In 1939 Ulrich Leupold was assisted to Canada by the Rev. John Schmieder D.D.. Pr. Schmieder was the pastor of St. Matthew's Church, Kitchener beginning in 1918. Dr. Emil Hoffman was founder and first pastor after having been President of the Canada Synod but prior to his leading the Seminary and College. The shools and the churches of the Synod worked in close and careful co-operation with one another.
Karen Kuhnert
"The St. Matthew's Church, Kitchener , founded in 1904, numbering some 3,200 souls is by far the largest congregation in the Canada Synod, and in the entire Dominion. The membership lists reveal that many of her people have come from regions far beyond the borders of the Province and the Dominion; from England, Scotland and ireland, from the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, France, Italy and many other lands. Every tenth resident o the City of Kitchener is enrolled there; every sixth Protestnt, and every third Lutheran. At Eastertime in the year 1939, over fifteen hundred persons communed at her altar. Since her founding, two thousand infants have been baptized at her font, slightly more than those who have renewed their baptismal vows in confirmation. More than eleven hundred coupls have been united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and eight hundred and sixty-two have gone to join the church triumphant."
From "Lutherans in Canada" by Valdimar J. Eylands, 1945.
From 1946-1949 Ulrich Leupold's choirs brought congregations and campus closer together.
In '46, they toured to Hanover, Chesley and Normanby "to express the gratitude of the Boarding Club for food which had been donated" to feed students.
In '48 and '49, the Male Chorus toured for the "Expansion Program" seen above:
More stories are attached to each photo above...
Inspiring Lives of Leadership and Purpose
On March 5th, 2011, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary came alive in song and story in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of our Synod and 100th Anniversary of our Seminary in an event called Celebrating the Leupold Legacy…inspiring lives of leadership and purpose.
The formal program for the day centered around the Rev. Dr. Ulrich S. Leupold - musician, congregational pastor, university professor and seminary leader. Leupold lived out all of his many gifts in each of his professional roles: the administrator who had an eye towards the church and its schools including the seminary and what became the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, the theologian who preached, wrote about congregational song and developed communities and the musician whose work was undergirded by his life of faith in pre-WWII Germany and Canadian contexts. While the program for the day centered around Rev. Dr. Leupold, his story and ours was situated in a larger history and future for which we are grateful.
