Dr. Bessie Rehwinkel

 

 By Rev. Dan Greg

To close out Women’s History Month, I want to tell you about a really cool Lutheran.

Her name is Dr. Bessie Rehwinkel.

Born in 1873, Bess Efner challenged all sorts of standards and trends by wishing to follow in her father’s footsteps as a medical doctor.

 

Choosing to attend medical school over the course of eight years, she took an enormous risk of neglecting suitors and focusing on her goal of becoming a doctor.

After finishing school, she became board certified in Iowa and began to practice, despite every odd being stacked against her. 

She fought distrust and ridicule from many in her community until they saw how skilled and fair she was with pricing.

Women loved her delivering their children.

 

In the financial panic of 1907, Bessie lost her business, savings, and home.

At the same time, her sister in law and brother died tragically, leaving their 3 daughters with her to care for them.

She stepped up in a big way, taking the biggest risk of her life thus far: leaving Iowa behind and moving to Wyoming to pioneer by herself and the nieces through the Homestead Act.

There, she faced the day-to-day life-and-death struggles against hunger, drought, dust storms, blizzards, insects, hail, biting cold, frustration, and loneliness.

 

Her adventure didn’t stop here.

She met her would-be husband, Alfred, when he came knocking on her door, bleeding out, having fallen off his horse onto barbed wire.

She thoroughly enjoyed conversation with her as she worked, finding out soon that he was a Lutheran Pastor.

On September 28, 1912, Dr. Bessie Married Alfred Rehwinkel, beginning a new 50 year adventure into pastoral ministry in the Canadian frontier.

 

When reflecting on the change between her homesteading medical practice and being a pastor’s wife, she wrote, “I had loved my practice and never believed that anything could persuade me to give it up, but I discovered that there are greater things in the life of a woman than professional success.”

What a powerful statement!

 

Towards the end of their lives, they lived in St. Louis, Missouri, as Alfred took a call to teach at Concordia Seminary, where he would write many outstanding books, including a biography of his wife, “Dr. Bessie: the Life Story and Romance of a Pioneer Lady Doctor on Our Western and the Canadian Frontier as Told By Herself.”

I highly recommend finding the book through inter inter-library loan.

 

Upon reflecting on her incredible life, I can’t help but meditate on this bible verse, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14, ESV).

Dr. Bessie did lots in her freedom as a Christian.

Of these, one of the most humble was to full rely on God and devote herself to supporting her husband and his ministry as a Pastor.

 

Thanks be to Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us, for Bessie Rehwinkel.

And “blessed be those who die in the Lord! For their good works follow them!” (Revelation 14:13).

 

Rev. Dan Greg is an LCMS pastor in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.