The Reverend Robert Lester Mondale (May 28, 1904 – August 19, 2003) was an American Unitarian minister and Humanist.
Biography
Mondale was born in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, the son of Methodist minister and World War I hero Theodore Sigvaard Mondale and Jessie Alice Larson.[1][2] Although his family was Methodist, he converted to Unitarianism while earning his B.A. from Hamline University. In 1926 Mondale entered the Unitarian ministry and in 1929 he earned an S.T.B. from Harvard Divinity School.[3] He was ordained by the New North Unitarian Church, Hingham, Massachusetts, and went on to serve congregations in Evanston, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri; Birmingham, Michigan; White Plains, New York; Tempe, Arizona; and Quincy, Illinois. His younger half-brother was Walter Mondale, Vice President of the United States under Jimmy Carter.
He was married three times. From his first wife, Edith Eldred Klose (1904-1987) he had one daughter, Tarand Elose Mondale Swenstad (1931-2007).[4] From his second wife, Fay A. Smead (1907-1976), he had three daughters: Ellen Smead Mondale (1943-2019), Karen Smead Mondale and Julia Smead Kellum Mondale Jensen.[5][6][7] He married his third wife, Rosemary Delap (July 14, 1917-February 28, 2022) on May 31, 1961. He was survived by his third and last wife.
Selected publications
- The Missouri still runs wild, Westport Pub. Co. (Kansas City, MO) 1943
- Three Unitarian philosophies of religion, Beacon Press (Boston) 1946
- The Unitarian way of life, Beacon Press (Boston) 1943
- Values in world religions, Starr King Press 1958
- Preachers in Purgatory With Reference to Accounts of More Than a Hundred Ministers Reporting on Crisis Situations, Beacon Press 1966
- New Man of Religious Humanism, Volturna Press 1973
References
- ↑ "Ancestry World Tree Project". Retrieved 2006-12-22.
- ↑ "In Memoriam: Unitarian Universalist Ministers 2003 - 2004". Archived from the original on 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
- ↑ Schafer, Ed (February 18, 1977). "Lester Mondale Treasures Privacy". The News and Courier. Charleston, SC. pp. 16–A. Archived from the original on April 16, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
- ↑ "Tarand Elose". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
- ↑ "ELLEN MONDALE Obituary (2019) - The Washington Post". www.legacy.com. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
- ↑ "Tarand L. "Tarrie" Mondale Swenstad (1931-2007) -..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
- ↑ "Fay A. Smead 1907-1976 - Ancestry®". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
External links
- Press release announcing his death
- The Human Infinite by Mondale
- Beyond the Ten Commandments by Mondale.