Susan Karen HEDAHL

Notes:

Susan Karen Hedahl, 66, of Gettysburg died Sunday afternoon, July 7, 2013 at the Gettysburg Lutheran Retirement Village.
She was born October 8, 1946 in Minot, North Dakota and baptized there on November 24, 1946.

She was the oldest of four children of Stanford and and Marion Mosvick. During her youth in Willmar, Minnesota, it became obvious to her and others that she enjoyed theology and literature. After graduating for the University of Minnesota in 1968, she taught English in Tanzania, East Africa, for four years as a missionary educator with the Lutheran Church.

On her return to America, she entered the Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated there in 1975. Susan was a pioneer in the Lutheran Church, serving as one of its first ordained women. She was the sixth woman ordained in the ALC Synod of the Lutheran Church on June 15, 1975.

Following three pastorates in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) area, she earned a Masters of Liturgical Studies at St. John's School of Theology, Collegeville, MN in 1982. She then went on to complete a Ph.D. at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, where she graduated in 1988.

From 1992 to 2012, the Reverend Dr. Susan K. Hedahl was a professor of preaching at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She was the first ordained female Lutheran holding a Ph.D. to teach at the seminary. While there she helped found the Fine Arts Council, the Preaching Perspectives yearly lectionary series. She was a member of the clergy roster in the RCLA's West Virginia/Western Maryland Synod where she enjoyed many happy times teaching the lay readers of that synod. Over her career she authored nine books and numerous articles. In 2009 she was installed in the Herman G. Stuempfle Chair of Proclamation of the Word.

Susan was committed to matters related to the Middle East, in particular Palestine, and travelled there periodically. Her interests included study of Arabic. She studied classical guitar in later years with Dr. James R. Hontz at Gettysburg College.

Susan Hedahl is survived by sister, Diane Jacoby, husband Patrick Jacoby and their children, Nathan Jacoby, Philip Jacoby, Peter Jacoby and his family: wife Emily and children Thomas and Julia. She is also survived by her sister Linda Mosvick, and brother, James Mosvick; his wife Susan, and their daughter, Randi Mosvick.

Sue departs this life thankful for God's amazing gift of her life, including the diverse array of many relatives, friends and students; both globally-located and those who live in Gettysburg.

Died:
Gettysburg Lutheran Retirement Village