Unlikely donation nets $1 million for Whitefish church

Roger A. Wold, a longtime Whitefish resident who lived a simple, reclusive life prior to his death last year, has given $1 million to Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

Word of the generous bequest came at the end of the church’s fall festival worship service on Oct. 13. The congregation was astounded by Wold’s generosity as Doug Johnson, the executor of Wold’s estate, shared the news.

Wold was 75 when he died in February 2012 at his home, a small motor home with no running water or sewer just outside Whitefish. He worked for the railroad and lived a very private life, Johnson said, adding that many would have considered him “unique.”

Wold was seen around Whitefish through the years driving a scooter with a cardboard box attached to the back with a bungee cord.

Wold’s mother, Deanna “Dee” Wold, was a faithful Sunday school and Bible study leader at Christ Lutheran. The donation was given to honor her.

The Rev. John Bent, senior pastor at Christ Lutheran, said he met with Wold a few times prior to his death, but nothing was ever mentioned about a gift to the church.

“I ministered to him as I would to any other person who was at the end of their life,” Bent said. “Roger was a very intelligent man who was very well-read, yet he lived a very private life.”

Longtime parishioners remember Dee Wold and how active she was in the church, but they knew little about Roger. He never married. When he died, a graveside service was held at the Whitefish City Cemetery and he was buried alongside his parents.

Johnson, a vice president and commercial lender at Freedom Bank, said he came to know Wold earlier in his banking career in the mid- to late 1980s when Wold came to see him about borrowing money to make charitable donations to various organizations.

“We struck up a friendship and there was a level of trust he felt comfortable with,” Johnson recalled.

Wold enjoyed buying real estate and through the years acquired several properties, including about a half-dozen lots on the west side of Whitefish Lake, acreage near Blanchard Lake that included lake frontage and the 80-acre former Naughty Pines Chicken Ranch west of Montana Coffee Traders on U.S. 93 South.

Wold purchased Naughty Pines at a sheriff’s auction.

He lived in his camper on the chicken ranch property, off Crane Marsh Way, for the last few years of his life. Prior to that he lived in the home his parents had owned, and which he inherited, on Park Avenue in Whitefish.

“He lived a frugal life to pay for his real estate,” Johnson said. Wold also owned some rental properties through the years.

The Whitefish Lake lots, which had no access when Wold bought them, were sold under contract prior to his death, Johnson said. Settling those outstanding contracts has been part of the final work to close out Wold’s estate.

When Johnson accompanied Wold to an attorney’s office to draw up his will, Wold had several stipulations for how his money would be spent. In addition to the gift to Christ Lutheran Church, Wold named several other beneficiaries ranging from the local Salvation Army to the American Leprosy Society and various Bible groups and institutes.

Though Wold confided to Johnson that he had not attended church since the 1968 funeral of his father, Cornell, he had a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible.

“I was always amazed that when we were visiting he would quote Scripture verses, and he was always correct,” Johnson said.

Though Wold had questions about the meaning of various Bible passages, he declined Johnson’s many invitations to attend church services.

Following the announcement of Wold’s sizable gift, Bent directed the congregation to spend the next 40 days in prayer to consider how the money might best be used.

“To determine God’s plan, we are committing ourselves to 40 days of prayer before we even begin discussions of possible uses for the money,” Bent said. “When those 40 days are done we will gather ideas from the congregation and begin the process of laying out a strategy that will keep the congregation involved and unified. What that plan may be, we don’t know at this point.

“In the meantime, we continue as usual,” Bent said. “Our desire is to remain as faithful as we can be in the mission and ministry God has given us through the many outreaches of this church.”