Willard L. Burce


February 9, 1924 ~ October 4, 2024

The Rev. Dr. Willard Lewis Burce, born on February 9, 1924 in Marshall, Michigan, died peacefully in the early hours of October 4, 2024 at Heatherwood Assisted Living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He was 100 years and almost eight months old.

Willard—Bill, as he was  known to his family and friends —was raised in Eau Claire, the fifth of six children born to Charles S. and Alma O. (Knudtson) Burce of Washington Township. He was baptized at Drammen Lutheran Church (ELC) in southern Eau Claire County and confirmed thirteen years later at Epiphany Lutheran Church (LCMS) near downtown Eau Claire. He received his education at Sunnyview School, Eau Claire Senior High School, Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, where he earned the Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology degrees.

In 1948, Bill and one of his seminary classmates, Otto Hintze, were recruited by the  Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod to pioneer mission outreach in a corner of the Papua New Guinea highlands known today as the Enga Province.  Bill, who had imagined serving as an overseas missionary, quickly accepted the call.  On August 1 he married Elinor Dicke of Long Prairie, Minnesota, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor and former missionary to Brazil.  Three weeks later, on August 22, Bill was ordained as a pastor and commissioned as a missionary at his home congregation, Epiphany, Eau Claire.  In mid-September he and Elinor headed west for New Guinea.  They would spend the next forty years there with periodic furloughs along the way.

Bill’s work in Papua New Guinea unfolded in three stages, all of them undertaken in close cooperation with missionary colleagues whom he would come to respect and treasure. In the first stage he and his colleagues focused on the essential task of sharing the Christian faith with their new Enga hosts and neighbors. This entailed learning who these neighbors were and how they thought about the world. It meant learning their Enga language and putting it into writing for the first time ever. It involved translating Bibles stories and prayers and worship resources into Enga and teaching people what they meant and how to use them. It called for recruiting and training local co-workers who could expand this Christian outreach into other communities. Bill excelled at this work and quickly emerged as a leader among his colleagues. In 1957 he presided at the first Lutheran baptism service in the Enga Province. Many more would follow over the next few years.

Stage Two of Bill’s career began in 1960 when his colleagues appointed him to establish a formal school for church workers. The language of instruction was Enga. The task involved setting up a campus, devising a curriculum, writing materials to support the curriculum, and teaching the classes. An indigenous Lutheran church organization had recently been established in the Enga Province. Almost all of its emerging leaders passed through this school.

During this period Bill also completed requirements for a Th.D. (Doctor of Theology degree) from Concordia Seminary; he translated two books of the New Testament into Enga and had them published; he chaired the editorial committee for the first-ever translation of the entire New Testament into New Guinea Pidgin English, the country’s emerging lingua franca; and he was the chief draftsman of a Statement of Faith that all Lutheran groups in Papua New Guinea would come to adopt. By now his gifts were being recognized and put to use in the country’s wider Lutheran and Christian circles.

This continued to be the case in the final stage of his career in Papua New Guinea. In 1967 Bill and Elinor moved their family from the highlands of the Enga Province to the coastal port of Lae. A new school, Martin Luther Seminary (MLS for short), had opened there a year earlier to provide pastoral training in English for young high school graduates. Bill had been highly instrumental in working with other Lutheran leaders in the country to develop this school. Now he was asked to teach at it. A few years later he was appointed its principal. Bill and Elinor would spend twenty-one years at MLS. They got to know and appreciate a new of set of colleagues and neighbors. Bill was now training pastors for Lutherans throughout the country. By working with other seminaries to establish an accrediting agency, the Melanesian Association of Theological Schools, he helped to strengthen theological education for Papua New Guinea as a whole.

While in Lae, Bill and Elinor helped to found the Papua New Guinea Handicapped Children’s Association and a new school, the Lae Special Education Center. Among its many beneficiaries was their youngest son Charles, born with Down Syndrome. He was very dear to his parents, family and many friends.

When Bill retired at the end of 1988, he and Elinor returned to Eau Claire. The next thirty years were busy and fruitful. Bill was invited to teach at Lutheran seminaries in St. Louis, St. Petersburg in Russia, and Edmonton, Alberta. He returned to Lae for a guest lectureship at Martin Luther Seminary and to the Enga Province for six months of volunteer service. Elinor kept him company on all these trips. Meanwhile they bought and developed a five-acre property on the northwest outskirts of Eau Claire where they lived in peace and contentment until Elinor turned ninety and her health began to fail. She fell asleep in the Lord in 2019. Their dear son Charles followed in 2022. And now it’s Bill’s turn. He spent his final weeks trusting the promise he had shared with so many in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. “Christ is risen indeed! We have nothing to fear. Alleluia!”

Bill was preceded in death by his parents; by his brothers Sheridan, Charles E., and John; and by his sisters Doris Olsen and Phyllis Sherman. He is survived by six of his and Elinor’s seven children, all born in Papua New Guinea: Gregory (Jan); Amy; Jerome (Nancy); Mary Burce (James) Warlick; Juliana (Brian) Tanning and Carrie (Myron) Koehn. He is also survived by fourteen grandchildren—Simon, Martin, Elizabeth, Kathryn, Robin, Jamie, Jason, Jordan, Aaron, Rachel, Micah, Hannah, Rebekah, and Grace; and by ten great-grandchildren. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews from both the Burce and the Dicke sides of the family.

The family suggests that memorials, if any, be directed toward theological education in Papua New Guinea. The Cleveland congregation that son Jerome served for twenty-eight years will gather and channel the funds, some through the Papua New Guinea Mission Society to benefit Timothy Lutheran Seminary in the Enga Province and some through the ELCA to benefit Martin Luther Seminary, Lae. Checks can be written to “Messiah Lutheran Church” with “Burce Memorial” on the Memo line. Mail them to—

Willard Burce Memorial

Messiah Lutheran Church

21485 Lorain Rd.

Fairview Park, OH 44126

For an online giving option go to messiahchurchfairview.org and follow the logical path to the church’s giving portal. Once there, use the “Memorials” option and be sure to enter “Willard Burce” on the appropriate line.

“Rest eternal grant him, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon him.”