Kenosha & Nashotah: God's well-spent

from The Missioner Fall 2022

by Nashotah House Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. Calvin Lane on his Reformation research

By Elizabeth Hartung-Cole

I’d like to congratulate the Rev. Dave Manley’s (‘20) call to service at St. Matthew’s in Kenosha. Reading the article in a recent Chapter post prompted an avalanche of memories and a realization of how God has intertwined St. Matthew’s and Nashotah House into my life.

My father, George F. Hartung, ‘44, was the youngest in a Swedish Lutheran family of six children in Kenosha and grew up during the Great Depression. When he was 10, the priest at St. Matthew’s happened to hear his clear voice and perfect pitch at a local school talent show and offered him 25 cents to sing in the choir every Sunday. George accepted God’s calling (and the quarters!). The next summer, St. Matthew’s arranged to send George to summer camp at Nashotah House. By the time he was 13, George wrote a school report on career plans detailing how he was going to attend Nashotah House and become an Episcopal priest. He did indeed graduate from Carroll University (then College) and Nashotah House and was ordained by Bishop Ivins at St. Matthew’s in 1944, by which time George’s parents and many of his siblings had become active members of St. Matthew’s.

**George Hartung as a seminarian at Nashotah House in the 1940s.**

In 1941, George met Angelyn, whom he would marry at Nashotah House’s St. Mary’s Chapel. My mother was born in the town of Nashotah, and her mother’s English family (Hewit) helped design St. John Chrysostom Church, located in nearby Delafield, where my grandparents were married in 1916. Her father’s family (Ake) were active members of Holy Innocents (demolished in 1960s). The original Ake home, built by my greatgrandfather, still stands.

I was fortunate to have spent all of my childhood summers with my grandparents in Nashotah. Dad and I would walk down Mission Road, which then was canopied by elm trees, to attend Mass at the House on weekday mornings. On Sundays, we would all drive to Kenosha to attend service at St. Matthew’s with aunts, uncles, and cousins.

In 1998, my parents’ requiem Mass was held at St. Mary’s Chapel, followed by their burial in the cemetery. I cherish every visit and put a quarter by the headstone!

Fr. Manley and I are blessed to have both Nashotah House and St. Matthew’s as integral parts of our lives.

Elizabeth Hartung-Cole grew up in Goleta, California, while George was the chaplain at University of California, Santa Barbara. She has a BA and MA in linguistics from UCLA, taught in Japan for four years, and spent 30 years as a teacher and administrator of refugees and immigrants in inner-city Los Angeles schools. Elizabeth and her husband recently retired to mid-coast Maine, and their delightful daughter works in Washington, D.C., as an international research analyst. Elizabeth is also pleased to be a supporter of Nashotah House and hopes you will consider a gift. †