From Kansas City-
A retired Episcopal priest and Methodist minister from Kansas City was found dead Tuesday morning in a private lake southwest of Topeka.
Bruce Rahtjen, 77, had been missing since Sunday evening. Authorities said his wife last saw him alive while he was fishing at Lake Edun, a nudist camp. JoAnn Rahtjen said Monday that her husband had fished at the lake for several years.
Rahtjen, who retired from St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in 1999, is remembered by family and former colleagues for his intellect, service and good nature.
“St. Mary’s was an unusual place,” said Barbara Beam, a retired Episcopal priest who went through Rahtjen’s diaconate school at St. Mary’s. “People found a home at St. Mary’s that wouldn’t find a home at most churches. You could be yourself there, and he fostered that.”
Beam said Rahtjen established the church’s outreach program and food pantry, and some of the food pantry recipients eventually became parishioners.
One of Rahtjen’s sons, Don Rahtjen, said, “He saw the church as an instrument of care to the community and a home for those who had nowhere else to go.”
Read more:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/22/2037052/body-of-missing-kansas-city-man.html#ixzz0rfknpewP
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