'Love the work': 60 years of ministry

With his father a pastor before him, David Dissen always wanted to study ministry.

The Rev. Dissen eventually got his wish and can now boast 60 years since his ordination.

Life and his job have taken him across the United States and, for a time, outside of them.

Born in Garrison, North Dakota, on July 27, 1933, he went to school in the Peace Garden State until moving to Burley, Idaho, late in high school.

Serving as a pastor hasn't been his only job though; for a time he was a sports editor for his school newspaper as well as an employee at an A&W Root Beer stand.

The Rev. David Dissen converses before a Sunday morning service next to Marie Hoffmeister, originally of Gordonville and now Jackson, on July 14 at Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville.

"I'd always wanted to study for the ministry. My father was a pastor. So I ended up studying for the ministry," Dissen said. "That had always been my desire."

Before graduating from the seminary, he spent his "year of vicarage" as a student pastor in Havana, Cuba.

"That was during the revolution between Fidel Castro and Batista," Dissen said of his time in Cuba.

The Rev. David Dissen meets with attendees of a celebration to commemorate his 60th anniversary in the ministry Sunday, June 30, 2019, in the parish hall of Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville.Jacob Wiegand

In his little more than a year in Cuba, Dissen said he had some "exciting experiences" including being stopped at a road blockade by secret police to check for weapons people might be running to Castro.

He was ordained and installed at Salida, Colorado, on July 5, 1959. He would then serve as the pastor at two parishes, 60 miles from each other, one in Salida and the other in Leadville, Colorado.

A cross is seen on the tie of the Rev. David Dissen during a celebration to commemorate his 60th anniversary in the ministry Sunday, June 30, 2019, in the parish hall of Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville.Jacob Wiegand ~ jwiegand@semissourian.com

Eventually, he would move on to be an associate pastor in Beloit, Wisconsin, where he would meet his wife, a home economics teacher named Judy, with whom he'll celebrate 52 years of marriage on Tuesday.

"That's been his whole life is to spread the gospel and to be able to do that in an active capacity for 60 years is wonderful," Judy said. "Not everybody's able to do that."

Then it was from Wisconsin to Chicago, where he had to deal with "all kinds of tensions" in his integrated church while serving as a pastor during the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

From Chicago, Dissen went to Clearwater, Florida, for 11 years and finally arrived in Cape Girardeau in 1981 where he has been ever since.

The Rev. David Dissen is silhouetted against a window during a church service Sunday, July 14, 2019, at Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville.Jacob Wiegand

Before retiring in 1998, he served at Trinity Lutheran Church on Frederick Street in Cape Girardeau.

Chris Miller of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department has gotten to know Dissen because the pastor is a chaplain for the department. Miller attended a celebration of Dissen's six decades in the ministry June 30 at Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville.

"He's just definitely a people person, like myself, that really just has a huge heart for people and especially first responders which I know he loves so much," Miller said.

Now the soon-to-be 86-year-old can be found on many mornings socializing at McDonald's.

The Rev. David Dissen hugs Chris Miller of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department during a celebration to commemorate Dissen's 60th anniversary in the ministry Sunday, June 30, 2019, in the parish hall of Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville. Dissen is a chaplain for fire department.Jacob Wiegand

Jan Gluesing of Cape Girardeau, who has known Dissen for a number of years, was with Dissen and others during a recent McDonald's meet up.

"He's full of jokes. He has wonderful jokes," Gluesing said. "They're clean, but they're funny. ... He's full of wisdom for his age."

Since retiring, he has been filling vacancies in parishes and now he and Judy attend Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville where he will fill in for the current pastor on occasion.

"I love the work. I love the people," Dissen said about his profession.