Rev. Ernest Paul Pretsch 76 of Orlando was St. Paul’s senior pastor for 15 years
February 23rd, 2008, 5:17 am Hobby Shops
Pretsch was raised with a younger brother in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y., by German immigrant parents. He grew up in a Lutheran household and attended a Lutheran college, Wittenberg University in Ohio. Four years after college graduation, Pretsch began his studies to become a pastor at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Upon graduation in 1955, he landed his first parish — a small church in Narrowsburg, N.Y., where he stayed for a few years. It was while serving in New York that he got his pilot’s license, thanks to his uncle’s flight school in Florida. Flying became a favorite hobby for Pretsch, and he kept it up throughout his life. Pretsch also served as an intermittent chaplain on cruise ships in the 1960s — allowing him to meet many interesting people. He went on to pastor a few more churches in Brooklyn, N.Y., before coming to Orlando in 1970 to pastor St. Paul’s. According to Bailey, who later served as Pretsch’s caretaker, the church was a chapel at the time, with seating for about 150 people. Once Pretsch saw that most of his members were senior citizens, he got motivated to do more than just pastor. “He was a champion for seniors because, obviously, coming down to Florida was a very different environment as to what he experienced up in Brooklyn,” Bailey said. “So he saw that a greater proportion of his parish were retiring seniors — so that was clearly the need there.” Not many churches had done it before, but Pretsch had a vision for a church-affiliated retirement home — or senior housing — that had the same values as the Lutheran church, providing a “lifestyle” for retiring seniors. “He was energetic, and we always said Pastor Pretsch always had to have a project going . . . He never stopped,” said the Rev. Wilbert Boerstler, a seminary classmate and friend of Pretsch’s. It was an uphill battle at first to raise money, buy the land and persuade a bank to give the small church loans for the $12 million project, but by 1978 construction had begun on Orlando Lutheran Towers. Just two years later, the 18-floor building was completed with 204 apartments and a 60-bed, skilled-care nursing center. And Pretsch’s solution to the small church building? Save the 18th floor of the towers for the church sanctuary. “That was kind of the key issue — his persistence in seeing this vision and dream of this senior housing project come to fruition,” Bailey said. Pretsch remained senior pastor at the church; once Orlando Lutheran Towers opened, he served as the executive director of the facility as well. According to Bailey, Pretsch kept a tight-knit staff, organizing events and activities. One of his favorite sayings to encourage anyone from a nurse to a housekeeper was, “Oh, come on, you can do it, Cinderella.” One of Pretsch’s favorite pastimes was traveling, and he included his congregation in the fun, taking groups on trips to Alaska, Hawaii, Russia, Western Europe and Israel. He also traveled on his own and with friends to Asia and Germany and flew a small plane — which he partly owned — around Florida and the East Coast. He kept up with politics and served as the chaplain on the Orange County Republican Committee. In 1986, Pretsch retired from the ministry, but continued to work in the retirement home industry. He served as a consultant for two senior housing companies, requiring him to move to St. Louis and then Denver. He returned to Orlando in 1989 and worked at the towers again for a few years and continued consulting until 1996. He remained in Orlando where he was known for his honesty, trust and belief in people. “His generosity . . . knew no limit, whether it was giving of himself or finances. If he believed in somebody or a cause, he got behind it,” Bailey said. He is survived by a brother, Paul Pretsch of St Charles, Mo.; two nephews and a niece. Robert Bryant Funeral %26amp; Cremation Chapel of Orlando is handling arrangements.
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