Associate Pastor Bob Brown and parish administrator Linda Cole are retiring. He has been the assistant pastor since 1990, and she’s held her position since 1997.
“We are all blessed with specific talents or skills and God provides opportunities to use these gifts. Pastor Bob and Linda were called to Peace at just the right time to use their gifts in Peace’s evolving ministries,” said Jerry Haun, a longtime Peace member and former congregation council president.
“I guess pastors don’t really ‘retire’ in the sense that ministry ends for us, but the shape of ministry takes on a new form,” said Pastor Brown, a 1964 graduate of Belmont High School.
His past ministry included years as a lay missionary in Papua New Guinea, where he returned as a pastor after attending the Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus. He left New Guinea to become the assistant pastor at Peace.
He hopes to be remembered as “a welcoming face and as a person who had faith and a great love for children.”
“Linda was a longtime member of Peace before she followed the call to seminary. It has been a wonderful blessing to serve with her,” he said.
“He began as my pastor and became my colleague and good friend. I will miss seeing him on a daily basis,” Cole said.
The 1960 graduate of John H. Patterson Co-Operative High School retired from the Monsanto Research Corp. after 32 years, during which she earned degrees from Sinclair Community College in Electronic Data Processing and Personnel, from Park College in management and from Central Michigan University in administration.
Upon her retirement in 1992, she entered Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, graduating in 1995 with a master’s degree in Lay Ministry.
Her official title at Peace was associate in ministry for parish administration and pastoral care. While much of her work was as business manager, there was also a pastoral care side.
“There have been many instances over the years that my time was centered on an individual’s life situation rather than the day-to-day business aspects of the parish.”
She hopes to be remembered by the congregation as “someone who loves and cares for them. I hope they remember my sense of humor, often subtle and sometimes quirky.”
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