Rev. Gene H. Hermeier

Monday, June 18, 2018 6:43 pm

Rev. Gene H. Hermeier, 86, of Decorah, died Sunday morning, June 17, 2018, at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minn. Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Friday, June 22, at First Lutheran Church in Decorah, with Rev. Chad Huebner officiating and Rev. Paul Cross and Rev. Elizabeth Hermeier assisting. Burial is in Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah. Visitation begins at 10 a.m. Friday, one hour before the service, at First Lutheran Church.

Gene Harland Hermeier was born Aug. 20, 1931, to Elmer (Dick) and Amanda (Carlsborg) Hermeier of rural Waukon. He grew up on a dairy farm and was adept at working on tractors and other farm machinery. Gene attended Waukon High School, where he was involved in football and baseball, graduating in 1949. In the fall of the same year, he went on to attend Luther College, graduating in 1953 with a history major. While a freshman at Luther, Gene met Ruby Fern Totman and they married June 7, 1953. Gene and Ruby had four daughters – Paula, Kristi, Nancy and Kari – all born between 1954 and 1961.

Gene continued his education at the University of Northern Iowa and then taught world and american history at the high school in Grinnell before attending Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque. Gene was ordained at St. John’s Lutheran in Waukon July 2, 1961, and accepted his first call in North Dakota where he served as pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Riverdale and St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Coleharbor, N.D.

During the 1960s, Gene was deeply affected by the Civil Rights Movement. He trained at The Urban Training Institute for Christian Mission and traveled to Chicago to participate in marches and protests, including lying on Lake Shore Drive.

As a result, he spent several nights in the Cook County Jail along with other protestors. In 1965, through the American Lutheran Church, Gene and family moved to Council Bluffs, where Gene founded a mission congregation that became the first racially integrated Lutheran Church in Iowa, Shepherd of the Valley.

Gene went on to serve Lutheran congregations including Zion Lutheran Church, Des Moines (1972-78); Redeemer Lutheran Church, Fridley, Minn. (1978-92); and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Naperville, Ill. (1992-93). After Naperville, Gene and Ruby lived in several communities in north Iowa and the suburbs of the Twin Cities as Gene served in a series of interim pastoral calls. In 2001, they moved to Decorah to “retire.”

In his retirement, Gene continued his interim pastoral duties, serving a total of 12 Lutheran congregations including Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp, Milford; Milford Baptist, Milford; First Lutheran, Milford; St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Ringsted; First Lutheran, White Bear Lake, Minn.; First Lutheran, Mabel, Minn.; Trinity Lutheran, Spring Grove, Minn.; American Lutheran in Jesup; Immanuel Lutheran in Cresco; Stavanger Lutheran, Ossian; Zion Lutheran, Alta Vista; and Jerico Lutheran, Lawler. Gene concluded regular service as a Lutheran pastor in 2015, at age 83. Since then, Gene and Ruby have been active members of First Lutheran Church in Decorah.

In addition to serving congregations, Gene helped found and lead the Lutheran Cursillo Movement in both Iowa and Minnesota and was invited to lead in development of this renewal movement in Papua, New Guinea, where it continues to this day.

His social activism included shutting down a prostitution ring in Fridley. Gene was also very active in Lutheran Prison Ministries, along with members of his congregation in Des Moines. In Council Bluffs, he served as a member of the school board.

On his days off, Gene enjoyed tinkering with cars, working the land with area farmers and taking his various campers on weekend retreats in nature. He was also an avid reader and loved Western movies. Gene and Ruby traveled extensively around the U.S. and Canada, and to destinations in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Australia and Oceania.

Gene established many meaningful relationships with people from all walks of life. Out of the first prison retreat at Ft. Madison, a relationship began with an inmate, Hugh Alfred Davis. After his release from prison, Hugh lived with the Hermeier family for several years in both Des Moines and Fridley, Minn. and the relationship continued to bless the family until Hugh’s death. Hugh was baptized at Redeemer Lutheran Church.

Gene’s life was most deeply shaped by his commitment to faith and family. He was a man of God, striving to live out his faith in all he did. His devotion to his wife Ruby and his family was a second pillar of his life.

Gene was preceded in death by his parents, Dick and Amanda Hermeier; his brother, Rev. Allen Hermeier; brother-in-law, Ronald Stockdale; and daughter Kristi.

He is survived by wife, Ruby Hermeier of Decorah, sister, Carol Stockdale of Tacoma, Wash., sister-in-law, Helen Hermeier of Decorah, daughters: Paula (Kurt) Meyer of Edina, Minn., Nancy (Dale) Hershfield of Chicago, Ill. and Kari (David) Jensen of Colgate, Wis. Gene also is survived by seven grandchildren: Margaret (Matt) Tyler of Chicago, Ill., Eleanor (Andre) Smith of Chicago, Ill., Ethan Meyer of Bloomington, Minn., Josef (Julia) Olynyk of Omaha, Neb., Lukas Olynyk of Washington, D.C., Leah (Michael) Switzer of Woodbury, Minn. and Hanna Jensen of Ft. Collins, Colo.. Gene was blessed with and also is survived by four great-grandchildren: Leo Robert and Dottie Rose Olynyk, Louisa June Tyler and Caroline Rose Switzer.

Gene lived a full life of faithful service to our God. Blessed be his memory!
Memorial Gifts may be given to Luther College or Friends of Ngong Road: Luther College, Kristi Lee Hermeier Scholarship, Development Office, 700 College Drive, Decorah, IA 52101. Friends of Ngong Road, PO Box 581308, Minneapolis, MN 55458.

Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah is serving the family. Online condolences may be made at fjelstul.com.