George W. Forell honored
as Distinguished LTSP alum

George Wolfgang Forell '41

Honored as the seminary's Distinguished Alum for 2002, an emotional Dr. George Wolfgang Forell, '41, described LTSP "as my first home in the United States. When I doodle, I doodle the number 7301 (the address of the seminary on Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue) because the seminary is so closely associated with my past." Forell was honored at the 2002 spring convocation banquet held April 9 at the Holiday Inn in Fort Washington, PA.

Forell, whose distinguished career included service as a pastor and educator as well as a globally involved theologian, recalled entering seminary in 1939 as a refugee with his family from Nazi Germany. He fondly described trips home with student colleagues from Newcastle and Johnstown, both in PA, vividly recalling his first trip to a U.S. steel mill, where the father of seminarian Morgan Edwards worked.

"I have always been grateful for this school, how I was accepted and befriended as part of an American family," he said. "I am grateful for what the school and its students taught me about what it means to be a Lutheran in America." He said he found the seminary's library "awe-inspiring" about how it provided ready access to the books he devoured. And he said he "learned a lot about Martin Luther and theology" from a mentor he referred to as "Teddy Tappert."

He ended his speech of gratitude with what he defined as the "substance of theology" for the 21^st century with all of its paradox. He urged his listeners to work to preserve the distinction between law and gospel in an age when the two concepts frequently get confused. He reminded his audience that they are "free lords and dutiful servants, (theologically) subject to no one but obligated to everyone." Believers are also paradoxically both righteous and sinners "righteous when they look at God and sinners when they look at themselves." Finally, he said, believers are "finite bearers of the infinite…People meet Christ through ordinary people like ourselves. We are Christs to each other."

Mary Forell-Davis

Dr. Forell was introduced by the Rev. Mary Forell-Davis, his daughter, who is a pastor in Hoboken, NJ. In her introduction she described her father as "deeply committed to the church. With an immense passion he helped the church grow and reform" in his various roles as a pastor, college professor and teacher. (He was a visiting professor over four spring semesters at LTSP.) She noted that as a theologian her father in his commitment to scholarship was determined to make theological ideas accessible to learners.

The alum honor was a highlight of the busy banquet evening involving reunion classes, featuring class gift presentations and a state of the seminary address by President Philip D. W. Krey. In his address, Krey highlighted the growing excitement surrounding an approaching capital campaign with its campus renewal goals for upgrades to the Krauth Memorial Library and construction of a new Learning Center.

The class of 1962 was recognized for furnishing the largest class gift. Recognition for the highest percentage of giving support went to the class of 1932, represented at the banquet by the class's only surviving graduate, the Rev. Howard Kuhnle.