Prof. Ed. Koehler

Prof. Ed. Koehler served the congregation as its first pastor in the present church edifice, being called to our church from Mosheim, Tennessee.  He was installed in the temporary church building on October 11th, 1903.  Although the construction of the new church was fairly well under way when Pastor Koehler came, his unceasing attention to its every detail , in addition to his pressing duties in church and school work, was one of the factors in putting our congregation in possession of one of the best appointed church buildings of our Synod in the South.

Pastor Koehler, a strong man of God, did great service for the Kingdom while in the ministry of our congregation.  Especially did he possess a great natural ability and aptitude for teaching the young, and when the call from the teachers' seminary of Addison, Ill., came to him in September, 1908, the congregation realized the great opportunity offered him, in the preparation of hundreds of boys for service in our parish schools, and though with deep regret, consented to his acceptance of the call to this highly important work. Since then he was been one of the great workers at River Forest, hundreds of congregations with thousands of children being served by teachers who received their training at the hands of Professor Koehler.

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