Identity area
Type of entity
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Authorized form of name
Lutheran Service Center
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Description area
Dates of existence
1942-1968
History
The Tacoma Lutheran Service Center was a facility in Tacoma offering recreation, fellowship and social services to armed forces personnel. The first Lutheran Service Center in Tacoma was operational during World War II, from February 28, 1942 to August of 1946 and was located at 1003 Pacific Avenue (1).
The second Center began in 1951, when local Lutheran pastors recognized the need for continued service to the local bases. They met with a representative of the national Lutheran Service Commission and agreed to elect a permanent committee to develop a new local center (2). The Commission hired Robert P. Canis, a former U.S. Army Chaplain, to become the service pastor and director of the Center. He arranged the location and furnishing of the Center’s new quarters at 117 1/2 S. 10th Street, around the corner from its former site. He was assisted by lay women in the paid position of Hostess-Secretary. The Center was equipped with ping-pong and pool tables, record player and television set. Parties, holiday celebrations, picnics, outings to Mount Rainier and other area parks were arranged. Young women from the local Lutheran congregations volunteered as hostesses in the evenings and on weekends, socializing with the servicemen and assisting with the programs. A newsletter, Front and Center, was published (3, 4).
In 1956, Rev. Canis left to act as service pastor in the Lutheran Service Center in Keelung, Formosa (3). A series of lay women directed the center for its remaining years. Mrs. Marian I. Kirschenman was at the helm when the Center, facing declining attendance, merged with The Tacoma Seamen’s Center around 1965 (5). The national Commission phased out its support in 1967, and the local Committee endeavored to continue operations for another year, ceasing in 1968 (6).
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Written by Ruth Keller, 2023.
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Sources
[1] “High-Lights of the Lutheran Service Center, Tacoma Washington”, Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Box 1, Collection
[2] “Meeting of Lutheran Pastors of Tacoma in the Interest of Serving Service Men”, Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Box 1, Collection
[3] “A Reminiscence of the Past 2096 Days, Pastor Bob”, Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Box 1, Collection
[4] “Lutheran Service Center Hostess Policy” Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Box 1, Collection
[5] “Lutheran Center Plans Open House”, Tacoma News Tribune, 11/27/65, p.4.
[6] “Re: Our Service Center”, General Correspondence 1962-1968, Box 1, Collection.