Livingston County lost an original this week when the Rev. Carl Welser passed away on Christmas Eve at the age of 87. And I lost a great friend.
Carl was a Lutheran pastor in Hamburg Township for many years, and he was so, so much more. You can read his full obituary here, and suffice it to say, you don’t see many pastors with this kind of résumé.
In addition to being the pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hamburg from 1965 to 1995, he was a firefighter with the Hamburg Fire Department (he was also one of the state’s best when it came to training emergency workers), he was an incredible skier and member of the Mt. Brighton Ski Patrol, he wrote a column in the Brighton Argus for many years (a LOT more on that later) and he organized a ton of community events and fundraisers, including the Hamburg Kohlrabi Festival and the Empty Bowls project.
He also had a world-class sense of humor, a sense of kindness and compassion that few people ever achieve and the ability to make you feel better simply by being around him. You came away from every conversation with Carl Welser – and I had thousands of them in my life – with a smile on your face.
My personal story with Carl goes back to the summer of 1986, when I was named the editor of the Brighton Argus. Carl had been writing a weekly column in the Argus since 1981 – it was called “Parson to Person” and “Tales from the Kohlrabi Patch” in various forms – and when I was named editor of the paper in 1986, Carl asked if I wanted to have lunch one day at Champ’s Pub. Sure, I said.
When we sat down to eat, he said, “I’m not sure what changes you’re going to make to the Argus, but I wanted to see if you’d be willing to let me continue to write my column. I love doing it.”
Now, in the summer of 1986, I was a 25-year-old snot-nosed kid, and when it came to editing a newspaper, I didn’t know my butt from a hole in the ground. I had been the sports editor of the paper for three years, but I didn’t know a damn thing about anything when it came to being the actual editor.
“Pastor Welser,” I said, “I’m still trying to figure out how to tie a tie, because they told me I have to start wearing a tie every day. I’m not changing anything. And if you stop writing your column, people are going to kill me.”
He smiled, told me that I needed to call him Carl, and thus began a lifelong friendship.
Back in those pre-Internet days at the newspaper, we had to type all of our stories and columns on some machines in the office called VDTs (video display terminals), so every Monday, Carl would come to the office to type in his column. I looked forward to that time every week, because after he wrote his column, we’d have a conversation about anything and everything going on in Livingston County. (Carl knew EVERYTHING that was happening.)
And every time when we were done, I’d have a smile on my face.
Carl became a quasi-member of the newspaper staff and we always invited him to our parties and events at the office. This photo is one of my favorites. It was taken in 1988 or so, when we had the editorial staff Christmas party at our office in Howell. I decided to show off my incredible skills as a juggler (eating an apple along the way), and Carl seems less than impressed.
Carl’s column ran in the Argus from 1981 to 2017, and then he penned a few more columns for The Livingston Post after that. His column was highly literate and thoughtful and whimsical, and he covered topics ranging from his faith to his family to his community. His sense of humor came through all the time, and it was reminiscent of Garrison Keillor of “A Prairie Home Companion,” who actually became a friend of Carl’s at one point.
The best column that Carl ever wrote was also one of his saddest. It was published in the Argus on Dec. 28, 1988, and it was about the death of Rolly Peterson, the publisher of the Brighton Argus and Livingston County Press.
See, as close as we were, I was not Carl’s all-time favorite Brighton Argus editor. Rolly Peterson was. Rolly was the one who hired Carl to start writing a column in 1981, and the way it came about was this:
Carl was heavily involved in Hamburg Township community events at the time, and there was some event that Carl felt deserved better coverage in the Argus than it was getting. So he marched into the newspaper office in 1981 and confronted Rolly, they argued about it for a little bit, and then Rolly said something like, “Well, you son of a bitch, if you think you can do better, I’ll give you your own damn column in the paper!”
And that’s how it started. Carl Welser became a columnist, Rolly became his editor, and the two of them would have a detailed argument about some new topic every time Carl made his weekly visit to the office. I know for a fact that for both men, that was probably their favorite two hours of the week.
So when Rolly passed away in 1988, it was devastating to Carl. And he wrote a column about it that was absolutely beautiful, capturing their rare and special friendship. In it, he wrote this:
“And now he is departed of life, my worthy foe of the mind, friend of the heart, and kinsman of the spirit. Upon whom shall I test my steel, and lean on for breath and refreshment when the contest exhausts me?”
That’s just pure poetry. Carl and Rolly had a special relationship that was captured perfectly in that paragraph, and if you want some poetic irony, here it is – Rolly and Carl both passed away on Christmas Eve: Rolly in 1988 and Carl in 2023. I’m sure they’re up there having a great discussion about it right now.
As for the rest of the community, the congregation at St. Paul’s knew Carl Welser as its pastor, while most everyone else knew him as the driving force behind the Hamburg Kohlrabi Festival. This is where Carl’s unique sense of humor was fully on display.
Carl started the Hamburg Kohlrabi Festival in 1978 as a fun way to bring attention to the community. It was a tongue-in-cheek takeoff on the better-known Howell Melon Festival. Howell might have its melons, but Carl figured that Hamburg needed its own festival for its own vegetable, so that’s how it all began.
A kohlrabi, in case you’re wondering, is an absolutely horrible thing that’s sort of a cross between cabbage and a radish and broccoli. The only time in my life I’ve eaten a kohlrabi was in Carl’s backyard and it tasted horrible.
In any case, in 1978, Carl created an organization called the Hamburg Kohlrabi Grower’s Association (the possessive apostrophe is intentional in that spot, because he was the only member) and held the first Kohlrabi Festival at the Edelweiss Restaurant in Hamburg. There were some musical performers and contests for Ugliest Kohlrabi and a few other things, and everybody loved it.
The festival went on for a decade or so and started to get national attention. That’s when he met Garrison Keillor, who featured it on “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Carl did so much to boost the community – particularly in Hamburg and Pinckney – and you need to read his obituary to get a full sense of just how much he did.
In addition to being a great friend of mine, Carl was also a great friend to my entire family. When my daughter Amelia was born in 1997, Carl’s the one who baptized her. My wife Kathy was running a wedding business at the time (we lived at the Village Chapel in Fowlerville) and Carl ended up doing many of the wedding ceremonies there. Each and every one was a masterpiece.
My life is richer – so much richer – because I had Carl Welser in my life. I’m sure that everyone who knew him feels the same way. Rest in peace, my friend.
Reverend Welser’s family and friends will gather Thursday, January 4, 2024, from 5:00PM-8:00PM and Friday, January 5, 2024, from 1:00PM-3:00PM & 5:00PM-8:00PM at Borek Jennings Funeral Home, Hamburg Chapel. His Community Farewell will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 11:00AM (10AM gathering), at Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Church, 2101 S. Hacker Road, Brighton, Michigan. Rev. Keith Dwyer will serve as celebrant. In lieu of flowers the family requests that contributions be made in his honor to the Pinckney Foundation or the Alzheimer’s Association. Please leave a message of comfort for Carl’s family at 1-877-231-7900.
