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Born in Palermo, Sicily, Italy of a Dutch Christian Reformed father and an Italian Roman Catholic mother, he was brought by his mother to be raised in his fathers hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan. At the age of 8, his family joined the Lutheran Church. He graduated from Western Michigan University in 1967 with a Bachelors Degree in Religious Studies. He married the former Nancy Anne Idema from Battle Creek in 1967, and together they went off to Virginia, where Pastor John served as Transportation Officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He served briefly in Viet Nam in1968. After the Army, he worked for General Foods Corporation, Post Division in Kankakee, Illinois, supervising the making of Gaines Dog Food Products.
In 1971, the Lord prodded him to seek out Concordia Seminary at Springfield, Illinois. he graduated in the spring of 1975 with a Masters of Divinity degree, and was ordained into the pastoral ministry on June 15, 1975. He has served three congregations before coming here to Zion: Peace in Owensboro, Kentucky - 1975-78, Holy Cross in Fort Wayne, Indiana - 1979-88, and St. John in Wheaton, Illinois - 1988-96.
The Westras have three children: Jay, Robert and Pamela, and presently
five
grandchildren.
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