Henry R. Moeller

Left to mourn his passing are his 5 children: Rachel Moeller Anglen (Gary – deceased) of Tampa, Fl; Timothy Moeller (Kathy) of Bettendorf, IA; Nathan Moeller (Elly) of Overland Park, KS; Joy Moeller of Minneapolis, MN; and Hope Moeller Yamagata (Todd) of Bel Air, MD. He is also survived by five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Henry was preceded in death by his wife Esther, his parents, older sisters Doris Snowden, Ruth Cope, Leone Yeates Daly and Helen Jones, and older brother C. Harry Moeller.

Henry Richard Moeller was born to Henry Christian Moeller and Rosabelle Stover in Lancaster, SC on Feb. 28, 1920. The family moved several times during Henry’s early life – Malvern, AR; Kankakee, IL; Montgomery, AL – before settling near the Moeller ‘home place’ in Somers, IA outside of Fort Dodge, IA in October of 1930. In March 1937 the family moved to a farm near Swaledale, IA where Henry graduated from Swaledale High School that same year and decided to pursue a life of Christian service. A significant influence in that decision was Rev.Vernon McCauley, pastor of the Swaledale Baptist church.

Henry began college in 1938-39 but college was interrupted first by financial hardship and later, by induction into the U.S. Army in late August, 1944. He was trained as a Signal Corps cryptographic technician, and served in west China (1945-46), and Manila, Philippine Islands (1946-1947). Henry married Esther McCauley on July 16, 1946 in Henry, IL while he was home on a furlough. After Henry was discharged from the Army in August, 1947, he resumed his college education at Bryan College. Henry graduated in the spring of 1949, about a month after the birth of their first child, Rachel.

Henry and Esther moved to Kansas City, Kansas in the fall of 1949 where Henry entered Central Baptist Theological Seminary in the winter quarter of the 1949-50 school year. Henry earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, a Master of Theology degree and a Doctor of Theology degree. The Seminary made Henry an instructor in elementary New Testament Greek, then Assistant Professor of Biblical Languages. After earning the Doctor of Theology degree, in 1958, he was made Associate Professor of Biblical Languages a position he held until formal retirement in May, 1988; but continued as an adjunct instructor in elementary biblical languages until May of 1999.

Henry was the author of “The Legacy of Zion: Intertestamental Texts Related to the New Testament” a reader for seminary students. He worked on “The New Testament from 26 Translations” and “The Word – The Bible from 26 Translations”, both comparative study bibles. Henry engaged as a member of the translation team working from original Hebrew and Greek texts to produce “The New American Standard Bible” under the auspices of the Lockman Foundation. Henry was an active supporter of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and American Bible Society.

Henry and Esther, were members of the Armourdale Baptist Church 1950-63, and Henry served as a deacon in the last several years. He was also ordained to the Baptist ministry here, after attaining the Bachelor of Divinity degree, in 1953, from the Seminary. In January of 1964, Henry and Esther became members of the Grandview Baptist Church, in which Henry also served as a deacon for a number of years.

Henry served as Assistant Scout Master to Troop 218 sponsored by Grandview Baptist Church and was active in the Kaw Council of the Boy Scouts USA. For a number of years he served as a First Aid instructor with the Wyandotte County Chapter of the Red Cross.

After Esther’s death in November 2015, Henry succumbed to senile dementia which had been advancing even during Esther’s declining years and was finally placed in memory care at Stratford Commons Memory Care Community of Overland Park, KS in August 2017. Henry settled into the community and became a favorite among the staff and other residents, especially for his musical talent on the harmonica. He will be missed.