Pastor Peg Marose is now serving the four-point parish which includes three churches in Faribault County and one in Iowa. She became an ordained pastor on June 26 of this year.

Pastor Peg Marose, or Pastor Peg, as she likes to be called, has had many different jobs throughout her life. Even though she did not become an ordained minister until June 26 of this year, she says she has always felt God was guiding her.

“God is always preparing me for each new thing going on in my life,” Marose says.

The latest stop on her life’s journey finds her serving Good Hope Parish, the four-point parish of Bricelyn Lutheran, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Kiester, North Blue Earth Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran, a rural church located south of Kiester, in Iowa.

Marose grew up in Richmond, Indiana, the youngest of three children.

“My mother was a statistical analyst and my father was an electrician,” she shares.

She stayed in her home state to attend college.

“I attended Purdue University in West Lafayette,” Marose comments. “My degree was in home economics, nursery school/kindergarten, child development and family studies.”

After getting her degree she would return to Richmond where she started the child development program at Indiana Technical College.

“I also began working on my masters in elementary education at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and was an adjunct faculty member at the college,” Marose shares.

Next, in 1994, she began working in the civil service branch of the United States Air Force as a curriculum and training specialist for child development centers, first in Germany, next in Oklahoma and then at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy.

It was during her time working in the Air Force when she met her husband Gerry.

“It was while I was in Germany,” Marose explains. “Gerry was a single parent of two young girls ages seven and 12. He was a master sergeant, two years away from retirement.

“I was a civilian, brand new to working for the Air Force as a training and curriculum specialist for the child development program. I was a single mom with a 15-year old son and a 13-year old daughter.”

The couple got married about one year after they met.

“We decided we were better together,” Marose says. “We had a wedding at his parent’s backyard in White Bear Lake, Minnesota and then at our church at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. Two years later Gerry retired and he has been following me around ever since.”

Marose was a court-appointed special advocate volunteer and employee for 25 years in Indiana, Oklahoma and then in Maryland where she was a training coordinator and volunteer supervisor.

Besides all of her different jobs, she has also had to deal with a cancer scare.

“I had acoustic schwannoma,” Marose reveals.

An acoustic schwannoma is normally a benign tumor which develops on the balance, hearing, or auditory nerves leading from a person’s inner ear to their brain.

“My tumor was benign but I did lose the hearing in my one ear,” she explains.

Marose kept moving ahead in her life. Then, on a Palm Sunday, the minister at her church had a visit with her.

“I told the minister I had done everything but preach and I am not going to do that,” Marose comments.

Later the same day another minister asked her what she wanted to do.

Marose answered, “I have always wanted to do what God wanted me to do. But it took the minister to point out the obvious. God had prepared me throughout my life to answer God’s call to be an Ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament.”

She says she had concerns about finances and personal matters.

“I called the seminary the next day and those obstacles had been removed,” Marose states.

With her path now cleared, she took the next step toward becoming a minister.

“I began attending United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in August of 2017,” she shares. “My first class was Greek and I still do not know how I survived it.”

But, survive it she did and now she finds herself serving four churches in southern Minnesota,

“It is a change, but an easy transition,” Marose mentions. “I have already become familiar with Bud’s Cafe, the Brush Creek Boutique and swimming pool here in Bricelyn. I love the people at the Kee Kafe in Kiester. It seems everywhere I go I run into someone I know and they all know where I live in Bricelyn.”

Marose shares her husband has had no problem staying busy.

“He is a man of many talents,” she explains. “He is a real handyman.

“As for me, having a four-point parish presents a challenge when you are a person who likes to do it all. I have to realize I have to do the best I can and I won’t be able to make every meeting in every congregation.”

She does have many interests to occupy her free time, and even though she has had a knee and a half replaced, Marose states she still loves to line dance.

“I also have a passion for growing plants, people and myself,” she shares. “I love spending time with family and friends, reading, singing, coloring, exploring and enjoying all that life has to offer. We also have a one-year-old beagle named WeVi because she came with us from my internship in West Virginia.”

She says her parents played a big part in who she is today.

“They raised me to never turn down an opportunity to learn, grow and serve God, and that advice has served me well,” Marose comments. “I am blessed beyond belief and continue to grow in my faith, service and commitment to God and all of God’s creation.”