Robert Lynne

Please use this link to view the service livestream: https://youtube.com/c/GoodShepherdLutheranChurch 

*Please note Robert's funeral service has been moved to the 17th due to the upcoming storm.*

Rev. Robert Lynne, 91, died December 4, 2022, at his daughter’s home with much love, near and far.

Funeral services will be held 1:00 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 17, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 106 Osage Ave., Bismarck, with Rev. John Robert (Bob) Caranicas officiating. A service livestream will be available on the funeral home's website, listed below.

Visitation will be held, 5:00-7:00 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 15, at Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck. A prayer service will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Burial will be held at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Bismarck.

Robert Duane Lynne was born in Turtle Lake, ND., on Sept. 7, 1931, to Harry and Ella Lynne. He was baptized Oct. 4, 1931, in Turtle Lake and confirmed in the St. John's Lutheran Church Jamestown. He was raised and attended school in Jamestown and graduated from Jamestown High School. He attended Wartburg College in Waverly, IA, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with an English major, and a Bachelor of Divinity from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque.

While attending Wartburg College, Bob met his partner in life, JoAnn Marie Keister, and they were married on Sept. 5, 1954, in Mason City, IA.

Following a yearlong internship at St. John's Lutheran Church in Madison, WI., on June 16, 1957, he was ordained at St. John's Lutheran Church in Jamestown. After serving as a parish minister in Mott, ND., for three years, in Oct. 1960, he accepted the challenge of starting the Bismarck mission congregation that became Bismarck's Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

For 27 years, Bob guided the congregation's growth from 92 to 2,027 confirmed and 2,675 baptized members. In 1987, Bob resigned from Good Shepherd following his election as Bishop. As the first Bishop of the Western N.D. Synod of the Newly formed ELCA, Bob addressed the challenges posed by the merger of the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran churches into the ELCA. Until his retirement in 1996, Bob worked steadfastly to unite and develop the new church body and sow and nurture the seeds of rural renewal in North Dakota.

Bob is survived by one son; two daughters; one daughter-in-law, and two sons-in-law; Mark Lynne (Jane), Sun Lakes, Ariz., Janna Williams (Doug), Longville, Minn., and Jane Town (John), Fuquay-Varina, N.C.; four grandchildren, Sarah Finnegan (Kevin), Elizabeth Hohenberger (Rob), Anna Radermacher (Jordan) and Laura Town; two step-grandchildren, Christopher and Katie Williams; four great-grandchildren, Elliot Lynne, George Hohenberger, Lily Williams and Mia Williams; and his sister, Mavis Marie Askew.

Bob was preceded in death by his wife, JoAnn Lynne; and sister, Doris Mae Lynne.

Memorials may be given to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church or Bishop Robert Lynne scholarship fund - Wartburg Theological Seminary (333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, IA 52003).