Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

students. Ylvisaker had resigned his position at Luther College for confessional reasons
and had strained relations with his own family following the merger. It was Ylvisaker’s
great talent that attributed to the success of Bethany Lutheran College. Yet, it is quite
possible that Levorson’s more than 40 years at DMLC probably did as much, if not more,
to create and strengthen fraternal ties with the Wisconsin Synod.
Levorson was a man from humble roots. He was the son of Norwegian farmers in
northern Iowa and the grandson of Norwegian immigrants. Like Ylivsaker, Levorson too
had resigned his position at the Luther Academy, Albert Lea, MN. Levorson saw his
home congregation fractured by the merger. He was college and university educated,
earning a BA from Luther College and taking graduate level courses at the University of
Iowa, but he was neither a pastor nor a theologian. Levorson had also seen Europe, not
from the comfort of a university desk, but from the muddy trenches of France as a soldier
serving in WWI. 127 And yet, this man had a unique combination of gifts that served to
develop and strengthen the bonds between the two synods.
During Levorson’s first decade at DMLC, he gave annual reports to the ELS,
which prove to be enlightening about not only Levorson, but the state of the relationship
between the ELS and the WELS during these years. First, the reports unintentionally
attest to his popularity. During his first year at DMLC, there were only 3 students from
the Norwegian Synod. 128 In 1924, the number had risen to 8. 129 By 1925 the number had
127 Levorson served in the 61 st Infantry Battalion of the 5 th Division of the American Expeditionary Force.
Levorson rose to the rank of sergeant and saw action at St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. At
least two men from the 61 st infantry were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroics in these
battles.
128 Oscar Levorson, “Report from Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN.” New Hampton, IA, 1924
Convention of the Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church.
129 Levorson, DLMC report of 1924.
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