Arthur C. Sziemeister

The Rev. Arthur C. Sziemeister Lyons— Rev. Arthur C. Sziemeister, 90, passed away on Saturday, April 23, 2022 at his home in Lyons. Friends may call from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on May 7, 2022, at the First Lutheran Church, 35 Broad Street, Lyons, NY. Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 at the church, and burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery, Route 14 North, Lyons, NY. Clergy attending are asked to notify Pastor William Wigmore at (215) 416-9591. In lieu of flowers, memorials in his name may be made to the First Lutheran Church Memorial Fund, 35 Broad Street, Lyons, NY 14489. Arthur was born on November 10, 1931 the son of the late Charles & Julia Polosky Sziemeister in Kenmore, NY. He attended School 51, Technical High School and Canisius College in Buffalo. After working one year with DuPont as a chemist, he decided upon the ministry as his life work and entered the Mt. Airy Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Following his graduation from the seminary and having been called to serve as the pastor of the prestigious First Lutheran Church in Lyons, NY, Pastor Sziemeister was ordained by the United Lutheran Synod of New York and New England on June 29, 1958. Since then, Pastor Sziemeister and his beloved church have been inseparably linked. Throughout the course of his ministry at First Lutheran, his accomplishments include adeptly managing the finances and operations of the church, organizing trips for the Golden Agers, taking youth to Lutheran camps, running Good Shepherd Adult Care Home in Savannah, overseeing religious education through Sunday School and confirmation classes, and serving as the leader for the Church Council. Pastor will long be noted for the traditions, sanctity and reverence that defined all of his services. While seemingly rigid to an outsider, the structure, consistency, and adherence to true liturgy are the very things that have provided great comfort to its parishioners. His own skill as an accomplished musician helped to define the church’s commitment to maintaining a high caliber of organists and the installation of the Schlicker organ in the 1970s. In addition to serving the congregation and the people of Lyons, Pastor Sziemeister, a liturgical and historical scholar, also served as the Clergy Representative to the Executive Board of the Lutheran Church-International (LC-I) since 2013 and as the Chair of the Theological and Pastoral Education Committee of the LC-I. While his role at the church defined Pastor, those closest to him also knew about his love of world travel and visiting friends across the country, to include his dearest friends of many faiths. He had a voracious appetite to acquire knowledge through avid reading and engaging dialogue, which often occurred over numerous dinners he hosted at the parsonage. Pastor is survived by his family of close friends and his faithful congregation. Pastor was predeceased by his parents, his sister Evelyn, and numerous friends and parishioners for whom he cared and provided religious guidance. Condolences and remembrances may be sent to www.keysorfuneralhomes.com.