Elizabeth D. (Wallace) Schlenker

Elizabeth Dotter (Wallace) Schlenker passed away on Sunday, September 29, at the Lutheran Home at Topton (Berks County). She was the beloved wife of the late Rev. Luther Schlenker for 22 years. She was 100.

Born in 1912 in Lebanon, she was the second daughter of Edwin and Maude (Dotter) Wallace.

Elizabeth graduated in 1931 from Liberty High School as valedictorian and in 1935 from Moravian College for Women, both of Bethlehem. She later earned a Master of Science in bacteriology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she was the only woman in her biochemistry class.

Elizabeth had been employed as a laboratory technician at St. Luke’s Hospital, Fountain Hill.

In 1941, she married Rev. Luther Schlenker, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Shenandoah.

They also served at the following Lutheran parishes: St. Peter’s, Molltown, PA; Zion Church, Maxatawny, PA; St. Paul’s, Mertztown, PA; and St. Andrew’s, Perkasie.

Following her husband’s death in 1963, Mrs. Schlenker became a freelance writer for Lutheran publications. She worked as an editor for Augsburg Lesson Series, published by Fortress Press.

In 1970, Elizabeth was sent by the Lutheran Church in America to serve as an educational missionary in the Lutheran Church in Guyana. She served there until retiring in 1981. Mrs. Schlenker was later honored by Muhlenberg College for her work in Guyana with a Doctorate in Education.

Mrs. Schlenker is survived by her children: Christina Kioko and her husband, Joe, of Nairobi, Kenya; Martha Knouss, of Adelphi, MD; James Schlenker and his wife, Linda Moerkirk Schlenker, of Fayetteville, NC; eight grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren; and her son-in-law, Rev. Dr. George Kinney, of Fleetwood.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a daughter, Priscilla Kinney, and a son-in-law, Dr. Robert Knouss.

Her funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, October 7, in St. Andrew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Dill Avenue and Chestnut Street, Perkasie. Friends may call Monday morning at church, beginning at 10 a.m. until time of service.

Interment will be in Hope Cemetery, Kutztown.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Rev. Luther F. Schlenker Scholarship Fund, Office of Development, Muhlenberg College, 2400 West Chew Street, Allentown, PA 18104 or Heifer International, www.Heifer.org.