Donald Frederick Koenig

Ordination and first call as a Lutheran minister was to Cross Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska in 1951 after a graduate fellowship with the International Walther League in Chicago. Lutheran congregations he also served were St. John in Millvale, PA, Holy Cross in San Diego, CA, and Mammoth Lakes Lutheran in California. He served as interim and relief pastor in the Pacific NW when churches needed assistance until 2011 – a full 60 years of service.

“Dutch” met Ruth Gugel, a daughter of a Lutheran minister, while he was working at the Walther League and asked her to marry him 4 weeks later. They married on March 31, 1951 in Fort Wayne, Indiana by her father and his uncle. The 66 years of marriage meant that Ruth was involved in church responsibilities, as well as being a registered nurse, mother, grandmother and great- grandmother.

He felt blessed with six children, David (Heather), Philip (Debra), Mark (Sue), Linda (Joe), Robert and Daniel (Kim), 16 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

“Dutch” was a true Hoosier who loved basketball. In 2014, he was inducted into the Concordia High School Athletic Hall of Fame for his leadership and scoring on the court. As an all-star, he played against the Harlem Globetrotters. In college, he was known as the Flying Dutchman on the court.