Louis Smith Family Scholarship

Traditionally speaking, salaries of church pastors seldom rank near the top on any compensation survey. Despite that reality, pastors have a strong desire for their children to receive the best education possible, including the opportunity to achieve a college degree. In Lutheran circles, this usually means that a Lutheran college is the institution of choice. At least such was the case with the Louis Smith family.

Louis C. Smith was born and raised in the Midwest. He was a graduate of both Augsburg College in Minneapolis and Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul. He served Lutheran parishes in Sioux City, Iowa, Edina, Minnesota, and Houston, Texas. From 1953 to 1959 he worked with the Home Mission Board of the American Lutheran Church to start a new church in San Clemente, CA. At first the new church, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, held its worship services in rented space that was available only on Sundays. It eventually became a prominent church and school in southern California.

While Louis “Lou” Smith was attending Augsburg College he met Llewellyn “Llew” Rustad, a young woman who would become his soul mate and wife for the next 60 years. Llewellyn was a Norwegian Lutheran who had been born in Norge, Virginia. She attended Mary Washington College in Virginia before transferring to Augsburg where she completed her degree. Lou and Llew expanded their family with the birth of twin sons Phillip and Stephen. The twins became outstanding students at CLC, graduating summa cum laude in 1982. They went on to law school, eventually becoming partners in their own law firm in Orange County. Their success confirmed the family’s decision to choose a quality Lutheran institution for their sons.

Toward the end of 1984 Lou was stirred to contact two of his pastor friends who were administrators at CLC, Jerry Miller and Ken Siegele, about the possibility of starting a scholarship. That conversation quickly turned into action, and within one year the endowed Louis Smith Family Scholarship became a reality.

The criteria for the Louis Smith Family Scholarship are simple and tailored to the concerns of the Smith family. The scholarship is to be awarded to a student who is the child of a Lutheran pastor and in need of financial assistance. Another criterion—that the student come from the Southern California/Hawaii synod—was added later.