Rev. Leah McDowell (right) and her mother, Sonja Cook, were
2011 Churchwide Assembly voting members from the Southeastern Minnesota Synod.
Leah spoke of her own experience in respect to the proposed Social Statement on
Genetics. Read Bishop Usgaard's comments and watch her statement at
http://semnsynod.org/witnessing-both-diversity-and-familiarity-at-the-2011-churchwide-assembly/
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death yesterday, March 21, 2012, of the Reverend Leah Cook McDowell, 35, after a long illness. Leah was pastor of St. Paul’s UCC/ELCA in Lewiston. A memorial celebration is scheduled for Saturday, March 31 at 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s, Lewiston. Pastors who are attending are invited to robe and to wear blue stoles. There will be no processional, but special seating for clergy will be reserved. Enter as ready.
I want to share Leah’s obituary written by her good friend, Rev. Kimberly McSheehy, with Leah’s assistance.
PRESS RELEASE:
Rev. Leah Nicole Cook McDowell Accepts a New Call With the Heavenly Choir and Joyful Music Section
After a courageous 2 1/2 year long argument with cancer, Rev. McDowell reluctantly left her family and friends on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 to assume this new position. During a conversation in February after starting hospice she stated, “I don’t like what this puts Dave and my parents through, and I fear the pain…but I don’t fear death.”
Pastor Leah’s faith and trust in God and the resurrection promise began at an early age. She was born October 30, 1976, in Winona to Sonja and Duane Cook. She attended Rushford-Peterson Schools, spending her junior and senior years as a full-time PSEO (Post Secondary Enrollment Options) student at St. Mary’s University. Leah spent her teen-age summers with her special boys, Robby and Bradley Ebner and also worked at Luther Social Service Camp Knutson during two college summer breaks.
She graduated from St. Olaf College in 1998 with majors in political science and religion. She began utilizing this degree to serve the greater good by serving a year as a public policy advocate as a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, in Baltimore, Maryland. In Baltimore, she lived the command in Micah 6: 12, “…to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”
When her year in LVC concluded, Pastor Leah began her studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. At LTSP, Pastor Leah specialized in Urban Ministry and began to fully embrace her playful nature: first as the tight end on the LTSP flag football team, and culminating by becoming the first LTSP student to scale the Martin Luther statue at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, the rival seminary, and decorate it. She interned at Resurrection Church in New Haven, Connecticut with Pastor Ruth Drews, and beyond normal ministry, worked tirelessly on social justice issues, especially around the city government using eminent domain to take private property.
It was during this internship time period that she met Dave. Their first contact via telephone was two young adults talking about the terrorist attacks on September 11th, and later they met in person. Those who talked to her in the coming months will always remember the bubbling joy in her voice when she said, “I’ve got a boyfriend.”
She married David McDowell in Philadelphia on May 17, 2003, and graduated from seminary the next day. During their marriage, she and Dave shared travel adventures in England, Mexico, France, and Italy and throughout the United States. They enjoyed kayaking, biking, hiking, and snow-shoeing. They shared their beautiful country home with their precious four-legged kids: Sydney, Speck, Thor, and Gonzo.
She was ordained an ELCA Lutheran pastor on November 16, 2003, here in her home synod. She was pastor and director of the day school at Zion Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, remaining there until 2008 when she was called to St. Paul’s UCC/ELCA Church in Lewiston. She was overwhelmed by the love and support of the people of St. Paul’s during her illness.
Throughout her life music was important, whether it was singing, playing clarinet, or playing piano. Pastor Leah honed her skills and shared her musical talents by playing with the Southeastern Minnesota Youth Orchestra and St. Mary’s concert band. She sang with the Minnesota All-State Lutheran Choir, St. Mary’s concert choir, St. Olaf Manitou Singers, Yale Camerata, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, and Rochester Choral Arts Ensemble.
In addition to her beloved congregation and treasured friends, Leah is mourned by her husband, Dave; parents, Sonja and Duane Cook; three brothers and their spouses, nieces, a nephew, her grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. May Martin Luther’s words from “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” remind us, death does not have the last word, God does and it is good news.
Though hordes of devils fill the land all threatening to devour us, we tremble not, unmoved we stand; they cannot overpower us. If they take our house, goods, fame, child, or spouse, wrench our life away, they cannot win the day. The kingdom’s ours forever!
Thanks be to God! Enjoy your new call Pastor Leah. We will miss you.
Sincerely,
Harold Usgaard
Bishop
Condolences can be addressed to the family at 19618 Maland Dr, Peterson, MN 55962
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