Pastor David Riebeling

For retiring pastor David Riebeling of St. John’s United Church of Christ in Valmeyer, no experience comes close to touching his heart as much as the 1993 flood.

“I never planned on staying this long, but things happened,” the 67-year-old recalled. “The flood came along. It was one of those worst nightmare scenarios. I thought I couldn’t get out of here fast enough.

“None of us knew how to build a new church. I sometimes kid them that we bonded too long during the flood.”

Riebeling, a 1968 Columbia High School graduate, also remembers holding services in the basement of the Monroe County Nursing Home in Waterloo for three years while the church rebuilt on higher ground. In the remaining years the church worked to pay off the new building’s mortgage; Riebeling was there for support.

“Just what it takes to put a whole town together, putting the bits and pieces of their lives back together and the town and things such as churches… it’s quite a feat to take on and complete,” he said during a 2012 mortgage burning ceremony.

Also during the ceremony, Riebeling noted that the church preserved many aspects of the old building, saving certain items before the flood waters could claim them. One of these valuables is a wooden cross that now hangs above the congregation with its original watermarks from the floodwaters.

“My strongest memories are from the flood,” Riebeling said. “One-hundred and fourteen families from the church were displaced from their homes. There were people living in tents in fields. It was a very definite death of their community.

“The church had no experience in this, but was finding its way through the maze of disaster.”
Riebeling said the flood and other such incidents have taught him that being a part of those horrors turns people into a community. As another example, he shared of a wedding he attended in which the bride’s mother died during the reception.

“It’s another one of those extreme horrors, but those are the things that tie people together so tightly,” he said.

In his time in the ministry, Riebeling said he has most enjoyed being able to help people in their time of need. He recognized that not everyone has the kind of opportunities he had to serve others.

“I feel fortunate because my time in the ministry was not routine or humdrum,” he said.

Riebeling said he will enjoy being able to stay up late Saturday nights in retirement — he won’t have to prepare for Sunday service. He will also continue to spend a lot of time with his wife, Kathy, who recently retired from teaching at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Waterloo.

“My parents were real teachers of work ethic. If you’re going to do a job, do it right. Along the lines of doing the job right, Saturday night became something we could sacrifice,” he said.

Riebeling has served in ministry for a total of 40 years, 29 of which were with St. John’s UCC. His final church service is at 9 a.m. Sunday.

“When I came, they thought of themselves as a small church that was unable to do much of anything, and then through the flood, I saw them grow in their understanding of what they could do,” he said. “They were able to do things that nobody the year before thought they would be able to do.

“They would never have tried to build a new church building. They would’ve never thought they could. And it kind of changed them. They understood what it was like to be in a disaster. So suddenly, they grew very sensitive to the plight of others.”