Covenant News

Services Planned Friday for Wilbur C. Westerdahl

TURLOCK, CA (July 15, 2003) - Funeral services are set for 3 p.m. Friday at Cornerstone Covenant Church for retired Covenant pastor Wilbur C. Westerdahl, who died Monday in Turlock's Emanuel Medical Center.

Westerdahl was a former president of Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, a school sponsored by the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). He also served as the development officer at Emanuel Medical Center and was a driving force behind the planting of Cornerstone Covenant, said Cornerstone Covenant pastor Brad Boydston. Wilbur and his wife, Evelyn, were residents at Covenant Village of Turlock. He died eight days before his 85th birthday.

Born July 22, 1918 in Seattle, Westerdahl's father was noted Covenant preacher and evangelist Carl G. Westerdahl (an annual series of lectures at Chicago's North Park Theological Seminary are named after him.)

After spending two years at North Park Junior College, Westerdahl earned a bachelor of science degree (pre-medicine) from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, while also attending North Park Theological Seminary. He also served as pastor of Mission Covenant Church in Belvidere, Illinois. After leaving school, he and his wife, Evelyn, were married on August 26, 1944, and the couple moved to Minneapolis, where Wilbur served at Camden (now Brookdale) Covenant Church for eight years. After leaving the Twin Cities, Westerdahl spent one year as an evangelist for the ECC.

Westerdahl then served as senior pastor at Peninsula Covenant Church in Redwood City, California, from 1953 to 1960 before returning to Minneapolis to become president at Minnehaha Academy, where he served from 1960 to 1976. He later served in a pastoral role at Peninsula Covenant before moving to central California.

John Notehelfer, interim executive minister of world mission and previous superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference, served as an associate pastor under Westerdahl at Peninsula Covenant. He stated, "Wilbur had such a wonderful way of being a friend to those who did not have Christian interests, gaining their trust, and in his own way sharing the good news of the gospel with them with such warmth. I learned a lot from him."

"He was a visionary and he was an enthusiastic evangelist with a real heart for people who didn't know Christ," said Boydston about Westerdahl. "A part of him that people didn't know is that he had a very warm ecumenical spirit. And he was almost always an upbeat person."

Westerdahl is survived by his wife of 59 years, Evelyn; a daughter, Teresa, and a son, Timothy. Memorials may be sent to Cornerstone Covenant Church.

Printable version of this page.