Earl Vernon Peterson

Pastor Earl Vernon Peterson, age 99, was born at home on the farm outside Maple Plain, Minnesota, on February 7, 1927, to Ernest and Georgia Martha (Gustafson) Peterson. He went to be with our Lord on June 23, 2026, at the Mapleton Community Home, ten miles from where he started ministry 73 years ago.

Near the end of WWII, following High School, Pastor Earl joined the Navy for the duration of the war and trained as an electronic technician. The war ended before he completed his training. During this short stint in the Navy, he heard the call of God to enter the ministry. When he returned home he received a BA from Gustavus Adolphus College on the GI bill. He next attended the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis where he met the love of his life, Lorraine W Weltzin. They both had heard the call of God to foreign mission work, so when Earl proposed he didn’t say, “Will you marry me?”, but rather, “Will you go to Pakistan with me?” Earl attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul, where he obtained a BDiv degree. He was ordained a missionary, not to Pakistan, but to French West Equatorial Africa, which would become Cameroun and the Central African Republic.

Unfortunately, Lorraine’s doctor did not approve her for travel. Instead they served two parishes in Minnesota, first Jackson Lake, Amboy, and Calvary, Rapidan, (1953-1961) followed by Grace, Dawson (1961-1964). While in Dawson, Lorraine was medically cleared to go overseas, so in March 1964, they set sail with their two children for France to study French before proceeding to Cameroun and the Central African Republic. While in his two first parishes, Earl studied for what would now be called a PhD in New Testament. Never one to stand on ceremony, he never claimed the title for himself. Nevertheless, he was an amazing student of languages, and over his lifetime he had proficiency in ten different languages. Even into his late eighties, he would memorize a scripture verse each week in a number of languages, including the original Greek or Hebrew.

Pastor Earl and his beloved wife, Lorraine, served in Africa during two different terms. The first was from 1965-1969, and then again from 1976-1980. During his first term he learned the local language, Gbaya. He was a village pastor in Abba, Central African Republic. For one of those years he was the school teacher for the missionary kids in 5th through 8th grade at Garoua Boulai, Cameroun. During the second term he taught at the new Lutheran Seminary that had just been started in Baboua, Central African Republic. He was the only teacher, thereby needing to teach all the parts of a seminary curriculum. All his classes were taught in Gbaya. The seminary is still operating today, and is reaching out to other tribal groups.

Pastor Earl told many wonderful and amazing stories. As dictated by the remote environs, he needed to be a jack-of-all-trades, performing all repairs and maintenance himself. He killed an elephant, saw a crocodile eat a horse, helped to build a church at Abba, getting as muddy and dirty as all of the local men he was working with.

In addition to Pastor Earl’s first two parishes, he also served Trinity and Grue, Ashby, (1969-1974) and St. Matthew’s, Evan, and Bethany, rural Morgan, (1974-1976). Following his second time in West Africa he completed his ministry by serving Rock Valle and American, Echo, (1980-1986) and Long Lake, rural St. James, and First, Butterfield, (1986-1992). All of these congregations were in Minnesota.

In a well-deserved retirement, Pastor Earl and Lorraine traveled widely, including trips to Norway and Israel. They had homes in Minnesota and in Texas. In the summers in Minnesota, he enjoyed tending a large vegetable garden, and taking long bike rides. They were winter Texans, where he enjoyed deep sea fishing, square dancing, and occasional preaching.

Earl and Lorraine were blessed with two children, who both became pastors: Pastor Rebecca Peterson Sullivan (b1952) and Pastor Timothy Earl Peterson (b1955). In addition, they were further blessed with five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Pastor Earl loved to attend all the high school sports and plays, and was well known for commending the high schoolers the next Sunday, with comments like, “I saw that great basket you made!” Space constraints keep us from naming the many practical jokes he played, the gifts of God’s love and of healing and wholeness that he brought to many different ministry settings, and the care that he took with multiple generations.

In 2012 Pastor Earl and Lorraine moved out of their retirement homes and into senior living in Battle Lake, MN. Over time they moved into the nursing home part of the facility. In 2019 Lorraine, at age 94, went to be with our Lord. Following the spreading of COVID, Pastor Earl moved in with his daughter and then eventually into the nursing home in Mapleton, MN, which is close to her home.

Pastor Earl is survived by his two children, Rebecca, of Mankato, and Timothy (Donadee), of Battle Lake, grandchildren Nathan (Maria) Peterson, Matthew Sullivan, John Peterson, Daniel Sullivan (Annelisa Steeber), and Elise (Tyler) Stark, and great-grandchildren Caleb, Joshua, Abrahm, Ava, Ada, and Bryn. He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, his sister, Esther J (Harold) Peterson Johnson, of Annandale, and his son-in-law, Paul L Sullivan.

While Pastor Earl had many “favorite” Bible verses, one that he shared with his beloved wife was from Philippians 1:21: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. In death as in life, he is with our Lord.

The funeral plans are as follows: Funeral Service will be held at 11 a.m., on Saturday, June 27, 2026, at Calvary Lutheran Church, Rapidan, with a visitation one hour before. Burial will be at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 30, 2026 in First Lutheran Cemetery, Battle Lake, MN. A memorial hymn sing will be at 6:30 p.m., on Friday, June 26, 2026 at the Mapleton Community Home Chapel. Please enter the building at the 3rd Avenue SW entrance.

Any clergy (no vestments needed) who will be attending the funeral service will be invited to come forward to surround the casket during the commendation.

The family encourages memorial gifts to Mount Carmel Ministries, 800 Mount Carmel Drive NE, Alexandria, MN 56308.

The live stream link below is a complimentary service provided by Mankato Area Funeral Homes.

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