He was born June 10, 1929, in Oak Park, Illinois, to Harry F. and Gertrude C. (Dreher) Thiel. He is survived by his “first” wife of 67 years, Marilyn H. Thiel, and their three children, Joan Leavens (John), David Thiel (Sarah), Richard Thiel (Andi Heard), brother Robert Thiel (Carol); grandchildren Lane Leavens (Bobby Nicholson), Claire DelliVeneri (Michael), Alyssa Thiel (fiancé Chris Gleason), Eleanor Leavens (Luke Schneider), Charles Thiel, and Adeline Thiel, great-grandchildren Henry DelliVeneri, Bowen Schneider Leavens and nieces and nephews. Harry and Marilyn were family to many, including Amy Martinez and her son, Joseph Bradley, Rachel Mahlik, Marvin Grilliot and Sam, Ben and Maggie Grilliot.
Harry attended Oak Park High School, Augustana College and the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. Harry met the love of his life, Marilyn H. Anderson, while at Augustana College. They were married June 7, 1952. He served as pastor at Acacia Park Lutheran Church in Chicago, founding mission pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Decatur, Illinois, and pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Harry’s life long passion was the outdoors. He and Lynn discovered the majesty of the mountains as one of the first chaplain couples to serve the National Park Service through the Christian Ministry in the National Parks in Glacier National Park in 1953.
As pastor of Trinity Lutheran, Kirkwood, Harry organized multi-denominational clergy to successfully advocate for sewers and streetlights in Meacham Park, a suburb of St. Louis. He led the members of Trinity to form a partnership with First United Lutheran Church in East St. Louis, Illinois, where members of the two congregations worked with the War Lords, an organization of young black men, to build community and connection in impoverished East St. Louis. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., invited clergy to join the Civil Rights March to Selma, Alabama, Harry traveled to join the March. Almost exactly five years before Harry’s passing, President Obama awarded Congressional Gold Medals to all who took part in the Selma Marches of 1965 on the 50th anniversary of the first Selma march. The kindness and generous spirit of those who cared for Harry in the midst of the fear and anger he encountered along the March continued to touch him in his old age.
Harry left the ministry in 1970 and served as chief probation officer in Madison County, Illinois. Harry became an insurance salesman for Lutheran Brotherhood Fraternal Benefit Society, now Thrivent Financial, in 1972. Among Harry and Lynn’s lifelong friends were fellow pastor couples from the St. Louis area who gathered each New Year’s Eve for 42 years to ring in the New Year.
Harry’s family wishes to express their gratitude to the staff at Kingswood Memory Care, CareStaff and Ascend Hospice. Their love and support were greatly appreciated.
A celebration of Harry’s life for friends and extended family will be held at a later date. Further details will be posted at First Lutheran Church, Mission Hills, KS, and Mt. Moriah, Newcomer & Freeman Funeral Home.
Contributions in Harry’s memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, Sierra Club, the Southern Poverty Law Center, The Nature Conservancy, Lutheran World Relief, Our Lord’s Lutheran Church in Maryville, Illinois, or a charity of your choice.
