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Vicar Mark Niethammer
My love for music brought me back to the Midwest for college. I attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, where I graduated in ’05 with a BA in Religion although I started life as a Music Education major. Music is still a big part of my life, and it is because of those music classes that I met my wife, Amalie (I call her Molly or Malie). Malie is currently an elementary school general music and band teacher at two schools on the east side of St. Paul. I try to keep playing both piano and saxophone and find myself with occasional gigs with my jazz trio. Malie is currently a substitute French horn player with the Encore Wind Ensemble and is a regular member of the Saint Andrews Lutheran Church Orchestra. Malie grew up in Central Wisconsin, is the third of six children and the daughter of a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Pastor. When Malie was young, the second child in her family, and the only boy, died, so her family was left with five daughters who now range in age from 15 to 27. I can already tell that Mount Olive will be a good home for me. When I brought my parents here to worship soon after I was placed as Vicar we entered the sanctuary only to see a lovely lady named Lillian Radar, mother of Mike Radar, who is a member of my parent’s church in Sheridan, Wyoming. It is a small world indeed! I look forward to worshipping with you and experiencing God’s unending grace with all of you in the next year. - Vicar Mark Niethammer
Visit our history page for a complete list of all Mount Olive's vicars through the years.
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I was born in Iowa City, IA, but I cannot call that my home. My birth happened with six months left in my father’s medical residency at the University of IA hospitals. Immediately after he finished, my parents, my brother who was three years my senior, and I moved back to where both my father’s and mother’s families had roots…the great state of Wyoming! We ended up in a town called Riverton which is situated close to the Wind River Mountains and just outside of the Wind River Indian Reservation. While that was most certainly a factor in my growing up, I tried my best to stay out of the conflicts that arose in the schools between races. Instead of getting involved in these issues, I kept myself firmly planted on the golf course or practicing either the piano or saxophone. I grew up going to St. John’s Lutheran, although going reluctantly. It wasn’t until college that I felt a calling to ministry. When I was seven, my ten year old brother died of leukemia, which he suffered from for five years. I miss him dearly and my family has a hole in our hearts that will never be fully healed.