Robert Lewis Carlson

The Rev. Carlson died Saturday, July 10, 2004, at Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community.

He was born Sept. 22, 1920, in Milford, Conn., the son of Frank Emanuel and Gladys Veighte Carlson.

The Rev. Carlson received a Bachelor of Science degree in music from the University of Oregon in 1942. He attended Pacific School of Religion where he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1945. He received a Master of Sacred Theology degree at Yale in 1950. An Honorary Doctorate was conferred by Pacific School of Religion in 1965.

He was minister to congregational students at Yale University, served First Congregational Church, Boulder, Colo., and four churches in the Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ. He was pastor emeritus at the First Congregational Church in Manhattan, where he served as pastor from 1982 to 1990. He also served as pastor at Plymouth Congregational Church where he served as hospital visitor.

The Rev. Carlson was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church, and was a charter member of the Jayhawk Breakfast Rotary Club.

He married Marguerite Williams on Feb. 3, 1980, in Oakland, Calif. She survives of the home.

Other survivors include a son, Robert Wells of Menlo Park, Calif.; a daughter, Catherine Ann Carlson, Waupun, Wisc.; three stepchildren, J. Gill Wright, Sacramento, Calif., Kimberly Schlaich, Concord, Calif., and Joanne Morgan, Lawrence; two sisters, Ruth Fawcett, Toronto, and Lois Brock, San Mateo, Calif.; three grandchildren and six stepgrandchildren.

Family will greet friends at Plymouth Congregational Church after the service.

The family suggests memorials to the church, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.

Online condolences may be sent to info@warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Carlson.