Notizen zu dieser Person
A SON PAYS TRIBUTE TO A CHRISTIAN MOTHER Mrs. Louise Otten, the mother of Walter Otten, the editor of theLutheran weekly newspaper, "Christian News," died in her 92nd year onJune 25. Her son has written this tribute to his mother in theChristian News, and so opens a window on evangelical Lutheranism inthe USA in the last century. Walter says that although this article uses "Louise," her childrennever called her by her first name. It was always "Mom." She taughther children never to call uncles and aunts by their first name. Infact, children were never ever to call older close friends of thefamily by their first name. It was generally "uncle" or "tante"(aunt). Louise was born near Zeven, Germany. Her father, Dietrich Tibke,worked in the post office. He was almost killed as a soldier duringWWI. Both her father and mother were pious Christians who regularlyconducted home devotions and faithfully attended church. Her mother,Engel Ehlen, was almost imprisoned when she refused to greet aprominent Nazi in Zeven with a "Heil Hitler." She said she had onlyone Heiland (Savior) and that was Jesus Christ. Louise Tibke came to America when she was 16. She lived with the JohnBaden family and their nine children in Independence, Kansas. TheBadens were instrumental in founding St. John's College, Winfield,Kansas, one of the schools of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. Inthat home she become acquainted with Herman Otten. Herman Otten was also born in East Prussia. His father was a pastor inan independent Lutheran Free Church in Sottrum about 20 miles fromZeven where Louise was raised. His father died in the First World Warwhile serving in the Medical Corps and as a chaplain in Yugoslavia.Herman emigrated to the USA when he was 19 and worked at first forsome Kansas farmers and then in a revolving door factory. Herman and Louise Otten were married in 1932 in New York City andbecame members of Messiah Lutheran Church in Manhattan. When St.Matthew Lutheran Church, the oldest continuing Lutheran Church inAmerica, founded in 1664, was in difficulty, Messiah and St. Matthewmerged and Messiah gave up its name. Louise Otten taught Sunday Schooland was a leader of a group of Lutheran women in New York who met andassisted missionary families when they arrived in New York's harbor. Louise was a full-time wife and mother. The family was not wealthy,but Herman worked hard as a house painter, at times double shifts, andprovided well for his family. He was a member of the painters' unionuntil he died. He left school at 15 but all his children graduatedfrom college. He saved well and invested his money in houses in Harlemand was loved by his tenants. They called him "Painter Herman." On anumber of occasions he painted in the very schools where his childrenwere studying. His son Walter regularly ate lunch with his Dad whilehe was studying at Columbia University's graduate school while hisfather was painting the university library. Once a teacher atConcordia, Bronxville, while the father was scrubbing a floor,inquired if he were related to the two Otten boys who attended theschool. "They are my sons," he said. "They must have an intelligentmother," remarked the teacher. But the father was extremely well read,a despiser of false piety, an able speaker in German and English, andhe continued to teach a Sunday School Bible class until a week beforehe died. He had complete confidence in God's eternal truth as it isrevealed in the Scriptures. His four children entered full-time churchwork Louise Otten was an excellent cook. She prepared wholesome meals. Thechildren were expected to clean their plates. No food was thrown awayin the garbage. The children ate whatever Mom prepared and were notcontinually asked "do you want this?" Dad taught his boys to respectwomen and to appreciate a faithful mother working full time in thehome. When in crowded subways or trolleys he got up to make room for awoman and made sure his boys did the same thing. The family had no automobile until the last years Herman Jr. andWalter were at Concordia Seminary. Trolleys and subways were close tothe Otten apartment. The family did not have a phone of its own butused the phone in the lobby of a 40-family apartment house in theBronx where the family lived. Dad Otten did not want Louise to get ajob outside of the home. They were always willing to help the needy tothe best of their ability. They sent hundreds of food packages to thestarving in Europe after WWII. Their children carted the care packagesin their wagon to the post office. In 1936 Louise took her two boys to Germany for almost an entire yearto be with her sick mother. Marie and Carl were not yet born. DadOtten came toward the end of the visit and returned with the family.In those days it cost only a few dollars to take the small children. Iwas only three when we returned and about all I can remember is someslaughtered pig hanging outside the window of the room where we slept. Louise Otten saw to it that her children were taught God's Word.Devotions were conducted daily. Her house was always neat and childrenwere taught to keep order in the home. There was not much room for allkinds of clutter in a small five-room apartment. The bathroom andkitchen were hardly big enough to turn around in. Marie slept on acouch in the living room. The three boys shared a small room. Louise's rod of discipline, which the boys needed at times, was herrug beater. The boys preferred that to Dad's razor strap. The rugbeater was broad and covered a large area when the boys had to leanover the bathtub for being naughty. Louise was not too happy whenHerman and Walter nailed their train tracks to the floor so they wouldnot keep coming apart. Walter did a good job breaking the beams of abed by jumping from a dresser to the bed. Mom Otten went shopping about every day. At first there were nosupermarkets. She regularly visited a vegetable store, meat market,pork store, delicatessen, shoe repair shop, clothing store, etc. Foryears, almost all of her shopping was done on foot. There was awashing machine in the basement for all tenants. She often climbed thefive flights to the roof to hang out the washing. There was also aline for drying clothes in a back alley. The family walked to church, which was in Manhattan across the HarlemRiver. It took about a half hour. Part of the walk was through "thejungle" along the Harlem River. Now the area is a super highway. Atfirst Louise also walked but in later years she spent the five centsfor a trolley ride, since she had to prepare dinner. At times LutheranHour Speaker Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, who was an assistant at St. Matthew,took Mom Otten home along with his family. The Hoffmanns also lived inthe Bronx. Louise and Herman Otten sacrificed to send their three boys toConcordia Prep in Bronxville, New York, a boarding school primarilyfor future pastors, and all four of their children to Concordia Jr.College, and then Herman and Walter to Concordia Seminary, St. Louis,Marie to Valparaiso University, and Carl to Concordia Senior College,Ft. Wayne, and then Concordia Teachers College, River Forest. WhenHerman and Walter began Concordia Prep it took three trolleys(streetcars) and a bus to get there, since there was no direct route.It would have been much quicker to run or bike, but in those days asix-mile run seemed far for 13-year-olds and Louise did not think itwas safe for children to ride bikes in the Bronx. One summer Waltercame home with a bike from a farm where he worked in Ghent, New York.Almost as soon as he came home he took Marie for a ride and she endedup in a hospital with a broken collarbone. Louise was right aboutbikes in the Bronx. Louise gave her children plenty of attention. When they were infants,she wheeled them in a carriage on sidewalks and often up a rathersteep hill when she went shopping. Neither Herman nor Louise were bigsports fans but they permitted their children to play all sorts ofgames on the street in front of their apartment house: stick ball,touch football, kick the can, hide and seek, King, hand ball, punchball, skip rope, etc. Since the family did not have an automobile, Herman and Louiseattended few of the athletic contests in which their boys participatedat Concordia, Bronxville. They did not oppose their boys playing onvarious teams but when the boys came home on some weekend when therewas no game they were more interested in hearing how Latin and Greekwere going than the results of the latest games. I can't recall themever seeing any games when Walter and Herman played on various teamsat Concordia Seminary. Dad Otten thought some of his relatives spenttoo much time listening to ball games. At family gatherings hepreferred talking about world and church affairs rather thancontinually talking about sports. In 1953 Herman and Louise took their entire family to Europe. Theywere gone almost four months. The boat trip took ten days each way.The men and women stayed in separate dorms in the bottom of the ship.The beds were three deckers. However, it was great fun. Even theeconomy class passengers could go almost anywhere in the ship andreceived all the fine food they could possibly eat. The Otten gangprovided other passengers with plenty of entertainment, sometimesembarrassing Louise. Louise did a masterful job in packing for hergang and keeping things in good order. She and some other relativesshed a few tears when on this trip at age 20 Herman Jr. preached hisfirst sermon in the church where Grossvater Otten had been pastor inSottrum, Germany. Later she often said: "Herman, what happened to yourGerman? You used to speak it much better." Herman and Louise were confessional Lutherans, opposed the liberalismof the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's Atlantic District, thecompromising attitude of many Lutherans in the East toward masonry,LCMS membership in the Lutheran World Federation, women serving aspastors, etc. When Christian News began on a shoestring, Herman madeit possible during CN's first years for CN to be sent to seminarystudents. Louise always read Christian News and remained a strongdefender of confessional Lutheranism. Both Louise and Herman stressedthe importance of putting Christian faith into practice. When it was no longer safe in the Bronx and Louise had to put severallocks on her front door besides a police bar and guards on the windowswhere there was a fire escape, she moved to Patchogue, New York, whereMarie's husband, Bill Meyer, was a pastor. Marie and Bill and theirchildren took good care of Oma Otten. Later Oma moved to an upstairsapartment in Brookfield, Illinois, almost across the street from St.Paul's Lutheran Church, where Walter is the pastor. There she spentthe last 18 years of her life. Walter and his wife Ruth and theirchildren kept a close watch on Oma, who continued to walk about a milea day into her nineties, but at a slower pace. She regularly attended worship services to the end, and kept a closeinterest in her four children, 22 grandchildren, two-fostergrandchildren, and all of the great-grandchildren. The most important thing to be said about Louise Otten is that sheknew that she was a sinner, Jesus Christ died for her sins, and Christalone and not good works was the way to everlasting life in heaven.
Roger
Engelken
