Rev. James P. "Jim" Lauer

Mankato Mortuary
1001 N. Riverfront Drive
Mankato, MN  56001
(507) 388-2202

Rev. James P. “Jim” Lauer, age 83, died on Tuesday, October 24, 2017, in North Mankato, MN.

A Memorial Service will be held 11:00 a.m., Friday, October 27, 2017, at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Mankato.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church.  Interment will be at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis at a later date.

James was born September 17, 1934, to Albert and Florence (Subbert) in Carroll, IA.  After his mother’s untimely death in 1943, James and his brother Allen were received into the home of their Aunt Clara (Subbert) Sazma in Trimont, MN.  James attended Concordia College in St. Paul, MN and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO and was ordained as a Pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  While still in the seminary, Rev. Lauer married RoxAnn Schmidt, also of Trimont, and was commissioned as a Chaplain in the US Army Reserve in which he served 36 years, attaining the rank of Colonel. 

From 1960-65, Rev. and Mrs. Lauer served as missionaries in Seoul, South Korea.  He then served congregations in rural Blue Earth, Glencoe, Rochester, and Hutchinson, MN with one academic year as Assistant to the President of Concordia College in St. Paul.  James and RoxAnn have three children: James J. (Lynn), Mark, and Paul (Ann). They divorced in 1990.

In 1984, Rev. Lauer left parish ministry to serve full time as a chaplain in the Veteran’s Administration Hospital System in St. Cloud, Chicago, Maryland, and then at the VA national chaplain’s office in Hampton, VA where he served as Acting Director of all VA Chaplains. He married again in 1990 but they were later divorced.