Caledonia Argus

Posted: 12/3/02

Willmar Thorkelson

Well-known religion writer Willmar Thorkelson, who free-lanced and had his column printed regularly in ECM Publishers weekly newspapers the past several years, died Friday, November 29, 2002 from complications of Parkinson's Disease.

Thorkelson was 84. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Maxine Mohn, of Golden Valley. Other survivors include a daughter, Susan, of Hendricks, MN, and a son, Peter, of Orono; two granddaughters; a great-grandson, and three sisters, Vee Fjelstad of Woodbury, Grace Jacobs of St. Peter, and Mildred Johnson of Seattle.

A memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, December 4, at Central Lutheran Church, 333 Twelfth Street South, Minneapolis. Interment will be at West St. Olaf Lutheran Church Cemetery, Hayfield, MN.

The popular religion writer won a dozen awards while reporting on religious news for the Minneapolis Star from 1944 until he resigned after its merger with the Minneapolis Tribune in 1982. Thorkelson continued to write religious news as a free lance writer. He was still sending columns to ECM newspapers up until September, his wife said, when his health deteriorated. His whole life was reporting, said his wife.

Thorkelson was born in Trail, Minnesota, about 70 miles east of Grand Forks, N.D., in 1918. He met his future wife, Maxine, in second grade.

Thorkelson earned a bachelorís degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, and a masterís degree from the University of Minnesota. He began his career in Bismarck, North Dakota and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. He was a member of the Religion Newswriters Association and received their first Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2001. He was president of the organization in 1962 and had received their Supple Award in 1955.

Said to be his best-known story was his 1969 exclusive that disclosed the resignation of St. Paulís James P. Shannon as an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Shannon had dissented from a papal letter that forbade artificial contraception, and Thorkelson reported on Shannonís subsequent marriage and excommunication.

Thorkelson covered the Second Vatican Council in the autumns of 1963, 1964 and 1965. In 1961 he traveled around the world visiting centers of the world's major religions including Rome. In 1948 and 1949, he lived in Switzerland while on a yearís leave of absence from the Star to be a press officer for the World Council of Churches.

Thorkelson received many awards and citations from Protestant, Catholic and Jewish denominations and organizations. The Wittenberg Award, given by Luther Institute was presented to him in Washington, D.C. in 1969, the Concordia College Alumni Achievement Award in 2000 and most recently, the Fertile High School Distinguished Alumni Award in April 2002.

Serving on the boards of Augsburg Publishing House, the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches and Concordia Language Camps, Thorkelson was quite proud of his Norwegian heritage. His heritage brought him into membership in several Scandinavian organizations including Torske Klubben.

Thorkelson was an active Lutheran, a member of Central Lutheran Church since 1945.

Memorials are requested to Central Lutheran Church Foundation and Struthers Parkinsonís Center, 6701 Country Club Drive, Golden Valley, MN 55427.

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