H. Gene Straatmeyer received a B.A. degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD in 1957, a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in 195...ver maisH. Gene Straatmeyer received a B.A. degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD in 1957, a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in 1959 and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Iliff School of Theology in 1975.
His long history with the Synod of the West began when he was a child. His maternal great grandparents were charter members of the Turner County First Presbyterian Church and his paternal grandparents were charter members of Salem Presbyterian Church, both rural churches located in the East Friesland settlement surrounding Lennox, South Dakota, where he grew up in the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church. These churches were all German Presbyterian congregations and members of the Synod of the West. Upon graduation from seminary, his first two parishes were former Synod of the West congregations.
He is married to Jean Plucker Straatmeyer, whose paternal great grandparents, Menne and Engle Plucker, gave the land for the Germantown Presbyterian Church and whose maternal great grandfather, Phillip Witte, was the first pastor of that Synod of the West congregation near Lennox.ver menos