Wilfred M. Buth Memorial Scholarship

Dr. William Buth was part of California Lutheran’s earliest years. He served as interim pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Sherman Oaks while simultaneously holding an appointment as a professor of medieval history in CLC’s history department where he worked from 1962 to 1978.

Dr. Buth and his wife Gloria were a fun-loving couple. They enjoyed providing a kind of entertainment to the CLC community as they drove their motorcycles through the campus and beyond. They were avid bikers, and they both loved music, especially sacred music.

Dr. Buth was a popular professor who made a strong impact on his students. He was also a very effective pastor. When he passed away in 1978, the church where he had been serving took the unusual step of making a gift of $6,000 to CLC for the purpose of creating an endowed scholarship. Other memorial gifts were soon added to the fund.

According to the instructions given by the Sherman Oaks congregation at the time of Dr. Buth’s death, the endowed Wilfred M. Buth Memorial Scholarship was to be awarded to “a needy and deserving student intending to prepare for ordained ministry in The American Lutheran Church.” (The American Lutheran Church later identified with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or ELCA.)

In 1988, 10 years after her husband’s death, Gloria also passed away. Eventually, CLC named the plot of ground along Memorial Parkway between Luther and Pioneer avenues as Buth Park in their honor.

Several outstanding CLU graduates now serve in pulpits across the country, thanks to the assistance provided by the Buth scholarship, a tribute to a powerful couple.