Thomas R Decker
Chaplain Colonel U.S.Army Retired

We want you to know that my wife Janice and I still remember my vicarage at Trinity Lutheran Church and Peace Lutheran under the tutelage of Pastor Carl Fischer. I was about a month late for the vicarage assignment due to the imminent birth of our first child. Pastor Carl Fischer assigned the newly arrived vicar to fold the upcoming Sunday bulletins.

Jan recalls her deep gratitude for the gift of a used washer and dryer from Gus and Linda Henning soon after the arrival of our baby, born in St. Josephs Hospital in Bellingham on October 16, 1967. With a new baby in the house, the appliances were a welcome addition for the vicars family in Blaine.

The baby, Justin Thomas Decker, was baptized in Blaine by the proud new vicar father on Reformation Sunday. Jan also recalls Eunice Fischer's open invitation to join the Fischer household for dinners on Monday nights when I had campus ministry duties at Western Washington University.

Those were turbulent times for the United States and for God's people with the riots in Watts, Detroit, the ongoing war in Viet Nam and the death of Martin Luther King Jr.. We recall that God's grace sustained us then and remember that He is still with us.

We rejoice with you for the memories and the shared ministry from that time long ago in 1967 and 1968.
 

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