REVEREND LOU WHITMER NAMES GARRETT-EVANGELICAL BENEFICIARY OF ANNUITY FUND Reverend Lou Whitmer didn’t follow a traditional path to ministry, graduating from college and then going onto seminary. In fact, she didn’t even apply to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary’s Course of Study Program until she was in her early fifties. Nonetheless, Whitmer said she is deeply appreciative of the education she received from Garrett-Evangelical — so much so she decided to name GarrettEvangelical as a beneficiary for one of her annuity funds. “I believe so highly in the value of a broad, deep, and nonfundamental theological education,” she said. “And that’s what I received at GarrettEvangelical.” So earlier this year when Whitmer saw a Facebook post asking alumni to support Garrett-Evangelical, she started to think about giving money to the seminary’s scholarship fund. She called Reverend Dr. David Heetland, senior vice president for planned giving at Garrett-Evangelical, and told him she wanted to make it possible for other people to get the same type of education she received. “All the pastors I know who did their theological studies at Garrett-Evangelical are very balanced in their theology,” she said. “I really appreciate that about Garrett-Evangelical. Whitmer was born in Minot, North Dakota, and as a child, she moved to Hettinger, North Dakota, where her maternal grandparents lived. In about the sixth grade, Whitmer had what she referred to “as one of the most informative experiences.” One evening, as she sat around a camp fire at Wesley Acres Bible Camp, Whitmer said she felt God’s presence and realized, “God really does love me.” A few years later after her mother died and she became a de facto parent to her younger brothers, 12 AWARE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022
Whitmer leaned into that love. “As I look back, I am glad I had that connection with God,” she said. After graduating from high school in Hettinger, Whitmer earned her associate’s degree from North Dakota State School of Science and later worked several years in Fargo, North Dakota. She moved back to Minot and started attending a United Methodist Church there. Her new pastor, Jim Pomeroy, found out she served as the church pianist when she was in high school and asked her to resume her duties there. It was Pomeroy who suggested she become a pastor. “I was about 22 years old at the time when he asked me if I had considered the ministry,” she recalled. “This was about 1976, and I had never been around women pastors. I didn’t seriously consider it at the time, but the idea never went away.” A few years later, she moved to a different Methodist church and became the church organist, a job she kept for 31 years. All the while, she continued working as an office manager in a doctor’s office and later as a gift shop owner and an administrative assistant for the music department at Minot State University. One summer day in 2006 as she was waiting for something to come out of the printer, she said aloud, “I am going to go into the ministry.” “Then, I stopped and looked around and thought, who did I just say that to?” she said. “It was such a strong feeling.” Just a few months later, she accepted an appointment in Kimball, South Dakota, a town of about 350 people. “I knew in the deepest part of myself that this was the path,” she said. “This was what I needed to be doing.”
