Pastor Herman W. Heupel

Pastor Herman Heupel died on September 26^th, 2019 in the Mankato Hospital. Funeral services will be at 11AM on Wednesday, October 2^nd, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Blue Earth. Clergy are welcome to vest and process if they wish. The liturgical color is white. Visitation will be held Tuesday at Patton Funeral Home in Blue Earth from 4-6pm and one our prior to the service at church. He will be buried at Riverside Cemetery in Blue Earth.

Herman Wilbert Heupel was born in New Leipzig, North Dakota, March 27, 1936 to Rudolph and Ida Heupel. He was the youngest of nine children. He attended New Leipzig country schools and graduated from high school in Hebron, North Dakota. He attended Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota where he majored in English and Psychology and then entered Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. In 1963 he received a Lutheran World Federation Scholarship and traveled to Europe. In Treysa, Germany, he worked at the Hephata Deacon Training Center where his father Rudolph had worked forty-five years earlier. He returned to the US and was ordained into the ministry of the American Lutheran Church in 1964 and served his first parish in Fortuna, North Dakota. He subsequently served parishes in Golden Valley and Wishek in North Dakota and Watson and Frost in Minnesota. He retired from pastoral ministry in 1999. He spent his retirement years in the Frost and Blue Earth area and, since 2009 resided at St. Luke’s Lutheran Care Center where he found community and compassion and continued to bring life and encouragement to those around him.

Herman was a man of many talents. He brought his gifts of singer, pianist, and preacher to all of his congregations. He rightly prided himself on his ability to soothe fretting infants and more than once his gentle and calm presence helped his many nephews and nieces take their naps. He later shared that same soothing gift with their children. He joyfully officiated at the weddings of many of his nieces and nephews as well as some of their children. He enjoyed gardening and craft work, especially counted cross stitching. He was an expert jig saw puzzle assembler and to the end of his days had a puzzle to work on.

Herman was cherished as a brother and favorite uncle by his family and esteemed by many of his parishioners as a kind and faithful pastor. The family would like to thank all of those who cared for and loved him. We extend our deep gratitude to the Hanson family, especially Vickie who until her untimely death helped Herman in so many ways. We are profoundly grateful for Brice and all of the Hansons for being Herman’s family during these past years. 

Herman was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Fred, Rudy, August, Harold and infant Rudolph, and his sisters, Ida, Betty, and Helen. 

Herman was a man of deep faith, who despite many difficulties and hardships kept his sense of humor and his trust in the never-failing love of God.  We trust that he rests in the strong embrace of our gracious Lord.