Charles R. Springer

BURLINGTON - Charles R. Springer, a retired Lutheran (ELCA) pastor, died Friday, June 13, 2014, at Alamance Regional Medical Center after several years of declining health. He was a member of Friedens Lutheran Church, Gibsonville.
Charles and his wife, Judy, moved to Twin Lakes Community, Burlington, in 2007. The Springers lived in Hendersonville from 1994 to 2007. Prior to that, they spent a year teaching English through the ELCA and the Amity Foundation at Huaiyin University in Huai'yan, China.
Born in Evansville, Indiana, to the late Charles R. Springer Sr., and the late Alice Grabhorn Springer Kramer, Charles attended high school in Toledo, Ohio. After a brief time in the Army Air Corps, he graduated from Wittenberg University and Hamma Divinity School, both in Springfield, Ohio. He received a Master of Sacred Theology degree in Comparative Religion from Yale Divinity School. He served with the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church in India from 1951 to 1960. Subsequently he served Christ Lutheran Church (Toledo), First Lutheran Church (Lorain), and Trinity Lutheran Church (Dayton), all in Ohio, until retirement in 1991.
In addition to his wife, Judy, survivors include his daughter, the Rev. Susan L. Springer and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Michael A. Lippard, of Franklin, Tenn.; son, Dr. Mark C. Springer, of Bellingham, Wash.; sisters-in-law, Janan Kramer of Toledo and Barbara Rodvik Manke and her husband, Paul Manke, of Englewood, Fla.; stepson Nicholas D. Moore and wife, Debbie, of Lewisburg, Ohio, and stepson, Michael S. Moore, of New Carlisle, Ohio. Also surviving him are granddaughters Hannah Lippard and Emily Lippard; stepgrandchildren Rachel Moore, Nicholas Moore, his wife Kaila, and Amanda Howerton; great-stepgrandchildren Payton Moore and Trenton Moore; and a number of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his first wife Ruth Elaine Miller Springer; parents; stepfather Robert Kramer; sister Mildred Lucille Ward, her husband Herbert Ward; stepbrothers, the Rev. Robert Kramer and Ed Kramer.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at the May-Foley Chapel, Twin Lakes, with the Rev. Bill Zima officiating, the Rev. Dr. Mark Menees assisting. The family will receive friends following the service in Twin Lakes' Pepper Tree Café.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the ELCA Malaria Campaign (www.elca.org/malaria); to Friedens Lutheran Church to support the church's young people attending the National Youth Gathering (checks to Friedens Lutheran Church, "National Youth Gathering" on memo line); or to the Twin Lakes Chapel Fund (checks to Twin Lakes, "Chapel Fund" on memo line).
Lowe Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Springer family.
You may sign the online register book at www.lowefuneralhome.com