Wayne Weissenbuehler, 87, died from complications of Alzheimer’s on September 2, 2022, at Klein Center in West Burlington, Iowa.
Born August 19, 1935, in Charles City, Iowa, to his parents Henry and Anna Fredrick Weissenbuehler, Wayne was baptized and confirmed at St. John Lutheran Church. He graduated from Charles City High School in 1953, and from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa in 1957, majoring in New Testament Greek.
He married Karen Dettmer in 1957. Wayne graduated from Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa in 1961 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree, then stayed to complete a Master of Sacred Theology degree and teach in the seminary’s New Testament department.
Ordained into the American Lutheran Church in 1963, Wayne served St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pittsburg, Kansas, and Christ the King Lutheran Church in Denver, Colorado, before becoming assistant to the bishop of the Central District of the American Lutheran Church. He was elected bishop of the Central District in 1981, and in 1987 was elected the first bishop of Rocky Mountain Synod ELCA.
As bishop, Wayne helped create the Lutheran-Episcopal Concordat, served as a human shield to Lutheran bishop Medardo Gomez of El Salvador, encouraged congregations and church leaders in Madagascar and Estonia, and flew below the radar during the civil war in Namibia. He advocated for the ordination of women, served on college boards, and never, ever turned down an invitation to get in a pulpit. He loved his pastors and their congregations.
In 1993, Wayne became the senior pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. There he traveled to Papua New Guinea to teach pastors, wrote a column for The Lutheran magazine, and taught New Testament Greek in the congregation. He played his ukulele for Bethany’s preschool and told stories about Nippy Nip the snake and Lo, the apostolic train.
Retiring from Bethany in 2006, Wayne returned to Iowa to work and teach at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, and to be interim pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton, Iowa. He was associate pastor at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn., and from 2009-2014, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Burlington, Iowa, taking a month off each summer to be chaplain at Lutheran Summer Music Academy at Luther College.
In retirement, Wayne joined Messiah Lutheran Church in Burlington, Iowa, and in his last years, resided at Klein Center nursing home in West Burlington, Iowa.
He is survived by his wife, the Rev. Susanne Smith, by children Mary Giles, Sarah Weissenbuehler and husband Rev. Jeff Corson, and Matthew Weissenbuehler and wife Annell Weissenbuehler, by stepchildren Luke Armstrong and partner Sara Lovelace, and Johanna Mees and husband Eric Mees, by grandchildren Daniel Giles, Anna Wright, Adam, Rachel, Rebekah, and Sophia Corson, Elizabeth Obenchain, Nickie McKeever, and Brennan Weissenbuehler, Isaac and Sophia Armstrong, Roman and Sawyer Mees, and by many great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, by brother David, by first wife, Karen, and by an infant daughter, Ann. His memorial service will be held at Bethany Lutheran Church, Cherry Hills Village, Colo., with ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod bishop Jim Gonia and Bethany senior pastor Gary Sandburg presiding. Wayne will be buried in the columbarium at Bethany Lutheran Church, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado. He asked that memorial gifts be given to Wartburg Theological Seminary, 333 Wartburg Place, Dubuque, Iowa, 52003.