December 4, 1942 - February 11, 2024
James Elliott Pancoast died Transfiguration Sunday, February 11, 2024 surrounded by his family at the Seven Lakes Memory Care facility in Loveland, Colorado.
Elliott was born on December 4, 1942 in San Antonio, Texas and adopted by Fannie Byus Pancoast on October 4, 1945. “Granny Pancoast,” as we knew her, was nearly 60 and a widow when she adopted Elliott. He was baptized at Travis Park United Methodist Church on May 13, 1945, not far from the neighborhood where he grew up in downtown San Antonio, a neighborhood that is today marked by the iconic Tower of the Americas in Hemisfair Park, site of the 1968 World’s Fair.
Elliott was a Boy Scout throughout his childhood and adolescence, earning the rank of Eagle Scout.
Though he did not grow up with a father in his household, he was guided through his early life by a number of significant and vital father figures through the relationships he formed in Scouts; through his employment by a Mr. George Waitz at Weber’s Grocery Store; and most especially through his confirmation pastor, Herb Brokering. It was while he was part of the Scout troop at St. John’s Lutheran Church that Herb, the youth pastor there, came into his life, inviting him to be a part of St. John’s confirmation ministry, which served as a spark to the kindling of what would become his life’s vocation. Elliott was confirmed at St. John’s on May 18, 1958.
Elliott graduated from Highlands High School in 1960 and enrolled at San Antonio Junior College. The following year he transferred to Texas Lutheran, majoring first in history, a life-long love of his, and eventually earning a bachelor of arts degree in Theology from Texas Lutheran, class of 1965. It was also while at Texas Lutheran that he pledged to the Omega Tau social fraternity, an organization to which Michael and Joel later both pledged as well. Most significantly it was at Texas Lutheran where Elliott met Kathryn Doerfler and her family. Elliott and Kathy were married at Christ Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas on August 15, 1965.
Elliott continued his education at Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, earning a Masters of Divinity while Kathy taught school in East Dubuque, Illinois. He served a year-long internship under supervisor Pastor Phil Froiland at the campus ministry congregation at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Elliott graduated from Wartburg in the spring of 1969, and on August 24, 1969 at Faith Lutheran Church, Bellaire, Texas he was ordained into Word and Sacrament ministry of the then American Lutheran Church, one of the predecessor bodies of the now Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was while he was in seminary that son Michael Elliott was born.
Elliott’s first call was as associate pastor at First English Lutheran Church, Victoria, Texas, (1969-1971) where daughter Kristen Kathryn was born. From there, he was called as associate pastor to Faith Lutheran Church, Bellaire, Texas (1971-1980), where he served with his father-in-law Pastor Alfred Doerfler. It was while living in Houston that son Joel William was born. In 1980, Elliott followed the call to First Lutheran Church, Longview, Texas (1980-1990); back to First English Lutheran, Victoria (1990-1997); and St. Paul’s Lutheran, Brenham, Texas (1997-2001). Elliott served on the Board of Regents of his alma mater, Texas Lutheran, from 1981 – 2004, one of the longest serving regents in TLU’s history. He served on the staff of Bishop Ray Tiemann of the Southwest Texas Synod from 2001-2006. Elliott returned to parish ministry in 2006, serving St. James Lutheran Church, Llano, Texas until his retirement in 2012. Never one to spend time sitting still, he continued his vocation of ministry as Visitation Pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Texas while also serving St. John’s Lutheran, Castell, Texas until 2018. He served in a variety of capacities on district and synod committees and was active in all kinds of community committees and boards in all of the places where he served. One of his greatest and most fulfilling joys in ministry was as an intern supervisor for over a dozen seminarians preparing for ministry.
Throughout his life, Elliott had a number of hobbies that filled his life with activity and joy, including abundant vegetable gardening; constructing patios and flower beds out of collected rocks and bricks; and traveling to wherever his kids and grandkids were living; extensive trips throughout the US; and especially meaningful trips to the Holy Land, Germany, and Poland. But the hobbies that were most fulfilling to him were hunting whitetail deer, especially in the Texas Hill Country; goat ranching; and his dogs, Solomon, Salome, Sheba, Tramp, and Casey, the best of them all being his Great Pyrenees Howdy, the King of the Hill Country Goat Dogs. In 1984, Elliott had the opportunity to be one of the first members of a group of pastors called “NIMROD”—November Invitational Minister’s Recreational Outdoor Diversion—who would gather for a week of hunting, good food and drink, and fellowship at the Red Hill Ranch of life-long family friend Pastor Ron Birk, Pontotoc, Texas, between Llano and Mason. He never missed a year of NIMROD, from 1984 – 2007. One can not underestimate the vitality of this time with his friends and colleagues, as Ron once wrote, “The relaxed, smiling persons who leave on Wednesday with beards on their faces, venison in their tummies, rings around their collars, and pleasant memories dancing through their minds are in far better shape to do the work of the Lord than were the dour faced, sour stomached guys who arrived on Friday.”
All of this came together for him when he and Kathy were able to purchase 10 acres of Hill Country land on Johnson Creek outside of Llano, where they lived from 2008 to March of 2018. They took a ramshackle ranch house and turned it into a gathering place for the family and a paradise of goats for Howdy, rock and brush piles, deer, gardens, stringing fences, and just general putzing around. The Pancoast Ranch on Rio Llano provided treasured time for the grandkids, all of them being housed in an upstairs lofted dormitory for the next day’s adventures usually begun with donuts and sausage rolls from the local bakery; exploring Johnson Creek; trips to “the slab” for swimming in the Llano River; building a tree house; refilling the deer feeders; and feeding and rounding up the goats. Eventually diabetes and the Llano River flood of October 2018 brought this all to a screeching halt. Due to his health, he and Kathy moved to Loveland, Colorado in the Spring of 2018 to be near Joel and Sonja and their family, and the beloved Pancoast Ranch on Rio Llano was completely destroyed by the flood in October of 2018. He was an active worshiping member of Zion Lutheran Church in Loveland.
Elliott was a man filled with wide-ranging interests and curiosity. History continued to be a life-long avocation. He was a voracious newspaper and magazine reader, and the whole family will always remember his willingness to share what he was reading out loud. His mind was always active informing knowledge and constructing opinions about what he had read, and sometimes that applied and shared knowledge was even accurate! The family always knew they were about to be graced with his knowledge and its application when he began to hold forth with the phrases, “Evidently…” and “You know, they say…”.
Elliott was preceded in death by his mother Fannie; a brother-in-law and nephew, Jerry and Jeffrey Boemer; uncle-in-law Jack Doerfler; parents-in-law Rosa Lee and Alfred Doerfler; brothers-in-law Byron Hanna, Gene Brown, and David Doerfler; and nephew Ricky Pancoast.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years Kathy; son Michael, spouse Kari of Becker, Minnesota and grandchildren Olsen, Laura, Anna, and Eleanor Pancoast; daughter Kristen Benton, her spouse Allen of Austin, Texas and grandchildren Luke, Drew (spouse, Tayiah), Grace, and Hope Benton; son Joel, spouse Sonja of Loveland, Colorado and grandchildren Sophia and Hannah; sisters-in-law Ruth Ann Hanna, Christine Brown, and Valerie Doerfler; a brother Kenneth and spouse Elizabeth; numerous nephews and nieces; and countless friends from his vocation in ministry.
Elliott is being laid to rest in a niche in Zion Lutheran Church’s columbarium, Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 1pm with a reception to follow. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 1pm at Bethany Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Texas, Pastor Casey Zesch presiding.
Memorials can be directed through the Kibbey-Fishburn Funeral Home for:
· The One Sun Foundation, supporting the Munno Community Resource Center supporting literacy in Kampala, Uganda.
· The Rosa Lee & Alfred Doerfler Scholarship Fund at Texas Lutheran University, Seguin, Texas; or
· The general memorial funds at Zion Lutheran Church, Loveland Colorado or Bethany Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Texas.
God bless the life, faith, and ministry of Elliott Pancoast.
Graveside Service
Saturday, March 2, 2024
1:00 PM
Zion Lutheran Church
815 E. 16th Street
Loveland, CO 80538
Memorial Service
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Bethany Lutheran Church
110 W. Austin Street
Fredericksburg, TX 78624
