By Stephanie Robbins Boeding ’99
When the Rev. Dr. Ramona Bouzard came to Wartburg 24 years ago, the position seemed to check all of the boxes, with an added bonus.
“As a pastor, all I wanted was a decent organ, a fountain, and a place where I didn’t have to raise the money to redo a sanctuary,” said Bouzard, who will retire in May as dean of the chapel. “So when I came to Wartburg, it was all here. And then it also had bells! … I love that sound.”
The now-familiar tolling of the chapel bells timed perfectly with Bouzard’s career at Wartburg; she accepted the call as director of church relations and associate in campus ministry in 1994, the same year the Wartburg Chapel was dedicated. She previously served as a parish pastor in Texas and Pennsylvania.
At Wartburg, she ministered to the college community alongside the Rev. Larry Trachte ’66, campus pastor, until he retired in 2009. Bouzard was then called to serve as dean of the chapel, and the Rev. Brian Beckstrom accepted a call to Wartburg as a second full-time campus pastor.
“One of my highlights has been working with my pastoral colleagues here. Larry and Brian are great preachers, care-givers, collaborators … who could ask for anything better?” Bouzard said.
“Ramona has been an incredible mentor to me over the past eight years,” said Beckstrom. “I couldn’t be more grateful to God for calling us to work together. She’s helped me become a much better pastor than I would have been without her influence.”
Also at the top of the list of things Bouzard will miss is interacting with students.
“Having the deep conversations with students who want to talk about God and theology and wonder who they are; I’ve gotten to continue to grow with those conversations, too,” she said. “It’s such a privilege to walk with young people through this time of formation. Everything I’ve learned about the world, I’ve learned from 18- to 22-year-olds, and it’s wonderful.”
Bouzard also cherishes the exposure to top-notch music during worship on campus.
“The music here … (college organist) Dr. Karen Black, with her church musicianship, it just pains me to be anywhere else because it is so good here,” she said.
Instead of the many changes she’s experienced over a long career in college ministry, Bouzard focuses on the consistencies in her years at Wartburg.
“We continue to have an amazing teaching faculty at Wartburg who are committed to Wartburg’s mission of teaching and deep learning with our students,” she said. “And the incredible growth of students while they’re here, that hasn’t changed over the years. Wartburg continues to present opportunities to help them have meaning in their lives, in the classroom, through co-curriculars, and volunteering.”
Besides leading worship and preaching in Wartburg Chapel, Bouzard has taught a variety of classes, administered the college’s annual Graven Award, and maintained relationships with area churches. For years, she ran the national Things That Matter in the Lives of Children Conference and junior high and high school events on campus.
Ramona’s husband of 43 years, the Rev. Dr. Chip Bouzard, will continue as a professor of religion at Wartburg. They have two adult children, Greene and Gabriel. The couple will eventually move to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.
“I have to redo my funeral plans,” joked Bouzard, “because I want the Wartburg Choir to sing at mine, and they aren’t coming to Virginia.”
The well-known campus pastor also wants to try some new things in retirement. A history major in her college days, she plans to be involved with a program that helps people record their personal history as part of their legacy to their families. The music-lover also wants to learn to play the bagpipes.
“It is in my soul … music is my spiritual connection. There’s just something about Scottish bagpipes and Irish music,” she said. “Chip is glad that where we’ll retire there’s a place I can practice. He thinks they sound like howling cats.”