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Mark William Thomsen, 82, of Wautoma, Wis., a Dana College alumnus, died peacefully Monday, Jan. 20, 2014, in the loving presence of his family in Wautoma, following a short, three-month battle with cancer.

A Memorial Service will be 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, at Hope Lutheran Church in Wautoma with visitation at 12 p.m.

Mark William Thomsen was born Feb. 24, 1931, in Owatonna, Minn., to Rev. Jens Harry and Helene Ragna (Hansen) Thomsen.

He spent much of his youth in central Wisconsin. Living with his brothers and sister in Poy Sippi, Wis., he met and fell in love with Mary Lou Kafer at Berlin High School (Class of 1949) where he began his long career as a scholar, and an athlete.

He attended Dana College in Blair, married Mary Lou and earned his B.A. in 1953. The Omaha World-Herald referred to him as “Triple Threat Thomsen” for his prowess on the Dana College football field.

Following graduation and having decided to dedicate his life to God’s work, he entered Trinity Theological Seminary in Blair and earned his Bachelor of Divinity in 1956.

He was ordained at the United Evangelical Lutheran Church Convention in Racine, Wis., in 1957. He completed his Master of Divinity in New Testament theology at Princeton in 1957.

The young couple followed God’s call to serve as missionaries and on July 4th, 1957, with their 2-year-old son, Mark, in tow, they sailed on a freighter from New York to Lagos, Nigeria. The family served a total of 12 years as Lutheran missionaries in Nigeria. For his first year, he was a teacher at the Secondary School in Numan, then became the principal of the Lutheran Seminary in Lamurde where he started the first English-speaking seminary for the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria. He served as academic dean of the Theological College of Northern Nigeria in Bukuru from 1959 to 1966.

The couple and their four children returned to the United States in 1966 and back to Dana College where he was associate professor of philosophy and religion until 1972. He benefited from his wife's typing and editing skills as he wrote his dissertation completing his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at Northwestern University and Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., in 1971.

In 1972, he accepted the call of pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Dubuque, Iowa, where he served for eight years. His dedication to justice in the world and scholarship on Christianity and world religions brought him to Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., as associate professor of world mission and world religions from 1980 to 1982.

In 1982, he became director of the division of world mission and inter-church cooperation of the American Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, and with the creation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988, he continued his work, as executive director of global mission for the ELCA. The couple moved to the new headquarters north of Chicago, Ill. During his 14 years in those directorships, he traveled to more than 40 countries.

He retired from his work for the national church in 1996 to a new position as director of Ph.D./Th.M. studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. The final two years in this position overlapped with his last job as director of the Chicago Center for Global Ministries, 2002-2006.

For the last four years , he and his beloved wife of 61 years, their daughter, Sheree, and granddaughter Lily called a former Amish farm on County Road T in Wautoma home. He enjoyed growing green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes and pumpkins and helping raise chickens and sheep. More than anything, he took great pride in being “the best Barbie-playing grandpa ever” according to granddaughter Lily, 7.

He had written six books, including "Jesus, the Word, and the Way of the Cross: An Engagement with Muslims, Buddhists, and Other Peoples of Faith" in 2008, and many articles.

The Thomsens were happy “snowbirds” in Rio Verde, Ariz., where he enjoyed running in the Sonoran Desert and gazing at the Superstition Mountains and Four Peaks from the patio of the home their son, Derek, built.

Mr. Thomsen also enjoyed reading, writing, playing golf and running. He ran the 100- and 200-meter dash in the Wisconsin Senior Olympics, qualifying for Nationals in 2010.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou (Kafer); sons Mark and Grace (Swanson) of Milwaukee, Wis., and Derek and Vicki (Burch) of Phoenix, Ariz.; daughters Sandee and David Lyons of Des Moines, Iowa, and Sheree of Wautoma; sister Carol and Keith Skogman of Seguin, Texas; brothers Jim and Barb Thomsen of Madison, Wis., and Don and Andrea Thomsen of Englewood, Colo.; eight grandchildren: Sonja Thomsen-Oulahan, Drew Thomsen, Chelsea McGarvey, Jens Thomsen, Mathew Thomsen, Maureen Lyons, Hannah Lyons and Lily Thomsen-Keller; four great-grandchildren; numerous cousins and many dear friends.

He was preceded in death by his granddaughter, Mary Rose Thomsen-Keller.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to “ELCA Global Church Sponsorship” at P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764 or https://community.elca.org/globalchurch.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~