Rudolph Bloemker

Rev. Rudolph E. Bloemker, age 63 of Sauk Centre, received his crown of glory Sunday, April 17, 2005 at the Melrose Area Hospital in Melrose, Minnesota.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 20 at Zion Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre.

Friends may call Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Patton-Schad Funeral Home in Sauk Centre and Wednesday at the church one hour prior to the service.

Friends may also call Friday from 1 to 1:45 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church, rural Hastings, Iowa followed by graveside services and interment at 2 p.m. at East Liberty Cemetery, rural Malvern, Iowa.

Rev. Rudolph Edward Bloemker was born August 26, 1941 in Fremont, Nebraska to George and Dorothy (Fuchs) Bloemker. He was baptized in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Winslow, Nebraska and confirmed on April 2, 1955 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Arlington, Nebraska. He attended St. Paul's Lutheran Elementary School in Arlington, graduated from Concordia High School and Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science degree. He received his Masters in Elementary Education Administration at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

His first teaching assignment was at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Fort Dodge, Iowa where he met his future wife, Joyce Beer. They were married June 20, 1965 at Grace Lutheran Church in DeWitt, Iowa, with text from Luke 2: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." They were blessed with three sons,
Timothy Martin, Jeffrey William and Troy Edward.

Rev. Bloemker held principal/teacher positions in Lutheran elementary schools at Immanuel Lutheran in Clarinda, Iowa and Bethel Lutheran in Westmont, Illinois. He also was an elementary principal in the Center Point, Iowa and Waterloo, Iowa public school systems.

In 1979 he enrolled at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana and graduated in 1981 with a Master of Arts in Religion. Upon his graduation from the seminary, he was assigned by the Placement Board of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to St. John's Lutheran Church in Hastings, Iowa, where he was ordained on June 6, 1982 and served his Lord for almost nine years. He accepted a call to First Lutheran Church in Ely, Minnesota in March of 1990.
Since December of 1996 he had served at Zion Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.

Survivors include his wife, Joyce Bloemker of Sauk Centre; their three sons, Timothy Bloemker, wife, Cody and son, Chauncey of Omaha, Nebraska, Jeffrey Bloemker and fiancé, Jodi Flurry of Washington, DC and Troy Bloemker of Fargo, North Dakota; their adopted family, Debra Schroeder and children, Brian, Stacey and Nicholas of Gretna, Nebraska; brothers, Gene Bloemker and wife, Harriet of Fremont, Nebraska, and Robert Bloemker of Poway, California; sister, Donna Kappler and husband, Dale of Fremont, Nebraska; and many other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Serving as casket bearers will be pastors of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod churches and honorary bearers will be nieces and nephews.

Memorials are preferred.