Gottneid, Alan J. (1921-2006)

Allan Joel Gottneid was born April 8, 1921 in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Sidney Gottneid and the former Ella Linder. He attended the Luther Academy and Junior College in Wahoo, Nebraska before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. On June 28, 194, he married Alice Mathilda Lindbeck in New Westminster, British Columbia. Gottneid graduated from Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, and then attended the University of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, from which he obtained his B.A. degree in 1947. From 1947 until 1950 he served as a psychometrist and instructor at the University of Omaha. From 1950 until 1954 he was a research assistant in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Allan and Alice Gottneid served as lay missionaries of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, going to Tanzania, then Tanganyika, in July 1954 and remaining there until his retirement in 1984. He was a teacher at Marangu Teacher Training College, a Lutheran school on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, from 1954 to 1964. Between 1961 and 1963, he also served as principal or "headmaster" at the college. While at Marangu he helped the school prepare for its hosting of the first All-Africa Lutheran Conference, November 12-22, 1955, overseeing planning for where delegates ate and slept as well as where sessions were held. Gottneid was also in charge of publications for this important event. He also promoted lay religious services at the college, such as a series of Wednesday night services during Lent 1955 that involved students in the reading of the Passion story and the singing of hymns. During his furlough year in 1959 Gottneid resumed his studies at the University of Omaha and received his M.A. from there in 1960.

In 1963 the Lutheran Church of Northern Tanganyika, for which Gottneid worked, was united with six other national Lutheran bodies to create the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). Tanzania was the name of the new state created in 1964 by the union of the former British colony Tanganyika, which gained its independence in 1961, and the former British colony Zanzibar, which gained its independence in 1963.

Between 1963 and 1966 Gottneid toured the newly-independent nation to survey the state of Christian education and plan for its furtherance through the use of indigenous personnel and nationally-produced texts. During this time he advocated the establishment of an all-Africa Lutheran university.

From 1964 to his retirement in 1984 Gottneid worked in the Arusha headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) as its Secretary for Christian Education. He was responsible for directing the development of a life-long program of Christian education. By 1980 this had resulted in the publication of nearly thirty books, all in Swahili and with all content produced in Tanzania. Topics included parenting and home life, Sunday Schools, Bible studies, and youth work, among others. This included syllabus preparation, textbook writing and training courses. All the materials were planned and written by Tanzanians written in Swahili.

In 1983, not long before his retirement, Gottneid conducted another survey of the state of Lutheran and Christian education in Tanzania. Following their retirement in July 1984, Gottneid and his wife moved to Lindsborg, Kansas, where in 1984-85 they participated in a one-year Missionary in Residence program in the Central States Synod of the Lutheran Church of America. Their retirement also included trips throughout the U.S. and to China, Scandinavia, and Canada.

Gottneid also attended the University of Illinois. Midland Lutheran College honored him with a Doctor of Letters degree (Litt.D.).

Allan and Alice Gottneid had three children: David Joel, born August 2, 1949; Susan Kay, Mrs. Darrel Rusch, born April 19, 1951; and John Daniel, born February 13, 1960. Allan Gottneid died on August 18, 2006 and was buried in the Hillcrest Memorial Park, Omaha, Nebraska.

From the description of Allan J. Gottneid Papers 1955-1985 (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library). WorldCat record id: 71834409