But the memory of being with his mother at graduation will stay with Eric indefinitely. "After the ceremony, my Mom was telling me how happy she was to be alive to see me accomplish what I set out to do." Tears filled his eyes. "My Mom’s always been my soul mate. She’s always been there for me…."

Peggy Wuertele: Anticipates urban church call

Peggy Wuertele grew up in Pueblo, CO, where at least one-half of the population had Hispanic roots.

"So from the beginning I found Hispanic culture and food intriguing," Peggy says, "and I have always felt comfortable with the culture."

Now Peggy, a mother of three grown children who lives in Bethlehem, PA, has completed her Seminary education and looks forward to a call in which she may further her multicultural interests. She enjoyed Latino courses and focused on an urban concentration during her Seminary years.

Peggy says she always had an interest in religion, even though she was reared in a family that wasn’t especially religious. She spent years professionally as a college administrator, serving as an assistant dean at Northampton County Community College. In need of a change, she became director of a shelter for homeless persons in Allentown, PA.

"During those years a friend had been questioning me about when I would finally realize that I belong at Seminary," she recalls. An inspirational event conducted by Region 7 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America placed her in the company of a special participant. "She talked to me about how the love of God can make the church a transforming place for God’s people," Peggy recalls. Her pastor, the Rev. Gene Sharkey of Messiah Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, further persuaded her to contemplate seminary study. Peggy says she thought about her experiences in education and in directing the work of the shelter as providing a helpful and transforming background. She followed through on the seminary option.

"I loved the intellectual challenge of the Seminary," Peggy says. "What I didn’t expect was the ways in which my faith and experiences of the Gospel would be confirmed through my study. I didn’t grow up as a Christian, and so I felt I had to get all the answers right in a certain way. I tried not to show that I perhaps had less experience than some of the other students had. Through the grace of God I found myself being affirmed. I found myself free to experience the Gospel in my own way. I didn’t have to fit in to someone else’s box." She found the teachings of Dr. Nelson Rivera in Latino studies "opening up a whole new way of thinking for me. The other classes taught me something special about the integrity of my faith. Even though I was a commuter student, I always felt accepted by the Seminary community." Field education work over two years in a Latino congregation, San Martin in downtown Allentown, also gave her a growing appreciation of Latino culture, language and foods.

Now, she and husband, Fred, an executive with a computer technology company, await word of an urban ministry call, possibly in the Metropolitan New York Synod.

Tom Wilson celebrates his graduation with a nephew.

For Tom Wilson, a Seminary graduate from Hatboro, PA, who this summer begins serving a congregation in Clovis, NM, no bolt of lightning ever hit about becoming a pastor.

"I spent 20 years in the Marine Corps and was away from the church a long time," he says. During his years in the Marines he served in places like Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, San Diego. During a tour in Vietnam, he served at Da Nang Air Base. "It was a secure area. Many people serving in Vietnam had encounters with rockets and mortars. I didn’t see anything like that during my four months there. But I want to go back someday. It’s a beautiful country." In the military, Tom served as a Marine aviation mechanic with maintenance control over 12 planes and working with 75 marines.

As the end of his military career approached, Tom felt he had changed. He began to attend church in Jacksonville, FL, and felt at home in a congregation there. He eventually decided to return home to Pennsylvania, renew acquaintances with his Mom and the rest of his family, and pick up his education at Temple University. The church then beckoned to him professionally, and he decided to attend Seminary close to home at LTSP. He excelled at Seminary and when it came time to think about a pastoral call, Tom Wilson was the only graduating seminarian who said on the candidacy form that he would be open to a call anywhere.

"I could have requested some priority locations," he says. "But I’m not married. I had really worked in so many places, and during my years in Philadelphia preparing myself, I had begun to feel a bit stagnant geographically. I’ve been used to moving around, and I am frankly too old to change. So I was truly feeling the freedom to go anywhere.

Anywhere turned out to be Clovis and Trinity Lutheran Church, a congregation more than 30 years old in a small community of about 40,000 people. "There are about 100 members, but we have strong lay leadership," Tom says. "The closest community is about an hour’s drive away." But the community has a strong agricultural base and a military connection he is excited about. Cannon Air Force Base is right nearby. And he will be a pastor both to civilians and military personnel and their families.

"I’m really excited," he says. "I’m eager to be a pastor to a civilian and military community. The military has really great people connected to it. Some of the people I’ll relate to are retired from the military.

"I see that in relating to the cares, concerns and joys of the community that I can serve as a real bridge between civilians and military people."