Rev. William Wayne Ziebell

Rev. William Ziebell, age 85, of Lynd, Minnesota, died peacefully under the care of hospice on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, at his home with family at his side. The sister congregations of Zion (Island Lake Township) and Christ Lutheran (Marshall) invite you to worship and give thanks at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Marshall at his Funeral Service. His Celebration of Life and Service is 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Visitation will be held from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Monday, July 22, 2024, at the Hamilton Funeral Home in Marshall. The evening will close with a Prayer Service at 7:30 p.m. led by his dear friend, Pastor Dan Haag. With Pastor Ziebell’s work complete, his brother, Michael, is taking him home to St John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Slades Corners, Wisconsin, where a second funeral celebration will take place. Services there are at 5:00 p.m. Friday, July 26, 2024. Following worship in the church where he first heard the scriptures, Pastor Ziebell will be laid to rest in the church cemetery near his Father and Mother awaiting the resurrection. His interment is at 6:00 p.m. Friday and will be followed by a reception back at the church in Slades Corners, Wisconsin.

Pastor Ziebell's family requests that memorials be given to the Glory of God and to the work of your home congregations or, if you wish, to his beloved Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. Thank you.

Pastor William "Bill" Wayne Ziebell was born on the 31st of January 1939, in Burlington, Wisconsin. He was the second child of three (and first son) of William George Ziebell and Florence Beatrice (nee Tonkyn) Ziebell. Bill grew up on the family’s small dairy farm surrounded by a loving community including the family of Henry and Marie Gehring. He was baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Slades Corners (just South of Burlington), Wisconsin.

Bill attended Oakdale Elementary, a one-room schoolhouse in Wheatland Township, and graduated from Salem Central High School in Salem, Wisconsin. He then worked in downtown Chicago for two years as an expediter to earn the money required to attend college and pursue his one and only ambition - to be a Pastor. Bill enrolled at Concordia College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then at Northwestern College in Watertown, Wisconsin, for his classical undergraduate studies in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and German which prepared him for the Holy Ministry. Graduating second in his class, he entered the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin, to complete his ministerial studies. During the seminary years he tutored Latin and English at Martin Lutheran College in New Ulm, Minnesota, and served as Vicar at Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wilmot, Wisconsin. While in seminary his father died and nearly the entire professorial faculty of the seminary attended the funeral to comfort their grieving student whom they loved.

Upon graduation from the seminary, Pastor Ziebell was assigned to Trinity Lincoln Evangelical Lutheran Church in rural Lake City, Minnesota, where on July 16th, 1967, he was ordained into the Holy Ministry and Installed as Pastor, commencing a Ministry spanning 57 years. During his time at Trinity Lincoln he served as a Chaplain at the nearby Mayo Clinic and as Visiting Elder of the Red Wing Conference. Then, in 1972, Pastor Ziebell accepted a call to Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Marshall, Minnesota, where he would serve over 25 years across two calls. During his tenure at Christ Lutheran, the congregation started Samuel Lutheran Elementary School and he wrote a weekly newspaper column - a 300-word synopsis of the scripture readings for the week and his sermon called "Just a Minute." He maintained this for the rest of his parish ministry, with his last one published on Facebook just this week.

In 1979 Pastor Ziebell accepted a call to Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, to teach the scriptures to high school students. In 1982 he returned to parish ministry, accepting a call to serve the paired congregations of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mazeppa, Minnesota, and St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bear Valley, Minnesota.

Unprecedented, in 1993 Pastor Ziebell accepted a call to return to Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Marshall. He stepped down to Associate Pastor at Christ Lutheran in 2004 when he accepted a retirement call to serve Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Island Lake Township, rural Russell, Minnesota. He remained their Pastor preaching his last sermon on July 7, 2024 - just 9 days short of the 57th anniversary of his ordination.

Beyond his love of the Ministry and studying the scriptures, Pastor Ziebell had passions for antiques, curiosities, traveling, construction, farming, horses, art, cooking, listening to Bach, and a curious affection for the British MG sports car. He took the title Pastor, or Shepherd, quite literally owning and caring for two flocks of sheep in his lifetime. Pastor Ziebell travelled the Western World and even into the jungles of the Amazon with a missionary. He often took church groups and friends to the Rocky Mountains, Canada, the sights of the Eastern United States, the Holy Land, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Europe, Ukraine, the home of Martin Luther, and many trips to his beloved England. Pastor Ziebell loved to build things; at his first church, Trinity Lincoln, he restored the steeple including personally climbing the steeple to guild the cross. He restored several homes and cottages, built a real log cabin, and turned a defunct dairy barn in rural Lynd into his home where he fell asleep. He painted, carved, and fashioned paper mâché - whether illuminating the scriptures or regaling his friends, storytelling was an art form for Pastor Ziebell.

Pastor William Ziebell fell asleep the evening of July 17, 2024, with family at his side. He had reached the age of 85 years, 5 months, and 17 days. Blessed be his memory. Pastor Ziebell, Michael, and the family wish to express their profound gratitude to Dr. Steven Meister and the staff of Avera Marshall and Dr. Marrisa Li and the staff of the Mayo Clinic for their exceptional skills and profound care through his illnesses. The care provided by Melissa Maranell, the nurses, and the aides of Avera Hospice can only be described as humbling . . . thank you!

He is survived by his brother, Michael (LaVon) Ziebell of Spicer, Minnesota; beloved maternal aunt, Barbara Tonkyn of Lake Geneva, WI; treasured brother-in-law, Raymond Meyers of Burlington, WI; nieces, Brenda (Ken) Fleischmann of Naperville, IL, Peggy (Chris) Weidert of Burlington, WI, Patti (Tim) Spiegelhoff of Burlington, WI, Kristen Johnson of Spicer; nephews, Thomas (Tammy) Meyers of Burlington, WI, Nathan (Michelle) Ziebell of Clear Lake, SD; 2 grand-nieces; 4 grand-nephews; 2 much-loved friends/brothers in the Ministry, Reverend Professor (Ret.) David (Judy) Gosdeck of New Ulm and Pastor Daniel Haag of Lynd - with whom he loved to study and debate the mysteries of the Scriptures.

He was preceded in death by his parents; grandparents; sister loved beyond all measure, Nancy Jean Meyers; and countless saints of the congregations he loved and served.

²For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: ⁵That your faith should not stand the wisdom of men, but the power of God. 

St. Paul’s First Letter to Corinth, Chapter 2, Verses 2 through 5 (KJV)

To God Alone be the Glory! Amen!