Lloyd E Sheneman

The Rev. Dr. Lloyd E. Sheneman (84) a Lutheran minister, seminary professor and Lutheran church executive died on May 21st at Paoli Hospital. He had battled chronic lymphocytic leukemia for nearly 30 years and finally succumbed to pneumonia and other complications.

Rev. Dr. Lloyd Sheneman was born in Anderson County, Kansas on January 27, 1929, the son of McKinley Sheneman and Hattie (Bennett) Sheneman. He was the youngest of three siblings, Ralph Sheneman and Maxine Carlson. He grew up in Coffey County and Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1950, having received the Francis Schlegel Carruth Scholarship in German.

After graduating from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in January 1953, he served as Assistant Pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa. He studied theology in Germany during the 1953-54 academic year. He married Martha E. Sprenger, of Fort Madison, Iowa on January 1, 1956.

Rev. Sheneman entered Yale Divinity School in 1961 where he completed a PhD in Christian Education in the spring of 1964. While at Yale, he was awarded a University Scholarship and a Rockefeller Doctoral Fellowship. He was called as an Assistant Professor to the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After being named Professor, Sheneman served as Acting Dean of the Seminary. He received a Franklin Clark Fry Fellowship from the Aid Association for Lutherans, enabling a sabbatical study year.

Rev. Dr. Sheneman accepted a post as the first director of the Washington Theological Consortium in 1969. He also directed the start-up of Gettysburg’s Lutheran House of Studies in Washington, DC.

In 1971, Rev. Dr. Sheneman became the Director for Theological Education of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). From 1974 to 1988, he served as the Executive Director of the LCA’s Division for Professional Leadership.

From 1988 to 1992, Rev. Dr. Sheneman returned to parish ministry, serving as interim pastor at two Philadelphia-area congregations and on the pastoral staff at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Devon, PA. He later served for several years as Special Counselor to the President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Rev. Dr. Sheneman is survived by his wife of 57 years, Martha, four children – Kathryn Leonard (Allentown, PA), John Sheneman (Highwood, IL), Sara Sheneman (Lansdowne, PA) and Robert Sheneman (Flemington, NJ) and nine living grandchildren.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Memorial service on Saturday, June 29th at 11:00 am at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Devon. Visitation Saturday morning 10-11 in the Church. . Arrangements through Alleva Funeral Home, Inc. Paoli, PA. Memorial contributions can be made to the Scholarship Fund of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia or St. Luke Lutheran Church of Devon.