Arthur Gauerke, 107; World War I Veteran Was a Minister for 43 Years

Well past 100 years old, he still managed 10 push-ups every morning and every night. He never smoked, never drank, ate properly and firmly believed one should never worry too much.

“Work,” he often said during his 43-year career as a minister and for many years afterward as a dedicated volunteer, “is my recreation.”

Arthur G. Gauerke, an Army veteran who served during World War I, died April 6 in Escondido of causes associated with aging. He was 107, and believed to be the oldest veteran of the Great War living in Southern California.

Gauerke was born on a Wisconsin farm in 1894, the year that saw the invention of the drinking straw, the paper clip and the zipper. The eighth of 10 children, he grew up milking cows and hoeing corn before walking to his one-room school.

After graduation, with only the six weeks of training customary in rural America during the early 20th century, Gauerke became the school’s teacher. For four years, he taught all grade levels, including several pupils older and larger than him.

In March 1918, as America continued sending doughboys “over there” to participate in “the war to end all wars,” Gauerke joined the Army. He served in an Army post office at Camp Grant, Ill., until his discharge that December.

There was to be no overseas duty for him, he once explained with a bit of pride in his work, because the base postmaster “wouldn’t let me go.”

Despite his early teaching experience, Gauerke knew from an early age that he wanted to be a minister. He graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., then studied at a seminary. He was a pastor for the Evangelical United Brethren Church, serving churches in western Canada for 27 years and in Wisconsin for 16 years.

Gauerke served as national chaplain of the World War I Veterans for several years and was a regular at national conventions. In 1993, he joined others in Oak Park, Ill., in accepting a 75th anniversary medal commemorating World War I and honoring his military service.

He spent many of his retirement years in Wheaton, Ill., volunteering with American Legion Post 76, the Optimist Club and ambulance crews, and visiting patients at local convalescent centers. He moved to Escondido in 1997 to be near his daughter Joyce Tanner.

A widower, Gauerke also is survived by daughter Ruth Denker of Naperville, Ill.; nine grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned Saturday in Wheaton. Burial will be in Prairie du Sac, Wis.