Rev. Dr. Gerald White
Rev. Dr. Gerald White,
age 95, of Winger, MN,
passed away on Tuesday,
January 4th, at his home.
Funeral services will be
held at 3:00 p.m. on Sa-
turday, January 15th, at
Calvary Lutheran Church
in Winger. Interment will
be in Bethel Cemetery,
rural Winger, in the
spring. Visitation will be
held for one hour prior to
the service at the church
on Saturday (January
15th). The funeral will be
recorded and available on
the Carlin website after
the service. Mask use at
the funeral is required.
Arrangements are with
Carlin Family Funeral
Service of Fosston and
messages of condolence
may be shared at
www.carlinfuneral.com.
After high school gra-
duation in 1944, he enlist-
ed in the US Army Air
Corps as an Aviation
Cadet and while awaiting
flight training, learned ra-
dio mechanic at Truax
Airfield in Madison, WI.
After the war, he attended
Concordia College in
Moorhead and Luther
Seminary, St. Paul. He
was ordained at Bethel
Lutheran Church, Winger,
in 1953 on a call to White
Earth, ND.
He married Inez Hagen
of Kindred, ND, and fol-
lowing her death in 1956,
earned an M.S. in Chem-
istry at NDSU in Fargo.
Although invited to
remain at NDSU, he felt
called to Bethlehem Luth-
eran Church in Kalispell,
MT, where he met and
married Joyce Alton.
Later, the couple moved
to Camrose, Alberta,
where Gerald taught
Chemistry and Bible at
Camrose Lutheran Junior
College for two years, and
where their first daughter,
Stephanie, now a pastor
in Shelby Montana, was
born. Their next move
brought them to Concor-
dia Seminary, St. Louis,
MO, to complete a ThD in
Old Testament and Semi-
tic Languages.
In 1962 he accepted a
call to Bruflat and Trinity
Lutheran Churches in
Portland, ND. While serv-
ing the parish, he institut-
ed a Lay School of Theol-
ogy, and also taught pas-
tors in the Charis and
Great Plains Schools of
Theology in North Dakota.
He also became Associate
Professor of Chemistry
and taught world religions
at Mayville State Univer-
sity. While in Portland,
four more daughters were
born: Christine, Rebecca,
JoAnn, and Katherine.
In 1972, Gerald was
called to Trinity Lutheran
Church in Moorhead to
become Education Pastor.
From there, he moved to
Rugby, ND, to serve the
Bethany and Berwick
congregations, before
moving back to the family
farm near Winger in 1978.
He accepted a call to the
Faaberg/Norman/Ness par-
ish at Rindal, MN where
he served for 10 years be-
fore retiring (for the first
time!) and moving with
his wife for her job at Dic-
kinson, ND. While there
he served as interim pas-
tor at the UCC church,
and taught chemistry and
World Religions and su-
pervised student teachers
at Dickinson State Univer-
sity.
Four years later they
moved back to the family
farm at Winger, and for
the next 11years, he
served as Visitation Pastor
at Hope Lutheran Church
in Fosston, followed by
supply preaching at Cal-
vary Lutheran in Winger
(where he had been con-
firmed) and Immanuel
Lutheran in Bejou for
several years. After more
than 60 years of church
ministry, Gerald retired
again to build a chapel on
the home farm to house
and preserve the contents
of Sand Hill Lutheran
Church which was being
demolished. In this
chapel he conducted
several Norwegian
language services, honor-
ing the faith and heritage
from the pioneers of the
area.
Gerald, like the rest of
the “Greatest Generation”
of WWII, was a remark-
able man and a faithful
servant of God. He leaves
his wife of 62 years, his
daughters Pr. Stephanie
White, of Shelby, MT;
Christine (Dale) Lennon,
of Bismarck, Pr, Rebecca
(Todd) Worner, Starbuck,
MN; Dr. JoAnn (Ehsan)
Khaleel, San Diego, CA;
and Katherine White
(Hiten Doshi), Anaheim,
CA. He also leaves two
foster sons, Cuong Le
(Hang), Andover, MN, and
Truc Le (Vy), Kent, WA;
17 grandchildren and 8
great grandchildren.