Rev. Richard Christeleit

REV. RICHARD P CHRISTELEIT

Born June 30, 1929 in Union City NJ, the son of Bertha and Fred Christeleit, and passed away after a lengthy illness at his Greensburg home, Thursday, April 6, 2017.

A graduate of Augustana College, Sioux Falls Seminary (Masters of Divinity) and New York Theological Seminary (Masters of Sacred Theology); Dick pastored churches in North Dakota, Indiana and New York.  After leaving local church ministry, he was the Co-Director of Mission/Stewardship for American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware; later he became an Area Minister for American Baptist Churches of West Virginia.  In his retirement, he remained active as an Interim Pastor. His passion for Mission work was ignited following a church trip to Nicaragua.  The 1972 Nicaraguan earthquake was the impetus for leading over 20 mission trips to Central America and Myanmar (Burma)/Thailand.

He is survived by his wife Louisa, daughter Elizabeth (Mowrer), sons Richard and Karl, their spouses and grandchildren - Richard G., Katherine, Margaret, Devon, Erika, Richard M., Dominick and Derek.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 22nd at 2 pm at the First Baptist Church, 1228 Brinkerton Rd, Greensburg PA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to International Ministries, ABCUSA c/o the First Baptist Church.