Recently retired, Father Peter Ingeman stands in front of the pulpit of Christ Episcopal Church on Patterson Street.

For Father Peter Ingeman and wife Happy, it was their 26th move when they moved from the rectory of Christ Episcopal, from which he retired July 31, to a home on Huntington Ridge Circle.

“(The rectory) was the first time we had lived under the same roof for a long time (12 years),” Happy Ingeman said.

Fr. Ingeman, a retired lieutenant colonel, was in the U.S. Army, where the family was moved every two to three years and sometimes more frequently. Their son,  Bill Ingeman, attended three different high schools.

“In the retirement house we built (in Evans), we were so excited when an appliance light burned out,” Happy said. “We had never lived anywhere long enough for this to happen until Valdosta.”

But instead of Evans, they have made Valdosta their retirement home.

“We made so many good friends here because we had the time to develop the friendships,” she said.

Among those friendships is one with the Rev. Deacon Patricia Marks of Christ Episcopal and professor emeritus, Valdosta State University Department of English.

“Happy and I did indeed discover that we were both alums of Douglass College (in New Brunswick, N.J., at that time the women’s coordinate of Rutgers University) as we were standing in the kitchen at Christ Church many years ago. She graduated the year before I came, and so while we never met on campus, we both can still sing the Douglass fight song.

“I was ordained a deacon at Christ Church in 2003 and might not have pursued that path without the encouragement of Fr. Peter, whose generous nature, droll sense of humor, and deep spirituality are an inspiration to all who know him. He is a talented iconographer, and he has a remarkable sense of liturgy. The two come together in the flow of the service, where the words and music create a holy space.”

Dr. John Hiers, long-time member, former vestry member, former senior and junior warden, called the priest “a man for all seasons, a successful Army officer and an equally successful priest.

“At Christ Episcopal Church, he strongly encouraged people of various talents and interests to work together to build stronger communities, as they themselves worked with local ministries, special programs for school children in Iraq, several missions in the Dominican Republic, or new construction projects for children’s education. In addition, he made time to mentor many other priests and deacons, as they, too, help others.

“A strong supporter of VSU’s stage and of the

Turner Center (for the Arts), Fr. Ingeman himself is an accomplished artist. For select audiences, he even may be persuaded to sing the complete theme song of ‘Thunder Road.’ He and his equally talented wife, Happy, honored us when they decided to retire in Valdosta.”

Technically retired a year ago at age 72, Fr. Ingeman was asked by the bishop to stay on for another year while the church’s education building was being completed. Although retired from Christ Episcopal on July 31, he is not retired from the ministry.

“We never stop working,” he said.

Summing up his 12 years as the spiritual leader of Christ Episcopal, Fr. Ingeman said, “It’s been exciting with the many things that have happened in the last 12 years — people ordained, a new organ purchased, bell and tower given to the church, addition of more pews.

“At the same time, it has been a very spiritual time … seeing my secretary Molly Stevenson through breast cancer and her five-year survival last month.”

Molly called Fr. Ingeman “one of the most creative, compassionate and funny people I know. Fr. Ingeman was not only my employer but my minister and friend.

“When I was pregnant with my sixth child, toward the end of my pregnancy, the doctor told me I needed to drink a milkshake every day … Fr. Ingeman made sure I did that … and to make sure I didn’t feel alone, he had one too. What a guy!

“When John David was 3 months old, Fr. Ingeman asked me if I’d be interested in working on a more full-time basis. I told him I was indeed interested but really couldn’t consider it if it meant putting John David in daycare. Without hesitation, his response was, ‘Of course not! He would come to work with you.’ Thus began John David’s existence as ‘Church Baby.’ He was literally raised in the church. Happy and Fr. Ingeman have been there for every milestone.

“During my employment at Christ Church, Fr. Ingeman and Happy encouraged me to pursue my education, allowing me the time to take the necessary classes to attain my BBA (bachelor of business administration) in Economics from VSU in May 2010 … and they were some of my biggest cheerleaders at graduation.

“In 2007, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My first stop after hearing the dreaded words was their home. From that moment, I knew it was going to be OK. They were a foundational part of my support system, not only spiritually but physically. They made sure I ate regularly and had everything I might need. They were with me for each surgery, praying for and anointing me. Happy sat with me during every chemo treatment. We laughed together and cried together. All the time she sat and knitted … unbeknownst to me, she was knitting me a prayer shawl, praying with every stitch.”

Molly said Fr. Ingeman’s creativity and humor was shown when she was undergoing chemotherapy at Halloween time.

“Fr. Ingeman, upon my request, helped me turn my bald head into a ‘snow globe’ … utilizing his artistic skills …”

Born on July 22, 1939, in Chicago, Fr. Ingeman is a second-generation American, the only child of the late Milton and Ellen Ingeman. His grandfather, Sven Olav Christenson, was a engineer from Norway, who worked for Western Electric which became AT&T.

Fr. Ingeman’s father was military so the family moved frequently, but he primarily grew up in the Washington, D.C.-Virginia area. When his family was stationed in Europe, he did his first year of college in Munich. He completed a bachelor of arts in fine arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, where he met Happy.

“We are kind of amused by it because she thought I was somebody else,” Fr. Ingeman said. “I thought, ‘Boy did I ever impress her.’

“It was love at first sight in the fact that we’ve been together ever since (51 years).”

Fr. Ingeman did six months duty in the Army Reserves before they married on June 17, 1961, in Happy’s hometown of Gloucester City, N.J. He landed a job as an art therapist in Raleigh, N.C., in the occupational-therapy department of a huge psychiatric hospital, but four days after starting, his reserve unit was reactivated when construction of the Berlin Wall began.

Fr. Ingeman went to Fort Bragg, N.C., for 11 months (son Bill was born during this time) and then back to his job in Raleigh for two years.

He attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied occupational therapy.

“The most attractive thing was the Army wanted male therapists and paid for the education,” he said. “An internship was owed to the Army, and Vietnam was about to happen.”

Fr. Ingeman did the internship at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where their second son, Steve, was born.

“We have never made a conscious decision to stay in the Army, but they kept offering wonderful assignments and training,” said Fr. Ingeman, who was assigned to the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco before being sent to Germany, then back to San Antonio for a master’s degree in hospital administration.

Fr. Ingeman served three and a half years in Washington at the Department of the Army in personnel administration before attending Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for a year of school. Georgia was his next assignment at Eisenhower Medical Center at Fort Gordon in Augusta, where he was chief of occupational therapy and consultant to the surgeon general.

“My responsibility was the Southeastern U.S. and Central America,” he said.

While in Augusta, they attended St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church.

“Our priest recognized his call to the priesthood and suggested the diaconate (becoming a deacon), knowing he would eventually become a priest,” Happy said.

“And they were right,” Fr. Ingeman said. “One of my duties as a deacon was to do services in small churches in the Augusta area. I was doing a service in a church in Harlem, Ga. There were very few people (five in all), and they needed a priest. I thought I could retire tomorrow and do that.”

But the lieutenant colonel took a year to retire from the Army in 1984 after 23 years. He (and Happy) attended seminary at Nashotah House in Nashotah, Wis., for three years before coming to Christ Church, Valdosta, to be the assistant to Henry Louttit (former bishop of Georgia) and a chaplain at Valdosta State University from 1987-89.

He served at St. Francis of the Islands in Savannah for 11 years as the rector before he was called back to Christ Church, Valdosta, in 2000.

Son Bill lives in Valdosta after teaching English four years in Japan. He and wife Itsuko have two children, Peter and Sigrid. Son Steve and wife Lara and children Erik and Adele live in Falls Church, Va.

Fr. Ingeman was chairman of the Diocese of Georgia Commission on Ministry, part of the process for approving people for ordination.

“Seeing a whole succession of holy people finally recognize they are called to be priests or deacons and see them through the process, that’s the greatest fun of all,” he said.

One of those people was the Rev. James L. Elliott, assisting priest at Christ Episcopal Church.

“Thirteen years ago, Christ Church was searching for its next rector, and I was the chairperson of our search committee,” Elliott said. “While Fr. Ingeman had served Christ Church as its assistant rector in the late 1980s, many of us on the committee had no prior experience with him. When I first met Fr. Ingeman, I was immediately impressed with him. He was calm and thoughtful and I knew that I was in the presence of a man of God. I have no doubt that the search committee was guided by the Holy Spirit to call Fr. Ingeman and his wife, Happy, to Christ Church. His many gifts as priest, preacher and pastor have been a blessing to our entire Christ Church family. He has shared with many of us the blessings of baptisms, the celebrations of marriages and the sorrow, grief and certain hope of eternal life of burials. He has been for us a quiet and confident leader who has led Christ Church to the next phase of its growth as a church with the building and dedication of the William M. Gabard Christian Education Building.

“Fr. Peter, as I call him, has been for me not only a wise priest and pastor but also a mentor and friend. He shepherded and mentored me through the process toward the ordination to the priesthood, and for that alone I am eternally grateful …”

Christ Church gave a retirement party for Fr. Ingeman July 28 at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts.

“It’s been exciting to be here during the building of the education building,” he said. “That was a wonderful project to see it completed and blessed by the bishop last Sunday (July 29).”

Fr. Ingeman and Happy were surprised when the multi-purpose room in the education building bore a plaque with their names.

“It was quite an honor,” he said.

For more on this story and other local news, subscribe to The Valdosta Daily Times e-Edition, or our print edition.