The Rev. Duane Paul Mehl, 85, of Avondale, died Tuesday, Nov. 22, at Oxford Health Center, Ware Presbyterian Village in Oxford. He was the husband of Dorothy Pannell Mehl, with whom he shared 58 years of marriage.
Born in Arkansas City, Kan. on Feb. 14, 1931, Duane was the son of the late Paul Theodore Mehl and the late Anita Von Fange Mehl.
Duane graduated from St. John’s College in Winfield, Kan. He then went on to earn a master’s degree in divinity at Theology from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. During this time, he completed a two-year vicarage in Nigeria, Africa as a missionary and teacher at a Lutheran mission school. Later he earned an master of arts degree in English literature from Washington University in St. Louis, and a doctorate in English literature from St. Louis University in St. Louis.
Duane began his career in 1957 as the first pastor of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Newark, Del. In 1964, he accepted a call to serve as a writer of religious instructional literature for the Board of Parish Education for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in St. Louis. Subsequently he became a professor of homiletics at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. In 1978, he accepted a call to become the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Charlottesville, Va., where he served until becoming disabled in 1989.
Survivors, in addition to his wife Dorothy, include his daughter Jennifer Ferrara and husband Stephen of Birchrunville; his son David Mehl and wife Brigitte of Charlottesville, Va.; and his five grandchildren, Anthony Ferrara, Joseph Ferrara, Katherine Ferrara, Frances Mehl, and Lillian Mehl. He is also survived by two brothers, Gary Mehl (Lyn) of Florida and Roger Mehl (Betsy) of Minnesota.
Family and friends are invited to join Duane’s family for his viewing on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 7-9 p.m., at the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home (610-444-4116) 250 W. State St., Kennett Square, PA 19348. A memorial service will be held the next day, on Dec. 1, at 1 p.m., at Concordia Lutheran Church, 3003 Silverside Road, Wlimington, DE. Interment will be held privately.
Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to Oxford Health Center, 7 East Locust Street, Oxford, PA, 19363-1399. To view Rev. Mehl’s online tribute and to share a memory please visit www.griecocares.com
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