Reverend Fred Scherle, age 84, of Lytton, Iowa, passed away on Friday, December 29, 2006, at Loring Hospital in Sac City, Iowa.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 6th, at Emanuel-St. John Lutheran Church in Lytton, Iowa. Burial will be at Emanuel Lutheran Cemetery under the direction of the Farber & Otteman Funeral Home.

Visitation is from 4:00-8:00 p.m., Friday, January 5th, at the Farber & Otteman Funeral Home in Sac City.

Friedrich Adam Scherle was born January 10, 1922, in Artas, South Dakota, the son of Friedrich and Katharina (Bossert) Scherle. He was baptized on April 2, 1922, by Rev. Robert Heiser at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in rural Eureka, South Dakota, where he was also confirmed.

Fred attended country school and school in Artas, South Dakota. He graduated from high school in Eureka in 1939 and from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa in 1943, playing football and track while there. It was also at Wartburg that Fred met his soul mate, Edna Hameister, of Lytton, Iowa, and they were soon known on campus as “Fredna” a nickname that many continued to call them for the next 63 years!

Fred and Edna were married at Emanuel-St. John Lutheran Church in Lytton on December 22, 1944. Fred graduated from Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, trained for the mission field, and left for New Guinea in January of 1946. Edna followed him to New Guinea in July of the same year. The Scherles’ served as missionaries in New Guinea for over 30 years. At the beginning of his service, Fred became the first white person ever to be in certain areas of New Guinea. Toward the end of his years of service, Fred was instrumental in helping native leaders in his Social Concerns Office as New Guinea became an independent nation of Papua New Guinea.

During their years in New Guinea, Fred and Edna had three children, one of whom survived to adulthood, Frederick J. Scherle III. In 1968 Fred and Edna returned from the mission field and made their home in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Fred served as Pastor at St. Petri Lutheran in Minneapolis, Minnesota through December 1972, returning to New Guinea for eight more years. Upon retiring from the mission field, Fred accepted calls to serve parishes in New England, Rainy Butte, and Wishek, North Dakota over the ensuing years.

Fred and Edna retired from active ministry and moved to Edna’s childhood home in rural Lytton, Iowa. Fred continued to serve his God as an interim pastor for congregations at Lutheran Churches in Thor, Alta, Newell, Pocahontas, and Lytton and Methodist and First Christian Churches in Sac City.

Survivors include his wife Edna; son Fred Scherle, III and his wife Nancy of Panora, Iowa; two grandchildren: Fred Scherle, IV and wife Monica of Ankeny, Iowa, and Nicole Scherle of Panora, Iowa; and two great-grandchildren: Gabrielle and Nicholas Scherle of Ankeny. Other survivors include his sister Emma Hieb of Encinitas, California; two sisters-in-law: Erna Scherle of Santa Maria, California and Hinreka Bartels of Sac City, Iowa; brother-in-law Gerhardt Hameister of Lytton, Iowa; and many extended family members and friends.

Fred was preceded in death by his parents; infant son (buried in New Guinea); daughter Agnes Edna Scherle; brother Ruben Scherle; and brother-in-law Royal Hieb.