Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
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the board of direc<strong>to</strong>rs of Bethany. After these assurances, DMLC and WELS gave<br />
Bethany moral support after its reorganization. 157<br />
Douglas Hor<strong>to</strong>n once said, “Desperation is like stealing from the Mafia: you stand<br />
a good chance of attracting the wrong attention.” The desperation of ELEA <strong>to</strong> make a<br />
Bethany a success led <strong>to</strong> a number of foolish, unbrotherly, and doctrinally questionable<br />
decisions. In February of 1923, the school’s registrar, O.C. Torgerson, using DMLC<br />
letterhead, contacted a Mr. Claus Gieschen in Milwaukee offering <strong>to</strong> him the names of<br />
some of the graduates of Bethany Ladies College as candidates for call lists. Not only did<br />
this violate Bethany’s pledge <strong>to</strong> DMLC, but the Torgerson had sidestepped the District<br />
President, DMLC President Bliefernicht, and given a false impression by using DMLC<br />
letterhead that this procedure had been cleared with school officials. 158 Eight days later<br />
President Bliefernicht registered his protest with Bethany <strong>Lutheran</strong> College and<br />
demanded an explanation for this unchristian behavior. 159 Torgerson replied with a vague<br />
answer that did not fit the facts or the pledge that Bethany had made <strong>to</strong> DMLC.<br />
Torgerson asserted that graduates of Bethany were qualified <strong>to</strong> teach in Synodical<br />
Conference schools and that some Bethany graduates had been doing so already <strong>to</strong> fill the<br />
need for vacancies. 160 Bliefernicht responded that Torgerson’s explanation was beside the<br />
157 Ibid.<br />
158 O.C. Torgerson <strong>to</strong> C. Gieschen, letter, February 20, 1923, WELS-ELS Correspondence 1919-1990:<br />
Committee investigating matters regarding Bethany <strong>Lutheran</strong> College, <strong>Wisconsin</strong> <strong>Lutheran</strong> <strong>Seminary</strong><br />
Archives, Mequon, WI. Torgerson was a noted advocate and educa<strong>to</strong>r within the Norwegian Synod before<br />
the Madison Settlement. Whether Torgerson had been part of the faculty of Bethany when the Madison<br />
Settlement occurred, yet he remained in contact with many educa<strong>to</strong>rs within that synod who went along<br />
with the merger. Claus Gieschen would leave the WELS for the Protest’ ant Controversy and become one<br />
of her chief his<strong>to</strong>rians.<br />
159 Edmund Bliefernicht <strong>to</strong> Bethany <strong>Lutheran</strong> College, letter, February 28, 1923, WELS-ELS<br />
Correspondence 1919-1990: Committee investigating matters regarding Bethany <strong>Lutheran</strong> College,<br />
<strong>Wisconsin</strong> <strong>Lutheran</strong> <strong>Seminary</strong> Archives, Mequon, WI.<br />
160 O.C. Torgerson <strong>to</strong> Edmund Bliefernicht, letter, March 15, 1923, WELS-ELS Correspondence 1919-<br />
1990: Committee investigating matters regarding Bethany <strong>Lutheran</strong> College, <strong>Wisconsin</strong> <strong>Lutheran</strong> <strong>Seminary</strong><br />
Archives, Mequon, WI.<br />
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