Hugh Conrad Auw Jr.
May 23, 1925-July 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 10:34 AM PDT
Ontario
Hugh Conrad Auw Jr., age 84, died of natural causes on Thursday, July 30, 2009, in Ontario, Ore. A memorial service is planned at 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009, at Maranatha Seventh-day Adventist Church in Weiser, Idaho.
Hugh Conrad Auw Jr. was born on May 23, 1925, in Pasadena, Calif., the son of Hugh and Minnie Auw. Hugh attended prep school and then Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo., where he graduated and was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran church. He met his future wife there (the former Helen Helmich), where she was a student at the Lutheran School of Nursing.
Both Hugh and Helen wanted to be missionaries. They answered a call to the island of Hokkaido, Japan, where they served as missionaries for 20 years. From September 1950 to June of 1970, Hugh worked as a rural evangelist, traveling to fishing villages along the coastline. He was instrumental in starting several Lutheran churches on the island.
After leaving the mission field, Hugh and his family relocated to Long Beach, Calif., where they lived for several years. Accepting an invitation from the pastor of the Lutheran church in Ontario, Ore., to work with Japanese Americans, Hugh moved there with his family in 1972.
Not long after that, he became the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Caldwell, Idaho, and served there for six years. He later served a congregation in John Day, Ore., for several years before retiring to the Oregon Slope.
Hugh is survived by his wife of 59 years, Helen Auw; his seven children, Michael Auw and wife, Barbara, Catherine Garcia, Timothy Auw and wife, Karen, Elizabeth Davis, Candace Totten, Jonathan Auw and Miriam Eden and her husband, Christopher; numerous grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and a sister Marion Walser, of Grant’s Pass, Ore. He was preceded in death by his younger brother, Pierre Auw, of Long Beach, Calif.
The family would like to thank the staff at Aaren Brooke Place and Presbyterian Community Care Center for their thoughtfulness and kindness in the care of our loved one. Hugh’s family will remember him for his love of his Savior, his family and his fondness for the beach, the ocean and fishing. The online guestbook may be signed and private condolences sent to the family at www.Haren-Wood.com.
