Don As interviewed by Jim

Prior to joining Ascension Lutheran Church as a charter member, Don and his former wife, Deloris, and their children, Donita, Dayna and David were members at Trinity Lutheran Church, Wichita, Kansas. The family decided to be charter members because of the challenge (to start up a west side church) as presented by Pastor Kerekes, and of the physical location of the new church to their home at 17th and High Street.

Don’s fondest memory of the beginnings of Ascension is the closeness of the people and how hard they worked. He explained that he was the first chairman of the Evangelism Committee and that they would have as many as 45 to 50 people making evangelism calls on designated weekends.

The biggest change in Ascension since 1960, according to Don, is the membership size. He said he recalls an earlier membership size of 250 people and only twelve people in the choir. He relocated to Salina in 1961 and returned to Wichita in 1995 and in that time frame, the membership had grown to 1,423. That growth was in only 35 years. Membership today is 2,176.

Don said that the biggest change in Wichita these past 50 years is the increased physical size of Wichita and of course, the increased population. He remembers that very little activity occurred along 13th Street or north Wichita compared to today!

When asked to tell a story of faith and mission, Don shared that even while gone from Wichita, he continued to serve his Lord as congregational president and by chairing a steering committee at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Salina.