COLBY of Hanlontown, Iowa, died June 18, 2010, at age 82. He attended the University of Iowa and graduated from Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa, and Luther. Jack went on to earn a degree from Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., and was commissioned as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy and served in the Korean Conflict. When honorably discharged, he began working with his father in the family business, Colby Pioneer Peat Co., and also completed graduate work at the University of Minnesota. Jack later moved to Floodwood, Minn., where he developed the northern Minnesota branch of the business. Upon his parents’ deaths, he returned with his family to Hanlontown to join his brother as co-owner of the company. In Floodwood, Jack served on the school board, as an interim minister, as a substitute school teacher, and with the fire department. In Hanlontown, he was a member of Community Club and an active member of Grace Lutheran Church, where he served as congregation president, a member of the church council and the cemetery board, and a Sunday school teacher. Jack also served on the city council and received the Governor’s Leadership Award through the Iowa Community Betterment Program. He was an avid reader and loved a good game of cards, the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, computer games, daily coffee with the men, and tacos at the Fertile Cafe. Jack is survived by his wife, Marilynn; children, Beth Plautz, Pam Colby, Linda Colby, Karen Colby, and Thomas Colby; and seven grandchildren.

HARVEY GILBERTSON of Fargo, N.D., died March 28, 2011, at age 88. After one semester at Luther, he volunteered for the Army Enlisted Reserve Corps.  Called to active duty in 1943, Harvey earned an Expert Rifleman Award in basic training. After a stint as a cadre instructor at Camp Callan, Calif., he was sent to the European front, serving in both the Anti-Aircraft Division and the 104th Infantry Division. Harvey saw action in three major battles―Ramagen Bridgehead between France and Germany, the Rhineland Campaign, and the Battle for Central Europe. Honorably discharged in 1946, he returned to Luther to graduate. Harvey graduated from Luther Theological Seminary and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1953. He and his wife, ESTHER (LERUD) GILBERTSON ’48, served parishes in McGrath, Minn.; Stanley, N.D.; and Lake Mills and Monticello, Iowa. After retiring to Fargo in 1986, Harvey served for ten years as visitation pastor at Hope Lutheran. He has been a member of First Lutheran Church since 1996. Harvey loved fishing, was a master woodworker, and always had a stack of books next to his chair. He is survived by his wife, Esther; four children, Joanne Whiting, Carol Grimm, Mark Gilbertson, and Greg Gilbertson; nine grandchildren, including Erin Van Winkle Grimm ’99; and one great-granddaughter. 

THALIA (WITTMAN) KRETZSCHMAR of Apple Valley, Minn., formerly of Plymouth, Minn., died March 18, 2011, at age 84. After graduation from Luther, she earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Minnesota in 1961 and worked as a teacher and librarian, and as a cataloger at the University of Minnesota Library. Thalia was preceded in death by her husband, Carl. 

DOROTHEA (OFSTEDAL) HELMS, a longtime resident of Valparaiso, Ind., and a member of the Mesquite, Nev., community since 2006, died Feb. 6, 2011, at age 85. She attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., and graduated from Luther. Dorothea was a devoted member of the Lutheran Church and was active in the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, serving as a missionary to Japan from 1950-52. She served in several positions supporting church leaders, including the executive director of the Department of Christian Education for the Evangelical Lutheran Church.  While working at Luther, Dorothea met her husband, John Helms, then on the college’s faculty. In 1960 they moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., where John wrote his dissertation at the University of Michigan and Dorothea worked as a secretary in a law firm. In 1963 John joined the faculty at Valparaiso University, where Dorthea worked as office manager of the Valparaiso University Credit Union, retiring in 1990.  She then lived in Reutlingen, Germany, for three years while John served as director of Valparaiso’s Overseas Studies Center. Dorothea gently touched people’s lives with her caring spirit and compassion for others; she will be remembered for leading a faith-based, gratitude-filled servant life.  The John and Dorothea Ofstedal Helms Scholarship was established at Luther in 2005. Dorthea is survived by her husband, John; three daughters; four grandchildren; and three siblings, RACHEL (OFSTEDAL) ASCHIM ’52, PAUL OFSTEDAL ’54, and STEPHANIE (OFSTEDAL) TESCH ’59. She was preceded in death by two sisters, including EUNICE (OFSTEDAL) STRANDJORD ’50, and her father, RUDOLF OFSTEDAL ’21.

EDWARD NELSON of Grand Forks, N.D., died Oct. 26, 2010, at age 86. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II in both Europe and Asia and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After his military service, Ed graduated from Luther with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He went on to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate in mathematics, both from the University of Minnesota. Ed was a member of the mathematics department at the University of North Dakota for more than 35 years, retiring in 1993. He was fond of gardening, fishing, and hunting, and spending time with his family. Playing cribbage and working crossword puzzles were favorite pastimes. Ed enjoyed his many travels, including his yearly trips to the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. He was a member of President’s Council at Luther. Ed is survived by three daughters and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Bobbe. 

VIRGINIA "GINA" OLSEN of Seattle died June 15, 2010, at age 83. After graduation from Luther, she served as a librarian at schools in Dassel (Minn.), Rhinelander (Wis.), and Elmhurst and Skokie (Ill.), and worked for two years as a librarian for an advertising agency. Gina joined the foreign service and worked as the librarian for the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, Germany, for 20 years. She also taught at the Department of Defense Dependents School in Bonn. While Gina was in Germany, NORMAN BARTH ’50 served for a time as the personnel officer at the embassy, and Norm and his wife, JANET (HELLIE) BARTH ’50, became dear friends of Gina. She retired to Seattle in 1989 rather than face the cold winters and hot summers of the Midwest. Gina enjoyed reading mystery stories from the public library and having weekly Sunday conversations with her friend, DOROTHY ANDERSEN HILL ’51.