Rev. Richard Michel

The Reverend Richard Michel, age 92, an ordained Moravian minister for sixty-seven years, entered his heavenly reward Saturday morning, June 16, 2012, from his home in Chaska, Minnesota.

Born August 5, 1919, at Bluefields in the country of Nicaragua, he was a son of the late Rev. Eugene Levine and Anna Laura Wiggle Michel.

It was while studying at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota that the young man so many would grow to love as their pastor, first felt the call to the ministry. In the autumn of 1940, he transferred to the Moravian College and Theological Seminary at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and graduated with his Master of Divinity degree on January 27, 1945.

A week later, on February 3, 1945, he married Winifred Naomi Strahler. “She was blond, used little make-up, had long hair, was my size, my age, careful, truthful, faithful and pledged to follow Jesus Christ. She was exactly the kind of person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” Dick later said. Their marriage would endure sixty-seven years as well.

The Rev. Michel began his pastorate at Daggett, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in the autumn of 1945.

In 1948, he received a call to pastor the Sharon Moravian Church at Tuscarawas. For the next fourteen years, Rev. and Mrs. Michel led the growing congregation through a church remodeling, then expansion with the addition of a Sunday School department.

In 1962, Rev. Michel accepted a call to the Palmer Township Moravian Church, in Easton, Pennsylvania. After just four years, his family relocated once again to the Tuscarawas Valley to serve at Dover’s First Moravian Church from 1966 through 1974.

In 1974, the Michel family relocated again to the West Salem Moravian Church, in West Salem, IL, serving there until 1978 when he accepted his final call to the Moravian Church in Unionville, Michigan, serving there until his retirement in 1984.

Upon his retirement, Rev. Michel relocated to Gnadenhutten, and immediately went to work supporting other area clergy in their respective churches. His work as a visitation or associate pastor included The First Moravian Church and Dover South Moravian Church at Dover, the First Christian Church, the First United Methodist Church both of New Philadelphia, the Port Washington United Church of Christ, and he was pleased to once again serve at Sharon Moravian Church. In their retirement years, Rev. and Mrs. Michel were members at the Moravian Church at Gnadenhutten, and most recently were members at Christ’s Community Moravian Church in Maple Grove, MN.

While serving congregations here in the Tuscarawas Valley, his memberships included the local ministerial associations, as well as the Rotary Club of Dover.

Beside him all the while was his loving wife, Winnie, who resides at Chaska. Together, they reared a family that includes a son, Richard E. “Rick” and wife Jeannie Michel of Dover, and a daughter, the Rev. Sharon M. Benson and husband Kim of Chaska, MN.

He’ll be remembered with love by his two granddaughters, the Rev. Jennifer M. B. Moran and her husband Paul, of Maple Grove, MN, and Kristell M. Benson of Chaska, MN. Rev. Michel dearly loved his family and had the great joy and privilege of knowing well his three great-grandchildren, Evan, Emily and Sophie Moran.

A sister, Marguerite Benedett, of St. Charles, MN, and many nieces and nephews complete the family.

In addition to his parents, Richard is preceded in death by an infant sister, Emily Michel, sister Elizabeth Persons, and a brother, the Rev. Bernard Michel.

The Rev. John Wallace will lead a memorial service celebrating the Rev. Michel’s lifetime of service to God on Friday, June 29, at 2 PM in the First Moravian Church at Dover. The family will receive friends during a reception at the conclusion of the service in the church fellowship hall.

The family will gather privately for inurnment in Sharon Moravian Church Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to a church or charity of the donor’s choice.

Linn-Hert-Geib

(330) 343-5506

www.geibcares.com