Greetings from our Grace Lutheran Family!

1930 -The new congregation is founded by five families from St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Brooklyn who have moved to Malverne. First services are held in the Malverne Firehouse and then in the Rider Apartment Building.

 

1933 -Arthur Block of Wisconsin accepts call as first resident pastor, living in a room over the old church on Stuart Avenue and Oxford Street.
 

1936 -Building at the corner of Stuart Avenue and Oxford Street is purchased from the Presbyterians.

 

1945 -Mortgage on the church building is burned. Pastor Block accepts a call to Newton, Massachusetts. Henry Ressmeyer accepts a call to Grace. First parsonage is purchased on Tilrose Avenue in Lynbrook for $5900.

 

1947 -There are 285 communicant members.

 

1948 -Hempstead Avenue property is purchased as site for a new church building for $12,000. A small parcel is purchased later from the Grossmann family. There are 375 communicant members.

 

1951 - Ground is broken for construction of a new church building at an estimated cost of $200,000.

 

1952 -The new church building is dedicated on June 8th. Final cost $250,000.

 

1954 -A new parsonage is purchased on Wright Avenue in Malverne for $21,500.

 

1955 -Deaconess Irma Pflueger is installed.

1957 -Decision is made to construct gymnasium and classrooms.

 

1959 -Cornerstone is laid for classroom building complex.

 

1960 -New educational building consisting of 10 classrooms, offices and the gymnasium is dedicated.

 

1961 -Christian Day School is begun with 2 teachers and grades K-2. There are 34 students. Richard Rath is first principal.
 

1962 -Grades 3 and 4 added with the arrival of Janet Baumgartner, teacher.

 

1963 -Grades 5 and 6 are added to the Day School. Ordination and Installation of Edward F. Visscher as Assistant Pastor. The Grace Play School, a cooperative nursery, was opened under the direction of Mildred Schneider.
 

1964 -Purchase of teacherage on Wolf Avenue in Malverne.

 

1966 -John Carajanes accepts call to be assistant pastor.

 

1968 -Grades 7 and 8 are added to the Day School. Henry Ressmeyer accepts call to head Religion Department at Long Island Lutheran High School. The pastoral post is offered to Pastor Carajanes, but he respectfully declines and offers a counter suggestion that a co-pastorate be established in the church. Thomas Eifert, a pastor of a church in Canton, Massachusetts accepts call to Grace to be co-pastor with John Carajanes.

 

1969 -Pastor Eifert is installed as co-pastor in September.

 

1970 -Second addition to classroom complex is constructed and dedicated. This addition includes 4 classrooms, a library, and a music room.

1971 -Richard Rausch becomes the second principal of the school after Richard Rath accepts a call to Lutheran High School.

1973 -The Grace Quarterly, the congregation's own newspaper, is published for the first time.

1974 -Janet Baumgartner becomes the third principal of the Day School.

1977 -Congregation leaves the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and joins the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.

1980 -Co-pastorate ends with Pastor Carajanes accepting a call to serve as pastor in Falmouth, Massachusetts. New call is issued to Pastor Eifert, and he is installed as pastor in March.

1981 -Pastor Ron Wickey becomes the fourth principal of the Day School and Minister of Music.

1983 - Pastor Wickey accepts a call to Trinity, Hicksville. Ausma Mursch becomes acting principal.

1984 - Carol Lundquist becomes the fifth principal of the Day School. $100,000 Free and Clear Campaign is begun to eradicate the church debt.

1986 -The Free and Clear Campaign concludes successfully. the last bonds are redeemed and the mortgage note is burned.

1987 -Jean Severino is consecrated Deacon. Harvey von Harten installed as assistant to the pastor.

1988 - Congregation becomes a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as the A.E.L.C. is disbanded.

1989 -First Grace Gifts Campaign is initiated.

1990 -The Grace Memorial Chapel becomes a reality from the memorial to Paul and Karolina Bauer.

1992 -Eileen Colton becomes the sixth principal of the Day School.

1997 -Pastor Eifert resigns to accept a call to Wartburg Lutheran Services in Brooklyn. Daphne Heslop is consecrated as Deacon on November 30th. On December 5th, James A.Y. Klockau, serving a church in Astoria, Queens, is installed as pastor of Grace.

1998 -The parsonage on Woodlawn Avenue in Valley Stream is purchased for $175,000.

1999 -The Endowment Fund is established with bequests totaling $325,000 from the estates of Lillian Mattlage and Marion Lawhead. Mary-Elaine Leake, Associate in Ministry, becomes interim principal of the Day School with the departure of Eileen Colton. Maria Radzik, Lead Teacher of the Play School, is appointed Early Childhood Education Director of the renamed Grace Lutheran Preschool.

2000 -Wanda N. Walters, 6th Grade teacher, is installed as the seventh principal of the Day School. Mary Leake is called by the congregation to be Director of Educational Ministry.

2001 -The 40th Anniversary of the Day School is celebrated.

2002 - On April 7th the Metropolitan New York Synod observes a day of remembrance for the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bishop Marcus Miller of Ohio leads a delegation to Grace, Malverne, where he preaches and presides at the Rite of Confirmation. Later that year, Pastor Ressmeyer preaches at the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the present church building. the present parsonage on West Avenue in Malverne is purchased at the cost of $355,000.

2005-06 -Deaconess Rebecca Elfman joins the ministerial staff as Cantor and Music Director of church and school. On October 16th the 75th Anniversary of the congragation's founding is celebrated with a Solemn Vespers at which Bishop Stephen Bouman preaches. A champagne reception follows. The year-long celebration includes the restoration of the pews, new carpeting, painting, and air conditioning in the church. Special musical events include a Carribean Steel Drum band concert, the College of Southern Maryland Chamber Singers, and the Astoria Jazz Quartet. An Ascension Day vespers features a lecture on the future of the Lutheran Church by Bishop Bouman. A banquet at the Coral House in Baldwin on October 1, 2006 concludes the anniversary celebration. 

 

2010 -The Rev. Patrick W. Poole is called as pastor of Grace Church and School.

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2017 - Reverend David Anglada called as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church and School.