For Pastor Fred Page, moving to north Idaho and joining Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Sandpoint as its associate pastor was almost like coming home again for both him and his wife Liz. At a church voters’ meeting held on September 7th congregation members present unanimously approved hiring Pastor Page.
Both Pastor Page and his wife, who was born and raised in Coeur d’Alene, had planned on returning to north Idaho sometime in the future, but when his father became ill with lung cancer they decided to move here to care for him. Prior to this illness, his dad had been living with them in California during the winter months and then returning to his home in East Hope during the summer.
At the age of five, his dad retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Lt. Colonel and he and his parents moved to a rural home located mid-way between Hope and Clark Fork back in 1966. He was an only child and attended grade school in Hope. In 1979 he graduated from Clark Fork High School.
Pastor Page recalled that it was a cold, snowy winter of 1969 when they were snow bound for weeks at a time that drove his parents into moving into the town of East Hope during the summer of 1970.
After high school graduation he attended the University of Idaho on a Navy ROTC scholarship where he earned a BA degree in History. He met Liz, who was also attending the U. of I. in Moscow and majoring in English Literature, during his senior year. They married in 1984.
Following graduation, Pastor Page fulfilled his commitment to the U.S. Navy and served for seven years as a line officer. He began his military career as an Ensign and moved up the ranks to Lieutenant. In 1990 he resigned his commission when he received a calling to serve the Lord.
For the next four years he attended the Concordia Theological Seminary at Fort Wayne, Indiana. He spent a year in1992 and 1993 serving his vicarage in Carson City, Nevada.
Upon becoming an ordained Pastor he served his first calling as a mission developer at Fernley Lutheran Church in Fernley, Nevada (30 miles from Reno). In this capacity, he served three different parishes. After three years serving at Fernley, he was sent to Immanuel First Lutheran Church in West Covina, California, as its sole pastor where he served for five years. He said this church had a large pre through eighth grade school. It also had a large Vietnamese population in the area and he was instrumental in starting a Vietnamese ethic mission at the church.
Between 2002 and 2010 he served as sole pastor at the Loving Savior of the Hills Lutheran Church in Chino Hills, California. He said this was a mid-size congregation with a large pre through 8thgrade school.
While in California, Liz taught fourth grade and later became a principal at a Lutheran Kindergarten through Eighth Grade school. They have two grown children. Emily, their oldest daughter, aged 24, works for a non-profit organization that provides shelter, counseling and assistance for battered women in Los Angeles, California. Katie, aged 21, is a college senior attending the University of LaVerne in LaVerne, California.
In 2001 Pastor Page rejoined the Navy Reserves as a Chaplain after completing school for their Chaplain training program. The following year, his reserve unit was called to active duty for a year and he spent seven months attached to a Marine Corps Battalion on assignment in Iraq.
He is still in the Navy Reserves and is assigned to the 4th Tank Battalion 4th Marine Division Marine Corps Reserves. Once a month he attends drills either in Yakima, Washington, Boise, or Miramar, California. Pastor Page believes God must have had a hand in the timing of their move back to Idaho with the circumstances both in his ministry and with his dad’s illness. “It’s pretty remarkable how everything worked out.” He said he’s really looking forward to working with Pastor Steve, the staff and council members. He hopes to become involved with the aspects of ministry at Christ Our Redeemer that he finds most enjoyable--preaching, Bible study, and visitation.
For now he’ll be sharing space in Pastor Steve’s office and has scheduled one day per week off on Friday.