Ronald Gregory Burger

Ronald Gregory Burger, 80, of Indianapolis, formerly of La Porte, Indiana, died peacefully in his sleep at 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, after spending five days surrounded by his family at Franciscan Hospice House in Indianapolis. He was born on July 7, 1944, in La Porte to Walter Theodore and Mary Alice (Gregory) Burger. He married Dianne Margaret Dinwiddie on June 25, 1966 in La Porte, and she survives.
Ron joyfully devoted his life to serving others and the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection secured his eternal home in paradise. He was an outstanding teacher and compassionate communicator who made lots of people laugh. Even when he was weak and suffering, he asked his caregivers about their families and joked with them. His faith in the Lord allowed him to rise above the suffering, knowing that getting old would soon pass.
Ron grew up in La Porte and went to St. John's Lutheran School and La Porte High School. He was baptized and confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church. In 1967 he earned a BS degree in Business Administration from Valparaiso University. He served as the church treasurer for many years and sang baritone in the Walther League Chorus. His first business job was at Arthur Anderson, but he did not like conducting surprise audits, and his coworkers did not share his values.
When a sixth grade teaching job at Lincoln Elementary School opened up in 1968, he took it even though he had no formal training. There he discovered his love of teaching and thrived for five years. He took courses at night to earn a MS degree in Education from Purdue University in 1973.
To better support his growing family financially, Ron moved into the business world with his brothers and served as the accountant and general handyman for Thanhardt-Burger, an ornate picture framing business, for 10 years. In 1976, he and Dianne opened the Candy Man store on Lincolnway in La Porte and sold tasty sweets for four years. Then he helped Dianne with her Shaklee home business of nutritional, cleaning and personal care products.
In 1983 St. John's Lutheran School had an opening for a principal and eighth-grade teacher, so Ron moved back into teaching and enjoyed having his two daughters as students. For three summers he took courses at Concordia University in River Forest, IL, to be qualified to keep teaching in the Lutheran school system. In 1987 he declined an offer to be the full-time principal and instead became the full-time eighth grade teacher.
In 1992 he accepted a call to teach at St. John Lutheran School in Indianapolis. He was the sixth grade homeroom teacher, taught science to fifth through eighth grade, served as the technology coordinator, and directed a number of special projects, including trips to Space Camp, Sci-Fest competitions, and Outdoor Education. He retired in 2007 after 29 years of service in the teaching ministry. For several summers thereafter, he ran a Lego Mindstorms day camp and robot competition for students, including several of his grandchildren.
Ron loved to spend time with his grandchildren. He & Dianne regularly visited those who lived out of state. They took the Indianapolis grandchildren to fun places on Saturdays including the Indianapolis Children's Museum, Indianapolis Zoo, and Indiana History Center. He organized and funded fun summer vacations at Wisconsin Dells, Myrtle Beach, Pigeon Forge, etc., which helped the cousins get to know each other.
Surviving family include his wife, Dianne, of Indianapolis; his children, Bob (Stacy) Burger of Indianapolis; Heidi (Roger) Yamada of Aurora, CO; Wendy (Jerry) Piasentin of Livonia, MI. Surviving grandchildren include Elizabeth (Josh) Morris, Ruth (Zach) Elliott, Sarah (Kyle) Schmidt, Mariah (Isaac) Hertzler, Hannah (Stefon) Elliott, Benjamin, Verla, and John Burger, Michael Yamada, Chad Yamada, Alyssa Yamada, Rebecca (Jordan) Weeks, and Maria Piasentin. Ron is also blessed with seven great-grandchildren: Maddyline Silva, Evangeline Elliott, Charlotte Schmidt, Steven Elliott, Angie Morris, Theodore Schmidt, and Obadiah Elliott. One brother, Bill Burger, and one sister, Marge Burger, survive. He is preceded in death by his parents and brother Chuck Burger.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at St. John Lutheran Church, 6630 Southeastern Ave in Indianapolis, with Rev. Philip Kruspki giving the sermon. Burial will follow services at St. John's Cemetery. A public visitation will be held prior to services from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to St. John Lutheran Church and School of Indianapolis. A live link to donate may be found in the column under Ron's photo. If you are attending the visitation and funeral, please use the church's Hunter Road parking lot. The service may be viewed on the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_uZQgbBkU
Family MemoriesBob Burger, April 12, 2025
David wrote in Psalm 145:4, "One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.''
God has been faithful to the Burger family from one generation to the next. They have served His Church in various ways according to their talents and callings.
Dad's great-grandfather George Julius Burger, born in 1850 in Bavaria, Germany, came to the U.S. in 1869 and settled in Sheboygan, WI. He studied to be a pastor at Concordia Seminary and then served in Nebraska for 17 years and back in Sheboygan for 23 more years until his sudden death at 63 years old. God blessed him with nine children. His funeral text was 2 Cor. 6:1-10.
Dad's grandfather Gotthold Burger, born in 1876 in Hampton, Nebraska, taught school and was the organist at St. John's Lutheran School in Marysville, OH. He came to La Porte in 1923 and served until a stomach disease quickly drained his strength at age 50. He died on Feb. 22, 1927, and left a wife, six daughters, and one son. (I have six daughters and two sons.) His funeral text was Isaiah 3:10: "Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.''
Dad's father, Walter Theodore Burger, was born in 1905 in Marysville, OH. He was the bookkeeper and cashier at La Porte Gas & Electric and then secretary-treasurer of Leader Manufacturing Co., which was founded by Henry Thanhardt in 1927 for the manufacture and design of picture frames. It was destroyed by fire in 1933 and reorganized as Thanhardt-Burger Corp. He founded and directed the Walther League Chorus, which became self-supporting and was able to contribute financially to the church and school. He died at age 64 from a heart attack in 1969 when I was just a few months old.
Dad used his accounting and teaching gifts to serve the Lord in a variety of roles throughout his life. You can read the details in his obituary above. He was a wonderful father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
In 2002, Dad's brother Chuck developed colon cancer, so Dad had a routine colonoscopy. Unfortunately, the preparation treatment crystalized in his kidneys, causing irreparable kidney damage. The doctors wouldn't admit it until years later, when the treatment was recalled because so many people had been harmed. By God's grace, Dad was able to avoid dialysis for over 20 years. He ate kidney-friendly foods and drank lots of water. Dad was not bitter about what happened but relied on God's strength in his weakness. Martin Luther said in a sermon from 1525, "Christ is not mighty within us, his word and his faith are not strong in us, unless our bodies suffer affliction.''
Just a few years later when Dad was 64, he had chest pains and went to St. Francis Hospital for heart bypass surgery. His father died at the same age from a heart attack. I prayed that the Lord would add fifteen years to his life, as He did for King Hezekiah. We sneaked in some chocolate cake for him to enjoy at the hospital the night before his surgery. The Lord gave him over 16 years!
Last Easter, Dad felt well enough to play with his great-grandchildren on the carpet. By his eightieth birthday in July, he was highly fatigued from the kidney disease, so the time had come for dialysis. In September he started peritoneal dialysis, where he would add 2 liters of sugar water to his abdomen, let it sit for a few hours to absorb toxins from the body, and then drain the waste water. This process poses a significant risk of infection, so Dad set up a clean room in his house, put on his lab coat, and perfected his sterile technique. He did this exchange four times a day without complaining. As the toxins were removed, his strength returned, and we prayed that the Lord would give him more years again. But God had a better plan and gently helped us understand and accept it over time.
At Thanksgiving he had trouble staying awake during the meal. The next morning he called to ask me to drive him to the emergency room because the kidney doctor said he needed a blood transfusion. After I wheeled Dad in, he asked if there was a Black Friday discount. The nurses laughed and said no. They checked him out and found that his hemoglobin level was barely over the threshold for a blood transfusion, so they sent him home feeling worse than when he arrived. He struggled to get out of the car and remarked, "I'm not as weak as I look. I'm much weaker.''
Over the next six weeks, Dad submitted to multiple blood tests, a bone marrow aspiration, and a CT scan. Despite three blood transfusions, he still felt weak and headachy, had no appetite, and was on oxygen. Eventually the hemotologist figured out that a simple medication change was all that was needed, and even then the kidney doctor resisted trying it. Stacy, my wife, helped lobby for it. Her medical background as an RN was such a blessing. The new medication worked, but there was more going on.
Dad suffered from shingles and a sinus infection, and then he developed a hernia and a severe infection in his peritoneum that nearly killed him. Mom, Heidi, Stacy and I were there to see him delirious with a debilitating headache and extremely weak. He later told me that there are questions you don't think to ask until you're on death's door. He was so thankful for the sure hope of eternal life in Christ and asked his family members if they would see him in heaven. He was ready to die, should the Lord will it, but was concerned about Mom, who was not ready to have him go.
He was hospitalized to put in a port for hemodialysis since he could no longer use peritoneal dialysis. He felt significantly better, and we prayed for a recovery.
Dad then caught influenza A, pneumonia, and a C. diff. bacterial infection in his bowels, which landed him in the hospital again. He lost sight in his left eye. He got over the infections, but now he fell almost every day.
God blessed the family during these trials by giving all of us special opportunities to be with Dad and Mom.
Dad fell during the night of March 27, and he could not get up for his dialysis appointment the next morning. He could hear but not respond with more than a word or two. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital. Dad did not get better and had no appetite, so we prayed for wisdom on how to proceed. God answered the prayer shortly thereafter by doctors who assessed that there's nothing more they could do. Mom, Heidi, Wendy and I agreed to move him to the peaceful hospice house. He smiled when we told him there would be no more IVs or dialysis.
Dad appreciated all the visits from his family and friends. He could hear and understand and respond a little. How many people get to attend their own visitation? It was heartbreaking to see him suffer but at the same time comforting to be with him and experience the peace of Christ that passes understanding. Mom, who until this point was too overwhelmed to visit him, came many times and reassured him that the Lord would provide for her when he is gone.
Suffering weaned him from earth and prepared him for heaven. When we heard the news that he breathed his last peacefully in his sleep, our immediate reaction was thanksgiving to the Lord, who had answered all our prayers, not the way we expected, but by healing him forever in paradise!
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master'' (Matt. 25:23).
Now it's our turn to take the torch and follow the Savior, completing the work He has for us by the strength He provides, to the praise of His glorious Name!