The Reverend Luther George Strasen, 85, died on June 25, 2019, in the care of Parkview Hospice at Grey Stone Health and Rehabilitation in Fort Wayne, Indiana,
trusting in the saving merits of Jesus Christ. He was born September 22, 1933, in Nagercoil, India, the youngest of six children of missionaries, the Reverend Bernhard and Henriette Strasen. He came with his parents to the United States in 1945 and began to study for ministry in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) at Concordia High School and Junior College in Fort Wayne in 1946. In 1953, he entered Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, and was ordained on July 13, 1958, at St. Martin Lutheran Church in Clintonville, Wisconsin, where he served until 1962. His next parishes were Concordia Lutheran Church, Greenwood, Indiana, (1962-1968) and Peace Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne (1968-1996), from
where he retired from full-time ministry. He had been a member of the Board of Directors of Lutheran Hospital and belonged to the Fort Wayne Quest Club. In his retirement he served as a grant advisor for the Lutheran Foundation, as the stewardship counselor for the Indiana District of the LCMS, as the interim pastor of two congregations and as a volunteer reader at Northeast Indiana Radio Reading Service (NEIRRS). In 1957, he married Arlene Lytal, who preceded him in death in 2006. In 2007, he married Doris Mather.
He is survived by his wife Doris, son Timothy (Treva), Fort Wayne, daughters Sarah (Robert) Jacobs, Bel Air, Maryland, Catherine (Michael) Gastineau, Fort Wayne, Laura (Anthony) Hill, Fort Wayne, and son Michael (Michele), Fort Wayne, as well as 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by step-daughter Catherine (Dwight) Mather-Grimes, Fort Wayne, step-son Geoffrey (Ellen) Mather, Albuquerque, New Mexico, four step-grandchildren and a sister, Elisabeth Long, St. Louis, Missouri. He was preceded in death by two sisters
and two brothers.
Visitation will be at Peace Lutheran Church on July 15 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. and on July 16 from noon to 2:00 pm. A funeral worship service will follow visitation on July 16. Memorials to Peace Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne.
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