Robert Martin Visser

Born August 12,1920 in Havillah, WA, the first of 10 children of Garritt and Martha (Duchow) Visser. Passed into eternal life on January 1, 2019 in Citrus Heights at age 98.

Robert graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis in 1946 and became a Lutheran minister; That same year he married Virginia (Vogel) Goetz, a war widow, and adopted her young daughter, Janet.

His first church was in Fort Scott, KS. He then moved to California where he developied churches in the Sunnyvale area, and subsequently served churches in Lodi and Citrus Heights. Throughout this time he was also active on the district level of the Lutheran church of northern Calif., Nev. and Hawaii. His duties included working on the mission committee, serving as a vice president and as editor of a Lutheran magazine supplement. His churches in Sunnyvale and Citrus Heights helped resettle war refugees from Europe and Vietnam. Following retirement from full-time ministry, he served as interim and vacancy pastor for several churches in No. Calif.

An avid sportsman, Robert enjoyed playing baseball, basketball, bowling, and golf. He and Virginia raised seven children. After retirement they enjoyed traveling internationally. He will be remembered for his faithfulness to his Lord, his church and his family and for his generosity of heart and hand by all who knew him.

He was preceded in death by granddaughters Mary and Rebecca, son Peter, son-in- law Toby, and wife Virginia. He is survived by four brothers (Ray, Wesley, Dwayne and Dwight) as well as daughters Janet (Akira), Lynne (Stan), Claire, and Jean (Harlan), sons Joel (Elizabeth) and Kenneth (Hannah), 14 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren.

The funeral service will be held on Tuesday, January 8 at 11:00 AM at Messiah Lutheran Church, Citrus Heights, with interment at Mount Vernon Memorial Park, Fair Oaks. Visitation is on Monday, January 7 from 4 – 8 PM at Mount Vernon. Memorial donations may be made to Lutheran World Relief or Heifer Project International.