John Paul Uhlig has a smile in his voice and a sense of profundity when he quotes John 10:10: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” All John’s honors, motivation and blessings have come from his abiding faith in the Lord.

This month he celebrated his 95th birthday with a champagne reception. Last month he received the Doctor of Divinity degree, bestowed once a year from the California Graduate Society of Theology. Every Friday morning he teaches Bible study at Carlsbad Village by the Sea retirement home. Oh yes, John has published his first volume of memoirs and continues work on the second. His mind is active; studying and teaching.

Remarkable you may say — a long life, an active mind. A look at John’s enduring qualities provides a glimpse of a man’s love, honor and countless kind acts of past and present.

“Before I was in first grade, the Lord touched my shoulder and I knew I wanted to be a pastor,” John said. The youngest of four brothers and a younger sister, Hilda, John was born July 11, 1913, in St. Charles, Mo. “I had a happy childhood,” he said without reservation. “My father was an iron molder born in Germany. Mother was from Pilot Knob, Mo. We were a religious family. No one told us to go to Holy Cross Lutheran church every Sunday — we just did it!”

Mother and father spoke German. The children were instructed to speak English. “But Mother taught us German,” said John, who is fluent in both languages and preaches in both. 

“With six kids to raise, we were a matriarchal family — and we all turned out well,” he said. “I was the favorite of my mother because I never wanted to be anything else but a preacher.”

After graduation from Holy Cross Lutheran School and St. Paul’s College, John entered Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis. “To get a Bachelor of Divinity degree required extra work and classes, and nothing below a ‘B’ average.” The final test was translating a section of the scriptures. John had no problem remembering the Bible chapter and provided a fine rendition. He was ordained Aug. 22, 1937. Later he received a Master of Divinity. The following year in February he married his only true love, Ruth Alberta Tietjens.

In his memoirs, he writes of his First Call at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Okawville, Ill. “I was cutting my teeth in my first pastorate with a salary of $75 dollars a month — better than being unemployed!” These were the years of the Great Depression.

John and Ruth’s first home was the Parsonage owned by the congregation. In the beginning they faced many obstacles. Furniture was sparse, there was no bathroom and Ruth needed a stove to cook their meals. To operate the washing machine, a wedding gift, took both hands to push and pull a large plunger. When Ruth purchased a gasoline stove it had to be filled with gasoline and pumped with air. “This frightened me terribly,” John said. “I had visions of the whole thing blowing up — along with Ruthie.”

At first the congregation was divided — a European custom, one side for the men the other side for the women. Men took communion first. The custom of separation ended when a church member objected to this policy. John sent him home to find a Bible passage forbidding husbands and wives and family to sit together. The following Sunday the man returned with the answer. “I could not find such a passage!” John agreed with these conclusions and was “a perfect Christian gentleman about it all.”

John taught eighth grade school at the church. Ruth taught phonetics and Sunday School. As the pastor’s wife, she was active in all church activities; harvesting apples for apple butter to be sold in town, hosted the Quilters Group and weekly potluck suppers. From the parsonage’s large garden, she grew her own fruits and vegetables. She and John raised one son, Ronald Paul Uhlig. Ronald and his wife have seven children and are expecting another.

In the next 45 years, John served as pastor and interim pastor in four churches, contributed articles to religious publications, and served as executive director of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. He retired at 69 with many precious memories as a “good shepherd” and 63 years of marriage to Ruthie.

And to his future? John smiled.“For as many years as God gives me. I intend to love, teach, mingle and share love.”