A Celebration of Life will be held at 11 am Saturday, July 24, 2021, at Trinity Lutheran Church, with Bishop Susan Candea officiating. Private inurnment is planned.
Donald Luther Conrad was born July 20, 1929 in Chicago, IL, to Rev. Theodore and Alice Conrad. He was named and claimed in baptism as a beloved child of God August 4, 1929. He was raised in a parsonage family, first living in Rush City and then St. Peter, MN, where he completed high school, and entered Gustavus Adolphus College in 1945, graduating cum laude in 1949. Don attended Augustana Theological Seminary in Rock Island, IL, beginning in the fall of 1949, with an internship in Galesburg IL, and a year in Europe (June 1952-August 1953). He graduated in May 1954 and was ordained into the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, June 20, 1954. His first call was at Bethel Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN and Zion Lutheran Church (Hart Lake) Cass Lake, MN, where he served July 1954 to January 1959.
While at the seminary, he met Janice Young of Frewsburg, NY, to whom he was joined in marriage July 7, 1956.
His second call was to Messiah Lutheran Church in Lindsborg, KS, where he served from 1959 until 1965. The call was expanded to serve also Freemount Lutheran Church, rural Lindsborg. In August 1965 he began 27 years of ministry as Lutheran Campus Pastor at the University of Kansas. After retiring in 1992, Don was summoned by the MO-KS Synod to serve interim ministries from 1992 at St. Mark’s Lutheran (Kansas City, MO), Lord of Love Lutheran (Belton, MO), All Saints (Blue Springs, MO), Faith Lutheran (Prairie Village, KS), Reformation Lutheran (Wichita, KS), First Lutheran (Topeka, KS), Holy Cross (Overland Park, KS), Gloria Dei Lutheran (Kansas City, MO), Atonement Lutheran (Overland Park, KS), Resurrection Lutheran (Prairie Village, KS), St. Mark’s (Emporia, KS), and concluding in 2012 at St. Paul’s Lutheran (Valley Falls, KS).
Over the years, Don and Jan travelled to many destinations in Europe, Africa, Central and South America. Among these were Lutheran World Relief tours to Peru and Bolivia, Kenya and Tanzania, and to Palestine and Israel. After a stroke in December 2019, Don died at Brandon Woods Retirement community in Lawrence, early on June 4, 2020, at age 90.
Surviving family includes his wife Janice (Lawrence) of nearly 64 years, children David (Pollyann), Olathe, KS, Julie (Harmon) Abrahamson, Grand Forks, ND, Anne (Alan) Hageman, Topeka, KS, and Rev. John (Ellen) Conrad, Floresville, TX; 12 grandchildren Nicole Conrad, Melissa (Matt) Galbraith, Mark Conrad, Joel (Dorea Ruggles) Abrahamson, Kit (Reina) Abrahamson, Peter (Brittney) Atoms, Sarah (Joshua) Lozier, Brian (Bandana) Hageman, Emilie Boutry, Colette (Ben) Tenenboim, Natalie (Jacob) Mikami, and Pierre Boutry; 9 greatgrandchildren, and brothers Paul Conrad (Burnsville, MN), and Tom Conrad (Brookings, OR), and sister in law Donna Mae Conrad (San Jose, CA). He was preceded in death by sister Dorothy Gaard, and brother Norman Conrad.
Memorials are requested to be given to Trinity Lutheran Church in Lawrence, KS, or to Lutheran World Relief.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
