MINNEAPOLIS, MN (December 24, 2003) – A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis for retired ordained Covenant pastor Leo Vetvick, who died last Sunday at Colonial Acres Health Center in Golden Valley.
The 84-year-old Vetvick had been heavily involved as a chaplain with the Hennepin County Court as the jail chaplain for the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches.
Born May 26, 1919, Vetvick was a World War II combat veteran, serving during the Normandy Invasion. After the war, he married Bette Ekblad on July 9, 1946. Originally at North Park Junior College in Chicago, he eventually earned his undergraduate degree from Minnesota’s Augsburg College in 1953. He returned to Chicago, earned a diploma from North Park Theological Seminary and was ordained by the Covenant in 1956.
After serving one year as chaplain at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Vetvick became court chaplain for the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches and was in that role from 1955 to 1973. He also taught classes at Augsburg College for seven years (1966-73) as a part-time professor, having taken graduate studies at the University of Minnesota during that span.
Survivors include his wife, Bette; daughters, Rev. Lois Vetvick, Arlou McPherson (Kevin); son, Mark; seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A nephew, Doug Vetvick, serves as Director of Ministry Arts at Covenant Bible College-Midwest, Windsor, Colorado.
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