May 7 Today in OPC History

On May 7, 1916, Roswell Kamrath was born in Leith, North Dakota. Growing up in Leith, Roswell was a charter member of Bethel OPC and married Loretta Heyne in 1937. Together they raised two daughters, Marlene and Sheila, and two sons, Larry and Rodney, on the family farm. Roswell served as a ruling elder in Bethel Church, but the Lord was calling him to pastoral ministry.

At the age of 47 Roswell and Loretta left Leith for Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids. Roswell was ordained in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod in 1970. He returned to the OPC in 1980 serving as pastor of the OPC in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Health reasons forced Roswell to retire, but he had the opportunity to return to Leith where he served as interim pastor in 1982–83 for Bethel OPC.

When G. I. Williamson became the pastor of Bethel Church in 1983, he rejoiced that the Lord had provided a servant such as Roswell to serve alongside. G. I. wrote of his friend in the pages of New Horizons, “Out here in the Dakotas, distances are something of a problem. Many of our older people, at one time or another, spend time in the hospital in Bismarck. And one of the truly wonderful things that Roswell did—most willingly and faithfully—was to minister to our hospitalized people.”

Roswell Kamrath went to be with the Lord in glory on December 10, 1992.

Picture: Roswell and Loretta Kamrath