Granger E. Westberg was a pioneer who, over the course of a long and rich career, had broken new ground in the areas of religion, medicine and whole person health. Westberg was a Lutheran clergyman who had been a parish pastor, hospital chaplain, professor of practical theology and teacher of medical students. His work was based on his belief that medicine transcends the physical because true healing involves the body, the soul and the mind.
He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Augustana College and Augustana Seminary. After graduating from seminary in 1939, he was pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Illinois, his first and only parish.
He discovered his love of chaplaincy work a little later when he sat on the board of Augustana Hospital in Chicago. The head chaplain was going on vacation and asked if any of the other pastors on the board would like to try their hand at being a chaplain for a week. Westberg volunteered and "was really taken with the work that needed to be done", says Helen Westberg.
Two years later, after completing his work at St. John's Church, he went back to Augustana Hospital as chaplain, where he worked for eight years. Westberg's ministry to hospital patients went beyond short visits to in-depth counseling sessions.
The faculty at the University of Chicago took note of his unique approach to chaplaincy work. In 1952, he became the first clergyman to hold a joint appointment at the University of Chicago in the Divinity and Medical Schools. Later, he taught at Baylor University Medical School in Houston and at Wittenberg University's Hamma School of Theology. Westberg also established the Wholistic HealthCare Center at Union Church in Hinsdale, Illinois, the first of thirteen that he founded.
One of Granger Westberg's most significant contributions to the church and the community at large is the founding of the Parish Nurse Movement. Dr. Westberg originally envisioned parish nursing as a partnership between health care systems and congregations - to link resources of the health care system to the faith community. Originally developed in 1984 as a partnership between Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois and six area congregations, the ecumenical movement has now become international in scope. Having a nurse on the staff of a congregation provides a unique forum for health promotion and disease prevention. Members of a church, knowing that a nurse is available on an informal basis, can discuss a health concern with the nurse before it becomes a chronic or serious condition.
The International Parish Nurse Resource Center (IPNRC) was established at Advocate Health Care in 1985, and moved to Deaconess Parish Nurse Ministries in St. Louis in 2002. The annual Granger Westberg Parish Nurse Symposium, sponsored by the IPNRC, provides opportunities for continuing education and spiritual growth for a large number of clergy, parish nurse, and other health professionals. Westberg attended every symposium starting in 1987, when there were 74 people in attendance through 1998, when there were nearly 1000. Through Westberg's work and the parish nurse movement, people in congregations are coming to a new understanding of health and the importance of being good stewards of their health and the health of the community. In the grand scheme of things, the parish nurse movement offers an opportunity to totally transform healthcare as we know it today.
Westberg was also the author of several books which describe the relationship between faith and health. His most well-known book,
Good Grief, has sold over two million copies, and continues as a best-seller, a tribute to the lasting nature of his insights for our wounded world.
The Rev. Dr. Granger E. Westberg, who was living in Willowbrook, Illinois, in his final retirement, died February 16, 1999, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Illinois.
Dr. Westberg is survived by his wife, Helen, of almost 60 years; four children, Jane (Hilliard) Jason, John (Kathleen) Westberg, Joan (Jack) Onder and Jill (Jim) McNamara; eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Memorials in his honor may be made to the Westberg Institute, c/o Deaconess Foundation, 211 North Broadway, Suite 1260, St. Louis, MO 63119.