Dr. Harold A. Dunkelberger

GETTYSBURG Dr. Harold A. Dunkelberger, 97, died Monday, October 22, 2012 at the Gettysburg Hospital. He was born in Bangalore, India, on May 9, 1915, while his parents were missionaries there. He was the son of the late Dr. Roy M. & Amy (Aberly) Dunkelberger and the grandson of Dr. John Aberly, also a missionary to India and professor and president of Gettysburg Seminary from 1926-1940. His wife of 60 years, the late Elizabeth (Rebert) "Betty" Dunkelberger died in March of 2000. He graduated from Gettysburg College in 1936 with a bachelor of arts degree conferred summa cum laude. Three years later he received a bachelor of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. He then went to Columbia University for graduate work and received his Ph.D. degree in 1950. In 1962, he enrolled for post-doctoral study at Oxford University, Oxford, England. In 1979, Susquehanna University awarded him an honorary doctor of divinity degree. Ordained by the Central Pennsylvania Synod, Dr. Dunkelberger entered the Lutheran parish ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church, Mechanicsburg, in 1941 and returned to the same parish after a leave of absence from 1942-1946 to serve as an Army Air Corps chaplain during World War II. Dr. Dunkelberger came to Gettysburg College in 1950 as associate professor of Biblical Literature and Religion. After serving as director of development and alumni relations from 1958-60, he was promoted to full professor. He then served for 20 years as Chairman of the Religion Department. In 1979 he was appointed the College's director of church relations, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1983. He was College Marshal from 1972-1983. At his retirement in 1983, the College presented him the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching and in 1991 the College Alumni Association named him for the Meritorious Service Award. In addition to articles and reviews for professional and denominational journals, he authored Gettysburg College and the Lutheran Connection, in the College's history series, and One Body WeThe Last Decade, dealing with the 50 year history of the Central Pennsylvania Synod of the United Lutheran Church, later the Lutheran Church in America. Dr. Dunkelberger was president of the Rotary Club of Gettysburg in 1957-58, and Governor of Rotary District 739 in 1972-73, and continued to serve on the District's Board of Counselors to the present. Active in Masonic circles, he was a life member of Eureka Lodge #302, Mechanicsburg, a Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge, F.&A.M., of Pennsylvania, a Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania, and an illustrious Thirty-Third Degree Mason. He was an active member of many other appendant Masonic bodies. He was a director of the Masonic Pennsylvania Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse among children and on the Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation. In the Gettysburg community, Dr. Dunkelberger has served as a Director and President of the Board of the Adams County Office for the Aging, a President of the Board of Adams County United Way, and as a Director and President of Chapter 1776, American Association of Retired People. He is also a Past President of the Senior Adult Community Theatre Society of Adams County. He was throughout his student and adult life a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Gettysburg. Dr. Dunkelberger is survived by a son, Harold R. Dunkelberger of Selinsgrove; a daughter, Lida Dunkelberger Mason and her husband Eric of Greenville; three grandsons, Andrew, Clifford and Philip Mason; and a sister, Dorothy D. Whitson of New Windsor, Md. Funeral Services for Dr. Dunkelberger will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. from Christ Lutheran Church, 44 Chambersburg St., Gettysburg, with Rev. Stephen Herr, officiating. Burial with be in the Evergreen Cemetery, Gettysburg. The family will receive friends on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., a Masonic Service will be held at 8 p.m. at the Monahan Funeral Home in Gettysburg. Memorials can be made to Christ Lutheran Church or the Dunkelberger Memorial Lecture Fund at Gettysburg College. Online condolences can be made at monahanfuneralhome.com