Pastor Steve Smeback at Elim Lutheran Church was more than just a pastor; he made a lasting impact on everyone’s life at the congregation and was a staple of the Hockinson community.
Smeback went to heaven on Tuesday, April 29, after leading the Lutheran church since 2005. He was born in Minnesota on July 24, 1951, and later graduated from Selah High School in 1969 near Yakima. Smeback received his Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, sparking a nearly 50-year career as a pastor in the greater Vancouver area.
“I don’t know how the church is still functioning because he was the glue,” Scott Burckhard said emotionally. “I mean, and you learned right after that he was the glue. But the church is just a group of incredible people, too. I mean, we survived because he was here for us and he kind of taught us to be church and so I think that’s why we are so resilient because he was our leader for so long and we’ll adapt and overcome because he taught us to. I don’t know if there’ll ever be another person that was so influential for the last 10 years.”
As four Elim Lutheran Church members shared their stories and remembrance of Smeback, the picture grew larger of how much more than just a pastor he was to the people who knew him. Smeback lived 100 lives, they said, adding that he could provide guidance to almost every scenario.
Burckhard grew up Catholic, saying that you don’t really have a connection because the priests can’t get married and they hold a high status.
“What I immediately feel about Pastor Steve is he’s a man, too,” Burckhard said. “You could relate to him. He’d been married, he had children, …”
Katie Graue grew up around Smeback, having attended Bethel Church when Smeback was pastor there, and her family and his being great friends. Smeback helped Graue and her siblings understand the passing of her grandmother at a very young age and later officiated Graue and her husband’s wedding.
“He baptized my son,” she added. “He was such a good friend. And he could relate to anyone on any level, kids, adults, teenagers. And he had the best sense of humor and he always was joking and he always would tell me little facts about things here and there, which I always really appreciated …”
He helped many through the roughest spots of their life, as well.
“The way Pastor Steve would operate, the compassion the guy had, you know,” Steve Syverson said. “He was on vacation when my son passed away and I sent him a text. I said, ‘Hey, my son passed. Could you do the service when you get back?’ And he goes, ‘Yes, of course, anything.’ You know, so we go down to Elim and he shows up and my son’s casket is there and he delivered a nice service. And then I got up and started visiting with people, and I would periodically look back over where my son’s casket was, and Pastor Steve was still standing by it. And he stood there and stood there as I talked to different people. And when I was driving out of there, I looked in the rearview mirror, he was still standing by my son’s coffin and that was incredible. Just so comforting to have him; that’s how we were.”
Smeback also helped Dennis Kampe find his way back to a congregation after a life-altering event.
“I grew up in a Lutheran church, and I got divorced, and that shook my world,” Kampe said. “And so my spiritual world, I walked away because I hurt and I didn’t know what to do with them, and I went from one crisis in my life to another for 30 years. I still believed in God. I still wanted God in my life, and I would go to those two big churches on 78th Street because I could go there, hear a sermon and hear about God’s word and hide. I would sit up in the balcony. A good place to hide.”
Kampe added that Pastor Steve officiated a couple of weddings that he attended. Kampe said the way that Smeback officiated weddings was fine, but afterward, he became Steve, “And I go, ‘holy smokes, who is this?’”
“And so I lived just down the road, one mile and a half, and this is the church that I hadn’t visited yet,” Kampe said, adding that when he saw Pastor Smeback’s name off of the readerboard maybe he was gone and so he’d give the church a try. “So I did the next Sunday. I came up to visit and he was still there. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I came back again and again and again and just loved it and I loved the people.”
