Otto A. Geiseman (1893-1962) Papers

Otto A. Geiseman was born on August 8, 1893 in Sioux City, Iowa, of Lutheran parents, Mr. Rudolf J. Geiseman and Marie Dahms Geiseman. At 13 years of age he entered Concordia College, Milwaukee from 1906-12, and then Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, from 1912-1915. He received his Master of Arts from Chicago University in 1928 and an S.T.D. from Chicago Lutheran Seminary in 1937. In addition, he received an honorary doctorate from Concordia Seminary St. Louis in 1961.

On August 1, 1921 he married Miss A. Marie Lohnes. They had six children; Lydia, Helen, Mary, Otto, Paul and John. They were married for 41 years.

Pastor Geiseman's was ordained and installed at Wenona, Illinois in 1915. He then served as minister in Pekin, Illinois from 1919 to 1922. In 1922 he went to Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in River Forest, Illinois until his death on November 7, 1962. He died of cancer at the age of 69 in West Suburban Hospital, Oak Park, where he had been a patient for 10 weeks.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Missouri Synod in 1942, 1943, 1951, 1952, 1957. He was a member of the Synod‘s Financial Committee in 1941, 1942, 1943. He was on the Editorial Board of the American Lutheran from 1939-1950. He was a member of the synod's Electoral Board for Nominations Committee 1938, 1935, 1936, 1937; Chairman of the 5ynod's Division Committee on Missions 1950, 1951, 1952. He was program chairman of the Oak Park Optimist Club from 1930 onward. He served on the Board of Trustees of Valparaiso (Indiana) University and the Walther Memorial Hospital.

He was associate editor of the American Lutheran magazine, a Contributor to the Pulpit Digest