Robert Eugene Trautmann

1. 8/24/1924 Eugene, OR USA
2. 12/27/2005 Saint Louis, MO USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Anita Hilda (nee Roesener), b. 9/25/1923 New Palestine, IN USA, m. 7/10/1948

Children: Rebecca Lu (1950); Claudia Sue (1952); Robert Edward (1953); Sylvia

Trautmann (Rogers) (1956); Alan Paul (1958)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1949-68 India Evangelistic Missionary, Hospital Chaplain/Administrator

 

Biographical Summary

Robert (Bob) and Anita Trautmann met at in 1940, when Bob’s father was called as pastor to Anita’s church.  They married some eight years later, after Anita had worked for several years providing both administrative and health care assistance in a doctor’s office and Bob had attended Concordia High School in Fort Wayne, IN and then Concordia Seminary in St. Louis for his M.Div. degree.  He graduated from the seminary in 1948, and they were married a few months later.

 

Bob had been called as a missionary to India, so the Trautmanns spent the academic year 1948-49 in mission school, before traveling on a Dutch freighter to India in October 1949.  When they arrived, they immediately began a year of language school in Bangalore to learn Tamil, since they would be working mostly with Tamil-speaking people in the state of Tamil Nadu.  After language study, they were assigned to work in the city of Krishnagiri (where mission work had first begun in 1895).  Bob was the pastor for a local church, as well as counselor for other congregations whom he visited for encouragement, teaching and support.  He worked with pastors, catechists and Bible women.  The Trautmanns’ daughter Rebecca was born in 1950, with daughter Claudia following in 1952 and son Bob in 1953, so Anita had her hands full supporting Bob and taking care of their small children.  She also helped with a milk distribution program in which missionary families made milk from powder sent from the U.S. government, giving it to children three days a week and nursing mothers two days a week.  Many of the people they served did not have enough protein in their diets, and a glass or two of milk was a great help health-wise.

 

In 1954, the Trautmanns moved to Ambur, where Bob served as chaplain at Ambur Bethesda Christian Hospital, a mission hospital that served both Hindu and Muslim patients.  The area was a central point for mission work because of the mission hospital and other ministries there, and four bungalows were provided for the various missionaries: one for a missionary doctor, one for the manager of schools, one for the missionary nurses, and the Trautmanns’ home.  As chaplain, Bob held morning worship services and called on patients and their families (generally, patients’ families came and stayed in the hospital with them) for conversation, support and witness.  Anita remained busy with the children and, due to the area’s centrality and their proximity to the hospital, she also ran a hospitality ministry: the Trautmanns had a guest room in their house which became a sort of hotel where missionaries could stay when their children came in for vaccinations or health problems.  It was also important for missionary wives and children to come to Ambur in order to have playmates for the children and to be able to visit with other wives.  The busiest month they had involved 31 overnight guests and 144 extra meals for her to prepare!  She also became involved in the surrounding community by teaching sewing skills to local women.  The Trautmanns stayed in Ambur for several years.  In 1956, an Indian pastor who had worked alongside Bob as chaplain replaced him, and Bob became administrator of the hospital.  Their daughter Sylvia was born in the same year.  Bob’s work as administrator involved every aspect of the hospital’s work: ordering supplies; taking care of personnel and salaries; applying for grants from groups in the U.S., particularly from Wheatridge Ministries; overseeing the day-to-day caregiving.  After a time, Bob began training an Indian national for the position, and after this man had gone to the U.S. for some additional training, he returned and took over the job of administrator in 1958.

 

This change allowed the Trautmanns to embark on their next call, as “house parents” at Kodaikanal School.  Shortly before they moved to Kodai, their youngest son Alan was born, in 1958, and their family was complete.  In Kodai, Bob and Anita were “Mr. and Mrs. T.,” taking care of anywhere from 35 to 50 children of Lutheran missionaries during the school year, which lasted from January to October.  As house parents, the Trautmanns played all the roles involved in parenting, but on a greater scale.  They oversaw meals, supervised activities and study periods, took care of children who became ill, and acted as supportive mentors.  Although the Trautmanns directly supervised only children of Lutheran missionaries, Kodai school had students from 13 different Christian denominations, which meant that students knew each other well.  Bob also hosted regular meetings with the local clergy, including Jesuit priests, priests studying at the Catholic seminary there, and other clergy serving at Kodai school.  Besides their involvement with the school, the Trautmanns also maintained apartments for missionaries coming to the area on “hill leave” (to take advantage of cooler weather at the higher elevation), and Bob was the pastor for two Tamil congregations and one English congregation.  Anita served on an auxiliary committee for the nearby hospital and was instrumental in getting an X-ray machine and technicians into the area!  That made a big difference in getting students’ inevitable injuries diagnosed and treated quickly.

 

With their children getting older and their oldest daughter returning to the United States for college, the Trautmanns made the decision to resign from mission work in 1968.  After a year of “terminal furlough” during which he studied at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Bob was called to be the pastor of Luther Memorial Church in Richmond Heights (St. Louis), where he served for twenty years until his retirement in 1989.  After his official retirement, Bob continued to work in the parish, serving as interim pastor at four different congregations.  Anita managed a doctor’s office during the same time period, returning to the kind of work she had done before they left for India.  After a period of semi-retirement, she retired fully in 1995.  Bob was called to rest with the Lord in December 2005, after a life’s work in partnership with his wife and in service to his maker.

 

Nota Bene

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

The Trautmanns were involved in the very complicated transfer of mission work, as well as property, from MELIM (the Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission) to the IELC (India Evangelical Lutheran Church) when the IELC became an independent national church.  Transfer of property was a long process with much legal paperwork to be done, and the missionaries worked very hard on setting up a trust for the IELC.  Many of the properties are now being used for important ministries, such as homes for polio sufferers or children who are blind or deaf.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Anita notes that Bob’s work with people and congregations, particularly staff at Kodai (a close-knit community), was always done in a spirit of respect, dignity and confidentiality.  He handled questions or problems with fairness and kindness, and the people with whom he worked were grateful for his counsel and ministry.

 

Both Bob and Anita enjoyed their work as house parents at Kodai school, and other missionaries truly appreciated their care for their children, which allowed parents to do their work with hearts free of worry.

 

Connection to today’s mission?

The India Evangelical Lutheran Church is an independent church and a partner church of the LCMS.  Though some political problems persist, it continues the work of ministry and evangelism in India.  Bob helped facilitate the financial organization of MELIM and IELC – Anita had taught him bookkeeping when they first came to India, and she was a good enough teacher and he a good enough student that he ended up as treasurer of Ambur Synod!  LCMS missionaries have mostly left the area, with one nurse, Dr. Alice Brauer, remaining to assist the IELC.  She has continued some of the work of the missionaries, particularly in terms of health care.  Dr. Brauer does parenting instruction for mothers of children up to age 5, which has been a boon for the children’s health.  She also continues the program the Trautmanns once participated in, distributing protein-rich milk and cookies made with protein powder to children and mothers in Ambur.

 

Lessons Learned

• Ministries such as schools and hospitals are important in the spread of the Gospel.  The ministry of the LCMS missionaries through education and health care was not limited to those who converted to Christianity or contingent upon their doing so; rather, it provided a ministry of care and a gentle way to let those who were served know about Jesus.

 

Best Practices

• Bob's leadership and understanding of “ministry” and empathy with the Indian colleagues set a good example for those with whom he worked - in every capacity in which he served.

 

• Children of missionaries had a unique and formative experience at Kodaikanal School.  Their community was very close, and the children grew to see each other as sisters and brothers.  They continue to have yearly reunions, and many of the now grown-up “children” continue to have an interest in and care for India and its people.

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

Bob’s father was a pastor, and he had the opportunity to hear speakers at the church where his father served.  One speaker who came to their church was missionary George Schroeder, who had served in India.  Bob was impressed by Rev. Schroeder and his words, and that sparked his interest in mission work.  Anita had an aunt and uncle who served in India for many years, so that she was used to the idea that people might serve in a foreign country over a long period of time, and she was interested in doing so herself.  The Trautmanns agreed that Bob should apply for a call to foreign mission when he was finishing his seminary training, and he indicated an interest in a call to India, which they were pleased to receive.

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• Anita recalls how generous people in the United States could be when asked for support for missionaries – generosity with sometimes mixed results!  The grants the mission received from the U.S. were incredibly important for the work of missionaries, and the milk and protein powder that was sent provided an important ministry.  However, there were also times when giving got out of hand!  Anita recalls being asked by the president of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League what they might do for the wives of missionaries.  After asking around, the missionary wives decided that since it was not possible to buy dresses for women and girls, they should ask for patterns for dresses they could sew.  This request was then published in the LWML quarterly, and boxes began arriving with patterns, more boxes, more patterns – not only for women and girls but patterns of every kind.  There was even a pattern for a nurse's uniform with the collar up to the chin, sleeves to the wrist and floor length, which was unusable in the India heat.  So “be careful what you ask for!”

 

• The Trautmanns’ son Robert writes in his eulogy for Bob: “Dad was a man who walked humbly with his God.  He accomplished much in his lifetime, but he remained a modest man.  He embodied the dictum that without humility there can be no humanity.  Compassion was the vibrant core of his being.  Te be sure, the greatest measure of Dad’s love and care was given to our mother.  He prized her above all else.  She was the true companion of his life and soul.  Together they walked the way of life, drinking from its one cup, whether it ran bitter and when it ran sweet….An Israeli poet once wrote that just as there are stars whose radiance is visible on earth, though the stars themselves have long been extinct, so there are people whose radiance continues to light the world, though they are no longer among us.  Such a person was our father.”

 

• Their daughter Claudia writes: “This was also the man who, as a pastor and a family member, somehow knew not only the right words but also exuded the most sincere empathy and comfort to so many others of us here at times of death, sadness or just dealing with the struggles of life.  This was a man who would walk the wards at Ambur Mission Hospital in India at 1:00 in the morning just to see who was having trouble sleeping, who might need a little comforting, who might need a prayer….This was a man who believed in the value of a human being, no matter who they were or what they were about, because to him we are all one of God’s own children.”

 

• In the early years of the Koepke’s work, India had just achieved its independence, and everyone was well aware of the work of Mahatma Gandhi, including his nonviolent satyagraha protests against British rule.  Sometimes those who hoped to use satyagraha for purposes of their own were not motivated by quite the same spirit as Gandhi, however!  During the time when Ted was general treasurer of MELIM, a man who had retired from teaching in a school in Trivandrum made many petitions to various channels stating that he felt he had not been paid enough for his work.  His petitions were refused, as his pay had been the normal pay for a teacher in the schools.  Because Ted was the treasurer for the mission, the man decided to set up a lean-to outside the walls of the Koepke’s compound and practice satyagraha by spending his days on a cot in the lean-to.  After a few days he must have gotten tired, because he then hired “thugs” to take his place waiting outside the walls.  These replacements would shout slogans and complain about unfair treatment, and after a time they even began harassing those who came into or out of the compound – not exactly a completely nonviolent protest, although no one was injured.  They kept this vigil until the monsoon rains came, when the lean-to was washed away; with that development, the aggrieved teacher must have decided that his period of satygraha was ended, and he discontinued his protest.

 

• The Koepke’s son Ron recalls that during their time in Trivandrum, Ted served as “wine bishop” for all the LCMS missionaries in the area.  Since India was under prohibition, the mission had to have special permission to make and serve communion wine, and the missionary in Trivandrum had the responsibility to acquire many, many raisins which were painstakingly cleaned by some Indian helpers and then fermented into wine.  The wine took a few weeks to ferment and had to be monitored, and Ron remembers being allowed to stir the vats once in a while as it was being prepared.