Cemetery Tour. Johann Stroetker and Amalie Stroetker

Pastor: Guten Tag. Ich bin Pastor Johann Stroetker. Oh, pardon me, you speak English. I'll begin again. Hello. I am Rev. Johann Stroetker and this is my wife, Amalia. Right now you are in a section of St. Johns cemetery that is dedicated to the burial of pastors. They passed away while serving this church. I am an interesting part of the ceme-tery tour, because I am not buried here.

Amalie: I am Amalia Schumm Stroetker. Although my tombstone seems to say +Amalie+…..in German it would be pronounced Amalia, almost like Amelia. My husband and I lived just across the way in the parsonage with our family of eight. Our daughters. Johanna, Charlotte, Julia and Hildegard. And our sons. Herman, Robert, Bernard, and Amelius. (pronounced Ah=mee=lee=us)

Pastor: I had the honor of being the longest resident pastor in the his-tory of St. Johns church in the twentieth cemetery……19 years from 1899 until 1918. For the most part it was a blessed time here. Except for the sadness of the death of my wife Amalia as a result of complications following the birth of our youngest, Amelius.

Amalie: My son Amelius was born December 18, 1908 and I never regained my strength. I passed away a few weeks later on January 1, 1909 and was laid to rest here in the pastors section of St. John's cemetery, assuming that someday my husband would be laid to rest next to me.

Pastor: But it did not happen that way. I lived on until the age of 77 and passed away May 13. 1933. By that time I was at a church in Cas-co, MO. Near Union. The plans were to get me back to St. John’s cemetery for burial, but in that year, there was only a ferry boat across the Missouri River at Washington, no bridge. It was a flood year and the ferry could not cross because of debris and high water. So the decision was made to lay me to rest at the cemetery in Casco, MO. And so my wifes grave here at St. John's is dear to me and all our descents. Oh and by the way, my long pastorate record was finally broken in the twenty-first cemetery by Rev. Devin Jones, who was by marriage my great nephew.

Amalie: Our son, Amelius Stroetker married Devin's aunt Velma Jones. Making Amelius his uncle.

Pastor: And me his great uncle. celebrating of how God is able to work in blessed ways in our lives, beyond anything we could ever imagine.

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