As the Pioneer Press religion writer, Clark Morphew wrote two decades worth of Christmas stories. As a Lutheran pastor, he preached countless Christmas sermons.
His own story came to an end on Christmas Eve. He died Tuesday at his South St. Paul home six months after learning he had lung cancer. He was 64.
Morphew, who retired in 2000, built a reputation that reached far beyond St. Paul during his 18 years at the Pioneer Press.
His weekly religion column was syndicated and published by dozens of Knight Ridder News Service clients throughout North America.
"His was the most popular religion column we ran for many years," said Brent Bierman, Knight Ridder/Tribune news editor in Washington, D.C.
That brought extra letters ‹ of love and loathing ‹ from readers not only in St. Paul, but from South Carolina to Saskatchewan.
"I think actually he was more liked than disliked, but the conservatives . . . he sure did know how to rankle them," said Jeanne Morphew, his wife.
Morphew was a columnist from the beginning, writing "On Religion" and "Ways We Worship" as a free-lancer for three years before joining the Pioneer Press and Dispatch full time in May 1982.
"I hope you don't take my word for it, but I think preaching is in a sorry state," Morphew wrote in an early column. "Most Sundays I hear preaching that has nothing to do with the world I live in."
Critics thought a newspaper was no place to debate the merits of a worship service, as if it were a movie review.
Many later came to appreciate his candidness.
"He saved my career," said the Rev. Greg Renstrom of Hamline United Methodist Church in St. Paul, recalling an encounter in the early 1990s. "I was in a slump, and knew something was wrong. He said, 'You are a good preacher for the 1940s, but this is the 1990s and you've got to change.'
"He said, 'You have to be humorous. You have to be brief. You have to be creative. You have to be able to tell stories.' "
Such attributes served Morphew as a journalist, which was his third career. Once an elementary school teacher in his native Iowa and in California, Morphew then attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor.
For 11 years, he served churches in Grand Forks, N.D., and Cottage Grove before leaving the parish in 1978. After a year selling insurance for Lutheran Brotherhood, he became an editor at Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis. He began his free-lance work for the St. Paul newspapers while at Augsburg.
"He came to newspapering and journalism late," said Deborah Howell, former Pioneer Press and Dispatch editor and now Washington bureau chief and editor of Newhouse News Service.
"He came in as a minister. Most journalists feel as if they're involved in a calling, but he had to switch denominations really quickly," Howell said.
"Newsrooms are totally irreverent. He left reverent for irreverent," she added.
Former church colleagues would sometimes say his newspaper career served as a new form of ministry.
"He did bristle at that," his wife said. "He did not see it as a ministry. He saw it as journalism."
After retiring, Morphew continued to write his column in syndication for several months, and it was then published by the Minneapolis-based Metro Lutheran until he became ill.
He hoped to spend his retirement pursuing his interests in woodcarving, Civil War history, travel and old cars ‹ in unwavering pursuit of a 1956 Oldsmobile convertible.
Instead, he spent his final weeks helping to plan his own memorial service, which will be at 11 a.m. Jan. 4 at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
In addition to his wife, survivors include two children, Michelle Morphew and Nathan Morphew of St. Paul; four stepchildren, Bradley Linzie and Brian Linzie of North Oaks, Valerie Linzie of South St. Paul and Stacy Osborne of Champlin; two brothers, Larry Morphew of Estherville, Iowa, and Nolan Morphew of Nora Springs, Iowa; and four grandchildren.
"He said he wanted the service to reflect that he had faith in a God of second chances," said the Rev. Gordon Braatz of Central Lutheran. "And he wanted to stress the sense of humanity ‹ that not only are we subject to the forgiveness of God, but we need to forgive one another."