Sue Sitter/PCT LuAnn Trotebas, Hood River Oregon, (right) is hugged by her third cousin Marilyn Niewoehner. Luann and her husband Bernard are now members of the Tunbridge Lutheran Church board of directors.

The Tunbridge Lutheran Church board of directors, who are preserving the 119-year-old church added two members.

The new members Bernard and LuAnn Trotebas live in Hood River, Oregon. Bernard was born in France, and still travels back at times. LuAnn is Marilyn Niewoehner’s third cousin.

“The couple had already tested the waters before taking the plunge as board members by making use of online meeting software to discuss Tunbridge Church,” said LuAnn. “It was international. Because my husband was in France, and I was in Oregon and they were at the church, and it was amazing that all the technology worked.”

The board’s mission remains the restoration and preservation of the 119-year-old church and spreading the history of rural North Dakota.

“It’s important to understand that we’re trying to figure out ways to remember and to honor and to preserve and to elevate. When we can do that, everybody wins and to the people of this community, it’s another component that adds to what the history of this region is about,” said Board President Terry Jelsing. “And when we look at our future and the future of rural communities and regional communities, we start to see ways that maybe some of that knowledge is passed on to our descendants, to our children, to our relatives that makes them a little bit more hopeful, a little bit more encouraging, for future generations.”

The board’s mission does not stop there as it looks to expand its reach and spread its history using other technologies.

“We’re trying to develop a database and collect emails,” said board member Cathy Jelsing. “We kind of do a newsletter once a year, so I’m hoping maybe like in this fall, we can do an email notice about what’s happening at the church, because if they know, they can be more involved.”

LuAnn became more involved in the Tunbridge Church after the death of her mother in 2020. Her mother lived in the Bantry area, where the Trotebas’ family farm is located.

“When we got here during COVID, I thought we would just do a graveside service. My cousin and her husband said they had an idea. They said, “Let’s have a service at Tunbridge. We’ve done all this work, and I was overwhelmed with the situation, so I said, ‘Okay,’” said Luann. “It was like the doorway to coming back home and to family. I’ve been gone a very long time. That’s where it started. Then, they said they needed more board members, so I said, ‘Ok, here I am.'”

Since restoration efforts began in 2019, the church has been the site of a wedding, a funeral and a family reunion.

“Tunbridge invited the Wolford Lutheran Church to have a service Sunday, June 18. That was easy to do and they said they would do it next year. Just take the service the way it is, go over here, put it there,” said board member Marilyn Niewoehner. “After it was over, they said, ‘Could we do this again?’ and that, to me, is success.”

The board members held a reception in Rugby to welcome LuAnn and Bernard to the board Monday, July 31. Bernard was unable to attend.

“It brings back memories,” Luann said. “I remember every Memorial Day, we would make the rounds, my grandmother and I. We would stop at the Tunbridge Church and put flowers on the graves.”