Obituaries
David Lindsey Lohr
( February 21, 1941 - March 27, 2016 )
The Reverend David Lindsey Lohr, age 75, died peacefully at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016.
Born February 21, 1941, to G. Edmund and Gladys Lackey Lohr, he grew up in Lincolnton, NC and graduated from Lincolnton High School in 1958. He began a program in engineering at North Carolina State University, but transferred to Lenoir-Rhyne College and graduated in the class of 1963. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Maywood Seminary (now Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago) in 1967 and returned that year to North Carolina for his first pastoral appointment at Wittenberg Lutheran Church in Granite Quarry. Following graduate work at the University of South Carolina, he was called to Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church in Saluda, SC. He then went to Ascension Lutheran Church in Shelby, NC where he served for twenty-five years. In his retirement Rev. Lohr filled an interim pastor position at Bethany Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC. Over four decades of ministry he served on numerous boards and committees in the community and the NC Synod of the ELCA including Lutheran Services for the Aging, Lutheran Family Services, and NC Synod Council. He was a volunteer fireman, a member of civic groups such as the Lions Club, and a volunteer at Christian Cooperative Ministry. He was a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC.
A thoughtful preacher and compassionate leader, he took particular delight in thinking through questions of reason and knowledge in the life of faith. He was a theologian who enjoyed wrestling with difficult questions and who lived out his baptismal vocation with love and joy. An aspiring banjo player, his heart and his home were always filled with music, and he rejoiced in introducing his grandchildren to classical and popular works.
A memorial service with Holy Communion will be held on Thursday, April 7, at 10am at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 547 6th St NW in Hickory, NC. The family will receive friends following the service. Bishop Tim Smith and the Reverend William Miller-Zurell will officiate. Rev. Lohr will be inurned in a service at the columbarium at Ascension Lutheran Church in Shelby, NC later that afternoon.
He is survived by his wife of fifty years, Betty Pugh Lohr; daughters: Cindy and son-in-law Steve Kelly; Christy Lohr Sapp and son-in-law Paul Sapp; grandchildren: Sadie and Riley; sisters: Jane Golden and Mary Lohr; brother Ed Lohr and wife Faye; in-laws: Mary Belle Overton, Clarence and Joyce Pugh, Ann Strickland; many nieces and nephews; kidney donor, Kathy Greathouse.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be sent to Lutheran Services of the Carolinas, PO Box 947, Salisbury, NC 28145, the Lutheran School of Theology, 1100 E. 53rd Street, Chicago, IL 60615, Lenoir-Rhyne University, 625 7th Avenue, NE, Hickory, NC 28601, or the American Kidney Fund, 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20852.
Born February 21, 1941, to G. Edmund and Gladys Lackey Lohr, he grew up in Lincolnton, NC and graduated from Lincolnton High School in 1958. He began a program in engineering at North Carolina State University, but transferred to Lenoir-Rhyne College and graduated in the class of 1963. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Maywood Seminary (now Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago) in 1967 and returned that year to North Carolina for his first pastoral appointment at Wittenberg Lutheran Church in Granite Quarry. Following graduate work at the University of South Carolina, he was called to Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church in Saluda, SC. He then went to Ascension Lutheran Church in Shelby, NC where he served for twenty-five years. In his retirement Rev. Lohr filled an interim pastor position at Bethany Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC. Over four decades of ministry he served on numerous boards and committees in the community and the NC Synod of the ELCA including Lutheran Services for the Aging, Lutheran Family Services, and NC Synod Council. He was a volunteer fireman, a member of civic groups such as the Lions Club, and a volunteer at Christian Cooperative Ministry. He was a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC.
A thoughtful preacher and compassionate leader, he took particular delight in thinking through questions of reason and knowledge in the life of faith. He was a theologian who enjoyed wrestling with difficult questions and who lived out his baptismal vocation with love and joy. An aspiring banjo player, his heart and his home were always filled with music, and he rejoiced in introducing his grandchildren to classical and popular works.
A memorial service with Holy Communion will be held on Thursday, April 7, at 10am at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 547 6th St NW in Hickory, NC. The family will receive friends following the service. Bishop Tim Smith and the Reverend William Miller-Zurell will officiate. Rev. Lohr will be inurned in a service at the columbarium at Ascension Lutheran Church in Shelby, NC later that afternoon.
He is survived by his wife of fifty years, Betty Pugh Lohr; daughters: Cindy and son-in-law Steve Kelly; Christy Lohr Sapp and son-in-law Paul Sapp; grandchildren: Sadie and Riley; sisters: Jane Golden and Mary Lohr; brother Ed Lohr and wife Faye; in-laws: Mary Belle Overton, Clarence and Joyce Pugh, Ann Strickland; many nieces and nephews; kidney donor, Kathy Greathouse.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be sent to Lutheran Services of the Carolinas, PO Box 947, Salisbury, NC 28145, the Lutheran School of Theology, 1100 E. 53rd Street, Chicago, IL 60615, Lenoir-Rhyne University, 625 7th Avenue, NE, Hickory, NC 28601, or the American Kidney Fund, 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20852.
Posted on 29 Mar 2016
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125 Dave Warlick Drive
Lincolnton, NC 28092
704/735-2521