Verner Trygve "V.T." Jordahl (; October 26, 1898 – September 27, 1984) was an Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) District President; he served as a U.S. Army Chaplain,U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2010 atabase on-line Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. on the Luther College Board of Regents, and was the ELC Director of Service to Military Personnel."The military chaplaincy program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1917–1960."
PDF Page 304. Naval Postgraduate School Thesis, Author: Lystig, Lawrence J., URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/18204, Date: 1977 Jordahl was born October 26, 1898 in Norway Lake, Minnesota as a

second generation immigrant In sociology, people who permanently resettle to a new country are considered immigrants, regardless of the legal status of their citizenship or residency. The United States Census Bureau (USCB) uses the term "generational status" to refer to ...

from Norway. He retired in

Sun City, Arizona Sun City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, that is located within the Phoenix metropolitan area. The population was 39,931 as of the 2020 United Sta ...

. He died on September 27, 1984 at his summer home in

Decorah, Iowa Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,587 at the time of the 2020 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52, and is the largest commun ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(B.A.) degree from Luther College in 1922, where he had also attended preparatory school. He then attended

Luther Seminary Luther Seminary is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is the largest seminary of the ELCA. It also accepts and educates students of 41 other denominations and traditions. It is accredited ...

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

and received his Bachelor of Theology in 1925.

Pastoral career

In 1925, Jordahl accepted a call to be pastor of Central Lutheran Church in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas. He was at Central Lutheran for eight years. After turning down five calls over many years from other churches to be their pastor, he finally accepted a call in May 1933 to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio.

Military service

On September 25, 1943, V.T. enlisted as a U.S. Army Chaplain. He attended Chaplain’s school at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. His first assignment was as a chaplain on transport ships, which would bring troops to and from battle. His next chaplain assignment was to a Prisoner of War (POW) camp in

Alva, Oklahoma Alva is a city in and the county seat of Woods County, Oklahoma, United States, along the Salt Fork Arkansas River. The population was 4,945 at the 2010 census. Northwestern Oklahoma State University is located in Alva. History Alva was estab ...

, where there were about 4,800 POW’s, predominantly German

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

’s. He received commendations for his work here to establish contact between POW’s and their relatives in the U.S. He also worked to identify Lutheran clergymen (conscripted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

) among the POW’s in order to establish congregations. His discharge from the U.S. Army was April 28th, 1946. In July 1946 V.T. accepted a call as pastor of St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church in

Bode, Iowa Bode is a city in Humboldt County, Iowa, United States. The population was 302 at the 2020 census. History Bode got its start in the year 1881, following construction of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway through that territory. ...

Bishop and Service to Military Personnel

In October 1948, he was elected

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

(also called district president) of the South Central District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC). This district was, at the time, the largest district in the ELC, stretching from Iowa down through Texas. He served in this position for 11 years and during this time he received an honorary Doctorate from Luther College. In 1959, V.T. was appointed by the president of the ELC, Fredrik A. Schiotz, to serve as the director of the newly formed agency, Service to Military Personnel. (In 1960, the ELC joined with other Lutheran churches to form the

American Lutheran Church The American Lutheran Church (TALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States and Canada that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, The ALC designated Augsburg ...

.) The position was the bishop to all Lutheran chaplains in the U.S. military and entailed coordinating all U.S. Lutheran chaplaincy operations around the world. This office was based in Minneapolis and the family lived in Golden Valley, MN.

Career Timeline

* 1925 – Senior Pastor, Central Lutheran Church;

, Texas * 1933 – Senior Pastor, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church;

, Ohio * 1943 – U.S. Army Chaplain * 1946 – Pastor, St. Olaf's Lutheran Church;

* 1948 – District President/Bishop, South Central District, Evangelical Lutheran Church * 1959 – Director, Service to Military Personnel, Evangelical Lutheran Church;

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Family

V.T. was the middle of seven children: Dagmar, Esther, Harold, V.T., Scriver, Nils, and Solveig. V.T. and his siblings were the first generation of their

Jordahl Jordahl is a Norwegian family name that could refer to: *Asbjørn Jordahl, a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party *Anders Jordahl, developer of the C-shaped rail, the first anchor channel * Russell N. Jordahl, Brigadier general in the Marine C ...

ancestors born in the United States, as father Daniel Christopherson (known as D.C.) was born in

Jordalsgrenda Jordalsgrenda is a small village in Sunndal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway, with approximately 60 inhabitants. The place is located in a small valley along the west side of the Sunndalsfjorden on the highway that runs between th ...

, Norway and his mother, Johanna, was born in

Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County. This ...

. She died when V.T. was only six years old. This made V.T. a

. On September 25, 1925, V.T. was married to Norma Resida Johnson at Madison Lutheran Church in

Ridgeway, Iowa Ridgeway is a city in Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 275 at the time of the 2020 census. Geography Ridgeway is located at (43.297884, -91.989187). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total ...

. V.T. and Norma knew each other growing up since they both attended and were confirmed at Madison Lutheran. The first three Jordahl children (Rodger, Daniel, and Norma) were born in Dallas between 1926 and 1929. The last Jordahl child, Vern Truman was born in Cleveland in the mid-1930s.

References