GOTTLIEB (LEE) WERNER LUETKEHOELTER

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GOTTLIEB (LEE) WERNER LUETKEHOELTER

November 16, 1929 -

September 7, 2025

Lee passed away peacefully at his assisted living residence in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on September 7, 2025, at the age of 95.

Lee was a dedicated husband and father and a loving and proud grandfather. Lee was predeceased by his beloved wife Betty (1926 - 2008) and is survived by his sons David and Jonathan (William), grandsons Liam and Gabriel, and siblings Dorothy, Fred (Anne), and Charlotte. He was predeceased by siblings Eleonore, Katherine, Henry and Margaret, and parents Henry Wilhelm Luetkehoelter and Marie Louise Wilhelmine Luetkehoelter (Schlepper).

Lee was born in Wheatwyn Saskatchewan and from there moved with his family to Edmonton and later to Duncan, British Columbia. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and attended Royal Roads for naval officer training. He served in the Canadian Navy in 1951 to 1952. He graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon in 1955. He started work on an STM in Philadelphia and completed it at the Vancouver School of Theology in 1975. Lee served congregations in Markinch and Regina, Saskatchewan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Burnaby, British Columbia; and Edmonton Alberta. In 1976 he was elected President of the Central Canada Synod of the Lutheran Church in America. He served as Bishop of the Manitoba and Northwest Ontario Synod of the ELCIC from 1980 to 1994. He taught at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon from 1994 to 1996. He served on the board of directors of Canadian Lutheran World Relief and on the board of governors of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon.

Always kind and wise and with an infectious laugh and dry sense of humour, he brought joy and kindness to everything that he did. He had an enormous social circle and community of friends and colleagues which he maintained throughout his life. Relationship, laughter and community were what mattered most to Lee throughout his long life. As a lifelong Lutheran, he believed in a church that was always being reformed and in his later years sought to make the church more inclusive. We celebrate a wonderful father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, colleague and minister. Lee was a lovely human being through whom many have been blessed.

The funeral will be held on October 11, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, 400 Rouge Road, Winnipeg Manitoba. There will be a private family interment.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 20, 2025