Paul Henry Jacob Feiertag
Paul Henry Jacob Feiertag died on 7/2/2024, in Everett, WA. He was born in Cheyenne Wells, CO on 9/8/1936 as the 2nd of 4 siblings born to John and Martha Feiertag. He served in the US Army, in an armory division in West Germany. He married Ingrid Feiertag on July 3, 1965 and served as principal and elementary school teacher at Holy Cross Lutheran School in San Antonio, TX, before returning to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO, to complete a Master of Divinity in 1972. He was the 4th generation in his family to serve as a Lutheran pastor, serving 4 churches in Arkansas and Missouri and as a hospice chaplain at the end of his career. While living in Santa Rosa, CA, he and Ingrid became fierce advocates for LGBTQIA+ people and their families, in both church and society.
As dementia began to take its toll on him, he and Ingrid, along with his oldest sister Gloria relocated to Everett, WA to have local support from their younger son.
His first job was manually pumping a church organ for his father. He worked at a gas station, did food service, drove tanks for the Army, helped his future wife learn to play piano, was a respectable bible scholar, maintained his own cars, helped build houses, marched in pride parades, accompanied people who were dying, facilitated Bible studies, fixed many household items, eventually learned to dance the polka, could sing the melody, and was an effective and moving preacher. He was a loving husband and dad. He navigated Apple computers pretty well, loved to eat popcorn, and really, really liked collecting rocks.
Paul was a hard-working, generous person. He had a warm sense of humor. He was not afraid to do the right thing, even if that meant personal difficulty, sacrifice, or risk, including welcoming the first African American family into the parochial school in San Antonio despite being instructed not to and ensuring his son Dan had the opportunity to learn scouting skills from an African American Scout Master.
Paul is survived by his wife Ingrid, sons Dan (Liz Lemke) and Tim, and sister Gloria. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 31 at 2 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2324 Lombard Ave, Everett, WA, with available livestream link. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Trinity Lutheran in Everett or to the charity of your choice.
