Dr. Nelson w. Trout
bishop + Reverend
Born: 1921
Died: Sept. 20th, 1996
FEast: Sept. 20th
Patron of:
The South pacific US, Civil Rights, Lutherans of color
Bio
Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1921, Nelson Wesley Trout attended Capital University and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. He taught and served at several schools and parishes, and was known for a “vibrant”, captivating teaching style, advocate for quality education, and commitment to social justice and civil rights. He eventually received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Wartburg College in Iowa, and served in Wisconsin, Los Angeles, and Montgomery, Alabama, where he met and befriended Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The two were known to joke with each other, and to share similar ideas.
By 1960, he was serving as staff of the American Lutheran Church. His positions included those in youth ministry, and urban evangelism, and he also served as director of Lutheran Social Services in Dayton, Ohio. He then returned to Trinity Lutheran Seminary as a professor and director of Minority Ministry Studies, until 1983, when he was appointed as bishop of the South Pacific District of the ALC. This territory included California, Nevada, Texas, Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, which held about 144,000 members, and he became the first African American Bishop in the American Lutheran church.When the ALC became the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1987, this jurisdiction changed as separate synods were formed, and he became a Bishop Emeritus, transitioning to a role out of Chicago as Director for Mission Theology and Evangelism Training.
In 1991, an annual event was created at Trinity Lutheran in commemoration of Dr. Trout’s work, which still continues, hosting a lecture series on preaching. He was known to have such a depth of knowledge, insightful ideas, and memorable sermons.
He died in 1996 in Inglewood, Colorado. He had three children, and his wife, Jennie, passed away in 2013.
wHAT wOULD they CARE ABOUT TODAY?
Columbus, Ohio lecture series
Prayer
"When I suggest that the solution to our ever increasing racial problem be found in our ability to generate goodwill, I would not want such a suggestion to be discarded as the council of weakness. Granted, we do not normally think of such a quality of human experience as being in the same league with our military power, or with our scientific resources; yet, it is not to be discarded as utter sentimentality or some impotent form of effeminacy. I submit to you that human goodwill is the greatest power available to humanity."
- Rev. Dr. Nelson W. Trout
Art Reflection
The colors are vintage ones sampled from his lifetime in the 50s-80s. They are also colors I found in many images the South Pacific region that he served - in wildflowers, deserts, beaches, and towns. He plant in his pocket is a “bittersweet”, since I loved one of the anecdotes provided to me about how he talked often of life being bittersweet. His expression I hope conveys this as well a subdued joy.
