REV. WILLIAM BEKEMEIER 1894-1899

 REV. WILLIAM BEKEMEIER was Trinity’s third pastor. He graduated from Concordia Seminary, Springfield, Illinois in 1894 and was commissioned to be a traveling missionary in the northwest area of Michigan with headquar­ters in Traverse City.

 He was installed at Trinity Lutheran Church on April 26,  1894. At that time Trinity had twenty members. He served four other small congregations spread over four counties. Within three years an area to the east of Traverse City consisting of eight preaching stations was placed under his care. He then served 13 small congregations in an area of 100 square miles. To reach these stations, he traveled by horse and buggy or train.

 After five years of constant traveling and due to ill health, he accepted a call to Trinity, Arcadia, Michigan.  The Arcadia congregation had 60 members and a Christian Day School. He served Arcadia twelve years before accepting a call to Richville, Michigan. Twenty five years were spent serving Richville’s large congregation. His zeal for missions and support of Synod were outstanding. In 1895 Trinity congregation became affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. 

He was married to Bertha Brandhorst  who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. They had five children: Laura, Clara, Alma, Esther and Reinhold.  All five reached their eighties. Clara died in 1981.  Alma Bekemeier closed a small apparel shop in Port Huron in 1982 and moved to an apartment in Franken­muth and passed away in 1977 at the age of 81. Much of the above infor­mation was supplied by Alma Bekemeier, a daughter.

 After a short illness, his Heavenly Father called Rev. Bekemeier home on April 4, 1937. His wife passed away at age 81 in 1949. His son succeeded him in the ministry and served 55 years while his grandson served another 25 years. This still remains quite a record.

 When Trinity (at its current location, 13^th and Maple) celebrated its 50th Anniversary, Rev. Bekemeier conducted one of the services. Mrs. Bekemeier and daughter Alma accompanied Pastor Bekemeier to Traverse City at that time. Alma says they enjoyed the warm hospi­tality of their long time friends, the Harsch family.  In 1949 when the new Trinity was dedicated the commemorative booklet states, "He (Rev. William Bekemeier) is the great-uncle of the Rev. E. H. Bekemeyer, who delivers the dedicatory sermon on this occasion."

 The church where Pastor Bekemeiher served was the old church at the corner of Seventh and Oak Streets.  It is still there

 Alma's last trip to Traverse City was in 1977 when she and her sister lo­cated Trinity Lutheran the church where Laura was baptized in 1896, Clara in 1897 and Alma in 1899.  Since Alma and her sister visited during the week, but did not stay for Sunday, they were unable to attend services at Trinity. This was their one regret. You realize, of course, that it was Old Trinity where the Beke­meier girls were baptized. Old Trinity still stands today on the corner of Seventh and Oak Streets.

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