The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

The Rev. Ernest W. Collard of East Wenatchee died on Friday, March 28, 2014. He was born June 13, 1927, at Walla Walla, WA, the son of Samuel and Ida (Mantz) Collard, wheat farmers northwest of Walla Walla. When he was 6 years old, the family moved to their farm eight miles west of Prescott.

He graduated from Prescott High School in 1945, and then attended Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, and WSU, before graduating in 1948 from Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma. He is a 1952 graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.

He married Ruth Marie Holle of Ludell, KS, on June 1, 1952, at Herndon, KS, whom he met at PLU. He was ordained into the Lutheran ministry on July 13, 1952, at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Walla Walla.

During his full-time ministry, he served as pastor of Good Hope Lutheran Church, Gifford, Idaho, 1952-57; Peace Lutheran, Tacoma, 1957-60; founding pastor of Our Savior Lutheran, Issaquah, 1960-68; St. Paul Lutheran, Quincy, 1968-82; and Zion Lutheran, Fairfield, 1982-89. When they lived in Tacoma, he served two years as assistant chaplain at the VA Hospital, American Lake.

He retired in 1989, and he and his wife moved to East Wenatchee. He served as Visitation Assistant at Grace Lutheran, Wenatchee, from 1990 to 2014. In the early years of retirement, he wrote four large family histories.

He was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, PLU Q Club Fort Walla Walla Museum, and earlier the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society, for which he served as editor of the Appleland Bulletin for five years.

Preceding him in death were an infant son in 1957 and his wife of 55 years in 2007 as well as all three of his wife's brothers.

He is survived by his son, Paul G. (Rita) Collard of Atwood, KS; his daughter, Julie M. Thaemert of Quincy; his four grandchildren, Erika and Daniel Collard, and Heidi and Robin Thaemert as well as cousins and his sister-in-law, Carolyn Holle of Agra, KS.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, April 3, 2014 at 2:00 PM at Grace Lutheran Church; 1408 Washington St., Wenatchee. A private interment will precede at Evergreen Memorial Park. Memorials may be made to the Grace Lutheran Church Endowment Fund, to the Lutheran World Relief through Grace Lutheran or a charity on one's choice. Arrangements are assisted by Telford's Chapel of the Valley, East Wenatchee.