Pastor Ed Voosen

Born and raised in New York City he attended Brooklyn Technical H. S., Pratt Institute and Wagner College. After Wagner he attended New York Theological Seminary and Princeton Seminary before being approved for ordination by the Lutheran Church. His first parish was in Brooklyn, NY and in 1974 he was called to Bethel Lutheran Church in Auburn, Massachusetts.

Pastor Voosen was born and raised in New York City, where he attended Brooklyn Technical H.S., Pratt Institute and Wagner College. After Wagner he attended New York Theological Seminary and Princeton Seminary before being approved for ordination by the Lutheran Church in America. His first parish was in a three church parish in Brooklyn, NY and in 1974 he was called to Bethel Lutheran Church in Auburn, Massachusetts.

During his youth, he studied guitar and at the age of 14 became a member of the Musicians Union (local 802) in New York City. Before he was 18 he had played on the Steel Pier, Atlantic City, the Hotels Concord, Pierre, Waldorf-Astoria and Grossingers all in New York. "The Capitols", the band he was a part of, appeared twice on the CBS national wide TV Show "Ted Mack Amateur" Hour. He also belonged to a Folk Singing trio and made numerous appearances at folk clubs in the NY area. Throughout college and seminary he taught guitar lessons at “Petersen’s House of Music”, a private studio, to help pay his way through school and took time to learn the banjo. From 1969 to 1974 he founded and directed the "Pinecrest Folk Choir" which toured 10 times throughout the Eastern USA and completed two albums. His gift for music has been a major benefit in his service to the Lord.

       

Christmas at the Voosens 

 

At Liesl & Mike's Wedding - Sept. 29, 2002

Left to right: Paul Voosen, Pastor Ed Voosen, Ruth Voosen, 

Liesl Voosen Fields and Mike Fields, Ingerlene Voosen Embry, Ben Embry Voosen. 

 

In 1969 he married Ruth Sandberg and they have 3 children, Ingerlene (married in June 1999 to Benjamin Embry), a graduate of Bates college and the University of Kansas, Liesl (married in Sept. 2002 to Michael Fields), a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, and Paul, a graduate from Boston College in 2003. Ruth serves as a Nursery School teacher at the Bethel Nursery School and also as a College Health nurse at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

On June 22, 2004 they became Grandparents with the birth of Soren Joel Embry to Ingerlene and Ben. Of course Soren is perfect in every way (we have pictures).

Together Pastor Ed & Ruth perform concerts of folk songs, show tunes and comedy songs. They recently completed a CD of favorite songs in honor of the birth of their first grandchild. They have led camp fires and singing at Calumet for 30 years.

    They also have a strong interest in travel and have led trips to Israel (6 times) and to the Oberammergau Passion Play (3 times) and to various sites in Europe, especially to Scandinavia and Germany where the Lutheran branch of the church has its roots. The Bethel travel group, coordinated by Pastor Ed, has also cruised to Bermuda, on New England Coast, in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

Camping is a summer hobby that has been a blessing to the whole Voosen family. They first camped at Camp Calumet Lutheran on Ossipee Lake in New Hampshire in 1974 and have returned every summer (and sometimes winter as Calumet also has a year-round Conference Center) since then. Camp Calumet has a home page where you can read all about it

Under Pastor Ed's leadership Bethel has grown and thrived and has been innovative in the areas of music and computer use. Bethel first used computers in 1980 (before the IBM PC existed) and was written about in "Time" (Feb. 2, 1983 - small note and picture on last page), "The Lutheran" magazine and the Telegram and Gazette, Worcester. He can be heard each Sunday morning at 7:30am on AM radio WORC 1310 from Worcester, Massachusetts. This 1/2 hour broadcast now in its 25th year presents an excerpt from the previous Sunday's worship service.

Pastor Ed has served the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, New England Synod as its Secretary since its beginning in 1987.

CONCERNS, QUESTIONS, PASTORAL CARE
If you are without a church desire pastoral care to deal with a challenge
(such as sickness or loss) or information about Baptism, Marriage, First communion
 or Confirmation Email our pastor and he will respond. 

Return to Bethel Home Page

Click here if you wish to contact Pastor Ed:  voosen@charter.net