Pastor Lorenz C.C Grueber was installed at Trinity on November 10, 1929 by Rev. Edward Schmidt of Leland, Michigan.
The following article appeared in the Traverse City Record-Eagle on June 2, 1953.
“Rev. Grueber, Chaplain at Hospital, Dies
Trinity Lutheran Church and a host of acquaintances and friends in the greater Grand Traverse area were saddened by the sudden death of Rev. Lorenz C.C. Grueber, former pastor of Trinity Church and Chaplain of the State Hospital. Pastor Grueber died Monday afternoon at 3:00 o’clock at Munson hospital after and illness of approximately a year, following surgery at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing,
The Rev. Grueber was born August 24, 1896, on a farm near Frankenmuth, Michigan, receiving his elementary education in the parochial schools of that community. Choosing the Holy Ministry as his life’s vocation, he enrolled at Concordia College, Milwaukee, the preparatory school of the church. After six years of academic training, he was graduated in 1917, and matriculated to Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1920, qualifying for a call into the active ministry of the church.
His first charge was St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Holstein, Nebraska. After a fruitful ministry in this parish, extending over a period of nine years, the Rev. Grueber was called to the pastorate of Trinity Church of this city, and to St. Matthew Church of Mancelona, serving both for over 18 years. From the beginning of his ministry in this city, Pastor Grueber showed a heart interest (sic) in the spiritual welfare of the patients at the State hospital, serving them throughout the years of his ministry here.
In June of the year 1948 he resigned from the pastorate of Trinity Church to become the first full-time resident chaplain of the hospital. His influence was also felt in wider areas of the church during the years that he acted (original unreadable here)…
On July 24, 1920, Pastor Grueber was united in marriage to Martha Lorengel of Muskegon, who survives him, together with four sons, LaVerne, Norman, Ralph and Harold and two daughters, Rhoda and Dorothy. The bereaved include also three brothers, Leonard, Conrad and Alfred Grueber, all of Frankenmuth, four sisters, Martha --- of Frankenmuth, Hannah Weber of Richville, Paulina Weber of Millington and Ida Petzold of Millington; three grandchildren.
……Services will be held at the church (Trinity) beginning at 2:30 o’clock with the Rev. Fred Wiese of St. Peter’s Church, Big Rapids, lifelong friend of the deceased, delivering the funeral sermon.
The service will be conducted by the Rev. W. Harry Krieger, STM, the successor of Pastor Grueber. The committal service will be read by the Rev. Edward F. Schmidt of Leland with burial in Grand Traverse Memorial Gardens. Official representatives of the Manistee circuit and of the Michigan District of the Lutheran Church, together with pastoral delegates throughout the state will attend. Pastors of the Manistee circuit will act as the pallbearers with the members of the Board of Elders of Trinity and St. Matthew Churches serving as the guard of honor.”