1932 ~ 2024
Rev. Mr. John Albert Moeggenberg, 91, of Shepherd/Midland/Traverse City/ Cedar/Lakeland, passed from death to new life on June 6, 2024. He lived such a full, charismatic, accomplished life – simple words cannot contain nor fully encompass. While he will be missed, his legacy of helping to build the Kingdom of God remains.
Born mid-summer, 1932, he was the 9th of 13 children in the August and Gertrude Moeggenberg farm between Shepherd and Alma, Michigan. Depression-era work ethic, farm-raised grit, and war-born frugality shaped his early years, and carried him throughout his life. By all accounts a gifted student, John was promoted 2 grades and graduated from Shepherd High School at 16, in 1949. He followed his next-eldest brother, Raymond, to Seminary for two years, but left because, as he put it, “I liked girls too much!” (However, his deep faith and commitment to Catholicism would again drive his life in later years.) He turned his attention to the family farm, raising crops and livestock. Then, in the fall of ’53, while picking corn, a tragic event would send his life in a direction he never imagined.
