wfn.org | Frank Klos, Lutheran Pastor/Editor/Educator, Dies

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 5, 2002

FRANK KLOS, LUTHERAN PASTOR/EDITOR/EDUCATOR, DIES
02-186-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Frank W. Klos Jr., a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died July 15 in Marlton,
N.J.  He was 77.  For more than 30 years, Klos edited shelves of popular
Christian education resources and advanced the Lutheran church's
television ministry.
     Born July 20, 1924, in Wheeling, W.Va., Klos was a graduate of
Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa., and the Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Gettysburg.  He earned a master's degree and doctorate in
education from Temple University, Philadelphia.
     Ordained in 1949, Klos served as pastor of St. John Lutheran
Church, Martinsburg, W.Va., before joining the staff of the Board of
Parish Education of the former United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA)
in 1955.
     The ULCA formed the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) with three
other churches in 1962.  Klos continued to work for the merged church as
field director, audiovisuals editor, editor of catechetics, senior
editor and editorial director of educational resources in the LCA's
Division for Parish Services.
     Klos helped develop the popular "Davey and Goliath" stop-action
animated television series for children.  He was also known in the
church for his cartoons and artistry.
     "Frank Klos was an active part of Davey and Goliath from before it
was introduced in 1959, as an education consultant to the Commission on
Press, Radio and Television," said R. Marshall Stross, former executive
director of Davey and Goliath.
     Stross said Klos' single greatest contribution to the program was
the 256-page dissertation he prepared in 1977 to get his doctorate.  The
study deals with "the origin, utilization and impact of the Davey and
Goliath television series," said Stross.
     Klos' dissertation recorded the program's largest audience -- 1.24
million households in 1971 and 1.73 million children between two and 11
years of age, said Stross.  Klos also presented "a need for continuing
the effective program."
     Klos edited a variety of materials for Vacation Bible Schools and
weekday church schools.  He oversaw the creation of a host of well-known
Christian education resources for the Lutheran church.
     In a May 1996 article for The Lutheran, the Rev. David L. Miller
(now editor of the magazine) wrote, "The 1968 groundbreaking study,
Confirmation and First Communion, by Frank Klos, severed the
centuries-old Lutheran linkage of first communion and confirmation. The
study suggested young people are ready to commune at age 10, fifth
grade, and that separating first communion from confirmation better
expresses the Lutheran conviction that communion is God's gift, not
something one earns."
     Since his retirement in 1987, Klos served as interim pastor for
Holy Redeemer, Trenton, N.J., and for St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Collingswood, N.J., and as visitation pastor for Prince of Peace
Lutheran Church, Marlton, N.J.
     Klos is survived by his wife Sarah and four adult children.

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