Difference between revisions of "Bill Ichter"
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Revision as of 01:49, March 19, 2017
William H. Ichter, Jr., known as Bill Ichter (born December 1925),[1] is a Southern Baptist clergyman who for thirty-five years was a missionary to Brazil under auspices of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention of Nashville, Tennessee. A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, he resides in Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana.[2]
With the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, William Ichter, Sr., was sent to Alexandria, Louisiana, to be an umpire for the war games at nearby United States Army camps. As a result of this move, the younger Ichter came into contact with Southern Baptists in Alexandria, where he graduated from Bolton High School. He served in General George S. Patton, Jr.'s Third Army in Europe and participated in various musical groups with the Allied Army of Occupation. His book, Who Me, God? reflects in part on his military experiences.[2]
In 1949, he completed his bachelor's degree from Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College in Pineville with majors in Bible and music. While serving in the music ministry of the Istrouma Baptist Church in the capital city of Baton Rouge, Ichter felt the divine call for missionary work. He enrolled at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans and continued to serve area churches. In 1956, at his appointment ceremony to become a missionary, held in Richmond, Virginia, Ichter met Billy Graham, who was holding a crusade that week in Richmond and spoke to each new missionary. In 1964, Ichter compiled a crusade hymnal and composed one song himself. In 1974, Ichter led the 11,500-voice Graham Crusade Choir during the evangelist's appearance in Rio de Janeiro.[2]
On Veterans Day 2014, Ichter's adopted city of Minden, Louisiana, observed "Bill Ichter Day". He received from the French consul theFrench Legion of Honor medal, the highest honor given by that nation. His name was the first to be placed on the Wall of Honor at Minden's Veterans Flag Memorial. The South Webster Chamber of Commerce awarded him its "Lifetime Achievement Award."[2]
Ichter and his wife, the former Jerry Catron (born June 1930), have a daughter, Alana (born May 1950), and her husband, Ronald W. Greenwich, of Minden (born July 1948). Ichter said that one "cannot live a good or meaningful life without God in your life. Louisiana College taught me how to live and just how to make a living."[2]
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