Elmer Haight

Rev. Elmer Haight December 7, 1919 - May 18, 2017 Rev. Elmer Haight, 97, moved to heaven on May 18, 2017, while at home with his wife at his side. He was born December 7, 1919, to Elmer S. and Zetta (Dayley) Haight in Seattle, WA. Elmer started school in a little one-room rural school near Bend, OR. His family came to Wenatchee, WA, in August, 1928, to work in the fruit industry. For the next eight years they were migratory fruit workers, going from Wenatchee, after the apple harvest in the fall, to California, working their way back north until spring and the cherry harvest. They managed to save enough during the depression years to buy 200 acres of bare land on Stemilt Hill in 1936. In a few years, they were able to plant 30 acres of cherries. Elmer's brother, Bruce, joined the local Navy Reserve unit and was called to active duty in 1940. In June of 1944, he and his flying crew disappeared, in their Navy PBY Catalina airplane, somewhere in the Alaska area. Elmer worked at Boeing Aircraft in Seattle from September, 1941 to April, 1942. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviator Cadet program in June, 1942, and was called to active duty in December of that year. He was eliminated from the Cadet program after physical examinations, and was then sent to a new base in Marfa, TX, where he remained for two years. He was then moved around for a year, being discharged at Camp Beale, CA, in February, 1946. In August, 1947, he began working at the Grange Supply in Wenatchee, remaining there until July, 1956. He sold real estate for a year, then was employed by California Chemical Company at their office and plant in Wenatchee. He came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior through a blind date (later his wife) and her family and the people organizing Faith Lutheran Church in East Wenatchee in 1955. Elmer married Dorothy Battermann on November 2, 1952. They were blessed with four children. In 1962, Elmer felt the call to serve his Lord as a pastor. He and Dorothy took their four young children and enrolled in Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, IL, in September, 1964. Elmer was ordained as a pastor in the LCMS Lutheran Church in September, 1968, and called to Vernal, UT, and Rangely, CO, where he served until moving to Othello, WA, in 1978. He retired from full-time service on January 1, 1985, and for the next 12 years served vacant churches in Utah and in the Wenatchee, Yakima and Okanogan valleys. After retiring again, he limited his time to helping on Sundays at some of the Central Washington LCMS Lutheran churches. Elmer is survived by his wife, Dorothy; two daughters: Terrisa (Mike Hibbett) of Wenatchee, WA, and Diane (Kevin Eilmes) of Yakima, WA; two sons: Robert E. Haight (Babette) of Peyton, CO, and Douglas Haight of Shoreline, WA; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer and Zetta Haight; and his brother, Bruce. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that contributions be made to Faith Lutheran Church Stained Glass Fund. Arrangements are assisted by Telford's Chapel of the Valley in East Wenatchee. "IF GOD BRINGS YOU TO IT, HE WILL BRING YOU THROUGH IT."