Elson, Edward L. R. (Edward Lee Roy), 1906-1993 (Personal Name)

His Prayers offered by the Chaplain of the Senate of the United States, 1982: t.p. (Rev. Edward L.R. Elson)

PPPrHi files: (Edward L.R. Elson, b. 1906; d. 1993)

Arlington National Cemetery, via WWW, August 9, 2013 (Edward Lee Roy Elson; Colonel, United States Army ; Religious Leader; born December 23, 1906 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania; died August 25, 1993 at Presbyterian Hospital and Home in Washington, D.C.; he was educated at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, and at the University of Southern California, where he received his master's degree in theology; ordained by the Presbytery of Los Angeles, he served his first pastorates there and in La Jolla, California; in World War II, he served as an Army Chaplain in Europe, reaching the rank of Colonel; his post-war work in Germany drew the attention of then-General Eisenhower, who commissioned him to be the envoy to the German Protestant Church; in 1946, he was named pastor of the Convenant First Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., and he led the church to its designation as the National Presbyterian Church; he was a senior pastor at the church from 1946 until his retirement in 1973; he became Senate Chaplain in 1969, serving in that post until 1981; he was the author of 11 books and a counselor to many leaders of government; among his books were one on spiritual values, America's Spiritual Recovery, and an autobiography, Wide Was His Parish)