Our dear friend and colleague Peter Wessler passed away on November 24, 2020. This scholarship endowment fund has been set up as a way to honor Peter and ensure his legacy continues into perpetuity.

Peter served as the LSM Academy Director since 2003 and was both the face and the backbone of the LSM summer community for almost two decades. Perhaps no one else had a greater impact on the LSM community than Peter. His leadership always included kindness, patience, dedication to the students, and reverence to the program he served. Peter was devoted to LSM because of its impact on his family after his two children (Jonathan and Daniel) attended as students. With all that Peter has given for almost two decades, he still recently commented that he hadn’t even begun to give back what LSM has given to his family.

Before and during LSM each year Peter rose to meet new challenges, eager to solve the puzzle that each new year presented and make the summer academy run without a hitch. We know that only a fraction of his hard work was visible, as he would wake up with the sun and set himself to task hours before the community gathered for Morning Prayer and heard his announcements for our day. His hard work was punctuated always with joy, good humor, and warmth, setting the tone for the welcoming environment at LSM. With his humble and inviting leadership, Peter effortlessly earned the respect of the entire faculty and student body. LSM was in good hands with Peter at the helm for 17 years. Peter was not only a faithful servant to LSM, but a friend to all, and an irreplaceable fixture in our community and our lives.

In addition to Peter’s service to LSM, he also served for 40 years as an orchestra teacher in Peoria, IL. He served as the choir director at his Church, and in his “retirement” from teaching, enjoyed being a driver for Peoria Charter.

We offer our sincerest condolences to Peter’s family, mourn with them, and celebrate this great man who was, above all, devoted to his faith and family.

Lutheran Summer Music (LSM) is the nation’s premier faith-based music academy for high school students. In addition to advanced musical instruction and numerous performance opportunities, LSM students form an intentional community, living together for four weeks on a Lutheran college campus. Since 1981, this unique and immersive program has guided the lives of young musicians who credit LSM as the starting place for their future careers and vocations.

LSM was founded to celebrate and extend the rich musical heritage of the Lutheran church. Our founders believed that by providing high-quality training and performance opportunities to young musicians they could cultivate a lifelong love of classical and sacred music, thus preserving these art forms for generations to come.

Peter Wessler Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund

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