Niemuth, Delmar - 1930-2012

BAUDOT, KNAACK, NIEMUTH

Posted By: Polk volunteer
Date: 8/8/2024 at 09:21:50

Pastor Delmar Niemuth, 82, died Sunday, November 11, 2012, at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday, November 15, at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines. Cremation will follow services and burial of the cremated remains will be held at a later date.
Delmar was born to Charles and Olga (Knaack) Niemuth on March 3, 1930, near Caroline, WI (Town of Grant, Shawano County). He had two older brothers, Kenneth and Myron (Mike) and one younger brother, Merlin. Del graduated from Marion High School in Marion, WI in 1948 and then spent one year helping on their farm following his father's knee surgery. After attending one semester at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and following his brother Merlin's death of leukemia, Del transferred to Wartburg College in Waverly, IA, a four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the American Lutheran Church. He was enrolled in a pre-theological course with a major in Sociology. In 1953, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and enrolled in Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA.
On June 19, 1954, Del and his fiance, Madeleine "Lynn" Baudot, whom he had met at Wartburg College, were married in her home church in Oconomowoc, WI.
His Junior year was spent in an internship program at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Santa Ana, CA. Upon graduation from Wartburg Seminary in June of 1957 with a Master of Divinity degree, Del enrolled in a six-week Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Emmanuel Hospital in Portland, OR. While there, he received and accepted a call to serve Trinity Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City, OK, a mission congregation of the American Lutheran Church. While serving there, the congregation voted to relocate their small church to a new location and built a new church and education unit to serve their needs. Del was also elected by the Oklahoma Conference of the ALC to represent the conference as a delegate to the founding convention of The American Lutheran Church, a newly formed church body brought about through the merger of the former American Lutheran Church and several smaller church bodies. Del and Lynn lived and served in Oklahoma City for eight years, where their three sons, Brian, Brad, and Brent, were born.
In the summer of 1965, Del received a call to Abiding Peace Lutheran Church in Kansas City, MO, another mission congregation. While in Kansas City, Del served on the founding board of directors of the Metropolitan Lutheran Ministry, an organization which was formed to work at meeting the needs of inner city residents who were in need of help with food, clothing, etc. This organization has grown and expanded it services in the years since it was first formed. Del was also a member of the Kiwanis Club in Kansas City.
After ten years of service at Abiding Peace, he opted to participate in another CPE program at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, IA. He gave consideration to hospital or nursing home chaplaincy but parish life still called and, after two years of secular employment, in late fall of 1978, he accepted a call to St. Peter Lutheran Church in Grimes, IA, approximately three miles from Des Moines. While serving there, the congregation undertook a complete remodeling of the Church's interior. Del served as a member of the Lion's Club in Grimes as well. In 1986, due to ill health, Del resigned from St. Peter and moved to Urbandale where he and Lynn have lived to the present.
Del enjoyed baseball (as a participant when young and as a spectator when no longer able to play), riding horseback, classic cars, polka and big band music, and taking part in family gatherings.
Del was preceded in death by his parents; and his brothers, Ken, Mike, and Merlin; and his sister-in-law, Elaine. He is survived by his wife, Lynn; three sons, Brian (Beth) of Altoona, Brad of Kansas City, MO, and Brent (Della) also of Kansas City, MO; five grandchildren, Brandon (Holli), Brooke, Brock, Brody and Brenna; and one great-granddaughter, Brylee, as well as one sister-in-law, and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, at Grace Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Wartburg Seminary Scholarship Fund, Grace Lutheran Church or Oaks Indian Mission, in Oaks, OK. Online condolences will be welcomed at IlesCares.com.
Published in Des Moines (IA) Register; Tuesday, November 13, 2012, page 4B