Experienced educator Rachel (Loesch) Klitzing ’79 retires from role as executive director of school ministries of LCMS Pacific Southwest District

Rachel (Loesch) Klitzing ’79 discovered Concordia University, Nebraska through others. Several of her close friends attended the university and loved it, and a close friend’s brother, Dr. Mark Wahlers, heartily recommended the university to her, especially because she was considering going into social work or teaching.

Klitzing has a bachelor of science degree in education with emphasis in English and a minor in physical education from Concordia Nebraska. She said her time at the university featured supportive professors, incredible learning experiences and the start of many life-long friendships. She met her husband Mark ’79 during her time on campus, too.

“The people were by far my favorite aspect about life at Concordia Nebraska. The professors that I had also made a lasting impact on me because of my relationship with them, including their mentorship and support of my goals and aspirations!” she said. “My professors inspired me, they listened to me, they supported my endeavors, and they provided guidance along the way as I sought to find God’s purpose for my life. They even opened their homes to me when I could not afford to go home at Thanksgiving.”

She fondly remembers many professors, but specifically pointed out the impact of Dr. Herm Glaess, Dr. Judy Preuss, Dr. Robert Baden, Dr. Marian Baden, Dr. Leah Serck, Dr. Richard Zwick and Dr. Orville Walz.

 “Pointing people to Jesus and sharing His love is most fulfilling!” 

“They helped me as a student achieve my goals, but more importantly, they helped me as a person to grow in my faith and leadership capacity. They saw in me what I didn’t see in myself – the ability to take my natural love of people coupled with my curiosity for life and learning and convert that into a love for teaching and sharing that with the next generation of children and their families,” she said. “The culture and climate - and I’m not talking about the weather! - were conducive to growing as a young Christian leader. I like to think of my Concordia experience as an incubator of sorts – a place where my zeal for learning and the exact right professors God placed into my path to nurture me – could help me to blossom and grow into a professional educator.”

Klitzing grew up in a strong Christian home. Her father was an LCMS pastor and her mother was an LCMS school teacher.

“Concordia helped in the continued nurturing of my faith as a young adult through Bible studies, theology courses and interactions with professors and friends who modeled their faith,” she said. “I also found that the camaraderie of like-minded Lutheran Christians strengthened my faith.”

She said the number of people preparing to serve in ministry during her time at the university was remarkable and the impact of learning in that atmosphere was quite phenomenal.

“I was surrounded by like-minded people, especially professors, who had a servant heart,” she said. “This inspired me to want to be like them and follow in their footsteps of sharing Jesus in word and action with others, living my life as an example.”

Following graduation, Klitzing accepted her first call to serve as third and fourth grade teacher at Pilgrim Lutheran School in Santa Monica, California. She and Mark married in 1980 and she then accepted a position to teach fifth grade at Red Hill Lutheran School, Tustin, California. She taught for two years at Red Hill surrounded by a number of Concordia Nebraska alumni before taking a four-year break to stay home to raise the Klitzing’s two children. She then accepted call to teach at Christ Lutheran School in Costa Mesa, California, where she taught for seven years. She then accepted a call to serve as the administrative assistant to Dr. Dean Dammann, the director of congregational services in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) Pacific Southwest District (PSD). In 1998, Dammann retired and the Pacific Southwest District Board of Directors selected Klitzing as the next education executive for the district, a position she served in from 1998 until her retirement in August 2025.

The Klitzings recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Mark also served as an educator. He taught math and science and was the athletic director at Christ Lutheran in Costa Mesa for 20 years, then took a call to Lutheran High School of Orange County where he taught math for an additional 22 years. Mark and Rachel have both coached all sports at the middle school level. In addition, Mark coached high school basketball and track, and Rachel coached high school volleyball for a short time. Mark received the National Secondary Educator of the Year Award from the Lutheran Education Association in 2022.

The Klitzings have two children, Anna and Nathan, who both attended Concordia University Irvine on athletic and academic scholarships.

“Our daughter, Anna, spent a semester at Concordia Nebraska her junior year as part of the exchange program!” said Klitzing. “She loved it! Our children are also in Lutheran education and both are married to wonderful spouses who are also in church work professions. We currently have five grandchildren. All are very active and attend Lutheran schools.”

Klitzing’s brother Jonathan Loesch ’83 attended Concordia Nebraska and is now a DCE. He met his wife Tonya (Frese) Loesch ‘83 during their time at the university.

Now enjoying retirement, Klitzing said she loves to spend time with family and friends and serve her home congregation on the hospitality committee. In the past, she has taught Sunday School, Confirmation, been in choir and played in the Handbell Choir. She enjoys bicycle riding, hiking, gardening, calligraphy, writing, reading, traveling and watching her grandchildren in their sporting and dance events. She said she is grateful for the many and various ways she was able to serve the church at large and Lutheran schools during her career.

“As executive director of school ministries, I sought to effectively resource our teachers, principals and executive directors to make the Great Commission real and strive for educational excellence in their classrooms and schools. I worked directly with the leaders of the schools to achieve this goal and to make their schools the school of choice in their communities. Among my many responsibilities included maintaining the records of all commissioned ministers in the PSD as well as lay teachers, a roster of over 2,000 full-time workers. In the PSD, by God’s grace, we have had the largest preschools, elementary schools and high schools in the LCMS. Currently, the largest Lutheran high school, middle school and elementary schools are in the PSD!”

In addition to working with school boards and board governance, Klitzing also spent a great deal of time working with school leaders and pastors to build relationships and foster strong and healthy church/school relationships, which are key to the success of organizations.

She was also the first female to hold the full-time position of executive director of school ministries in the LCMS.

“I also instituted many opportunities for professional learning and leadership development on a monthly, semi-annual and annual basis. We were the first district to have a paid early childhood consultant because of the prioritization of early learning,” she explained.

Klitzing served as the education executive with three PSD presidents – Dr. Loren Kramer, Dr. Larry Stoterau, Dr. Mike Gibson. During her tenure, she also founded the Grantparent Mission Project, a program of the Pacific Southwest District to provide tuition assistance to children and families in need in urban and underserved areas of the district so that they may attend a Lutheran school.

“Since Grantparent started 23 years ago, Grantparent donors have provided tuition assistance to well over 1,000 students in nine of our district’s schools. I also helped to establish Foundations in Lutheran Teaching in cooperation with the Mission Training Center which is a cross-district initiative to equip educators in our Lutheran schools to be transformational teachers of the Lutheran faith, resulting in longevity at and employability across districts, creating a consistent Lutheran ethos in ministry and further uniting school and church ministry,” she said. “Through the program, spiritual self-care is prioritized, resulting in the fruits of the spirit being evident in the classrooms and beyond. This is not intended to replace colloquy. This is an application-focused curriculum for non-Lutheran teachers and those for whom colloquy is not an option, so that all classrooms integrate the faith to the fullest potential.”

Klitzing received the Christus Magister Award from the Lutheran Education Association in 2018, the organization’s highest award. She said throughout her career the most fulfilling part of her work has been the people she is given the opportunity to interact with – at the district office, in the LCMS and at churches and schools.

“Pointing people to Jesus and sharing His love is most fulfilling!" she said.

Concordia University, Nebraska’s education program prepares teachers to lead, teach and serve from a foundation of faith that asserts the value of every individual. Education majors will sharpen their God-given gifts as they learn to minister to future students, families, churches and communities.