ELCA News Blog
June 10, 2009   

Ralph Dunkin re-elected bishop of ELCA West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod

By Carrie L. Draeger, ELCA News Service*

The Rev. Ralph W. Dunkin was elected June 5 to his third term as bishop of the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  Dunkin was re-elected on the first ballot, garnering 113 of the 137 votes cast at the synod assembly June 5-6 in McHenry, Maryland.  There were nine names on the nominating ballot.

Dunkin, 58, was born in Pittsburgh.  He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Thiel College, Greenville, Pa. in 1972.  In 1976 Dunkin earned a master of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG), Gettysburg, Pa.  Thiel College is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities; LTSG is one of eight ELCA seminaries.  Dunkin served as the pastor of Lutheran congregations in Grafton and Wheeling, both in West Virginia, before being elected bishop in 1997.

Dunkin and his wife Teresa are the parents of two adult children and live in Wheeling, W.Va.  The West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod has 15,810 baptized members in 65 congregations in West Virginia, and one county in Maryland.  The synod office is in Fairmont, W.Va.

* Carrie L. Draeger is a senior communication major with a concentration in journalism at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash. This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.