Deaconess Martha Eber was consecrated as a deaconess in 1924, following her graduation from the Lutheran Hospital Nurses Training School in Ft. Wayne, IN. She was the first LDA deaconess to serve in a parish.
From 1924 to 1940 she served at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New York, working with newly arrived immigrants as well as most aspects of the day-to-day running of a parish.
After a leave of absence to faithfully care for her invalid mother (until her death) Martha took a year’s “refresher” at Valparaiso University, taking courses in social work, and then resumed her parish diaconal ministry in 1957 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in the heart of mid-town Manhattan, where she served for another 19 years.
After retirement, Martha continued to volunteer her services at St.Luke’s “when and where needed’ until her death in 1991.
The LDA’s Diakonia en Christo Award is presented in honor of her and Deaconess Martha Boss.
