Philip James Secker passed away on September 14, 2024, at the age of 87. He was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on August 26, 1937, the son of Walter James Secker and Ingeborg Rosine, nee Bakke, Secker. He graduated from Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, in 1959, with summa cum laude honors. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1963 and a Master of Sacred Theology degree in 1967 from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, followed by a Doctor of Theology degree in 1973 under the guidance of his beloved advisor, Arthur Carl Piepkorn. He was ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1964 and went on to serve congregations in Grover, Missouri; New Ipswich and Peterborough, New Hampshire; and Storrs and Coventry, Connecticut. In 1964, he married Karna Ann Kohtz, with whom he recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
In the 1960s and 1970s, he and Karna participated in protests against the Vietnam War and in support of the Civil Rights Movement. From 1967 to 1971, he was on active duty as an Army chaplain and volunteered for deployment to Vietnam because he felt chaplains who opposed the war had a valuable role to play in supporting the troops. While there, he was quoted in Time magazine calling the war immoral. He received the Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in ground operations against hostile forces for serving in Saigon during all of 1969, as well as a number of other medals. He continued serving as a chaplain in the Army Reserves until retiring in 1997 as a full colonel and was proud of his service to his country.
In 1971-72 , he spent a semester at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches in Bossey, Switzerland, and he served for many years representing the Lutheran World Federation as a member of the Roman Catholic-Lutheran Dialogue, a decades-long attempt to resolve doctrinal differences between the churches. For several years, he taught courses on the Reformation at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, New Hampshire. After the death of theologian Arthur Carl Piepkorn, he began a project to digitize his archives and make his work more widely available, culminating in the editing and publishing of the second volume of Piepkorn’s selected writings.
He is survived by his wife, Karna; his daughter Kristin Anne Secker, daughter Diana Secker Tesdell and her husband Kerwin Tesdell, son Steven Secker and his wife Alice Tsai; grandchildren Annika Larson, Evan Tesdell, Kylie Tsai Secker, and Jared Tsai Secker, and his sisters Joann Bischoff and Karen Jacobson. He was preceded in death by step-grandson William Tesdell.
Philip spent his life honorably and faithfully serving his Lord, his country, and his family. He will be fondly remembered for his adventurousness and intellectual curiosity, his pastoral care and principled stands, his love of travel and mountain climbing, his ingenious practical inventions, his remarkable skill as a pickleball player in his 80s, and his mischievous and playful sense of humor, which was still evident even as the end approached.
The family will receive friends and relatives from 6-8 PM on Thursday, September 26th, 2024, at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson St., Willimantic, CT 06226. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, the 27th of September, 2024, at Hope Lutheran Church 62 Dog Ln. Mansfield, CT, with interment to follow at Storrs Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Hope Lutheran Church. To leave a message of condolence or send flowers, please visit www.potterfuneralhome.com
