Nathan Paul Ristvedt was born to James and Betty (Knobloch) Ristvedt on Feb 11, 1963, in Springfield, Illinois.
He grew up with his brother and two sisters in the parsonages in Picayune, Mississippi, Littlefield, Texas, and Wisner. He graduated from Wisner-Pilger High School and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After teaching at Bancroft-Rosalie High School and working for Midland Medical Supply in Lincoln, he enrolled at Concordia Seminary in St Louis, Missouri. On spring break before his vicarage year, he drove to Greeley, Colorado, to visit Nellie Cook, a friend he met at the University Lutheran Chapel while they both attended. They fell in love that summer while he was a summer vicar at Bethlehem Lutheran in Crete, and were married at the University Lutheran Chapel in Lincoln on June 29, 1991. They honeymooned in the Black Hills on the way back to Portland, Oregon, so he could finish his full-year vicarage there and then travel back to St Louis for his final three semesters at seminary.
After graduating from seminary, he was ordained and installed in January 1993 as pastor of a dual parish (St John in Villard, Minnesota, and Trinity in Grove Lake, Minnesota). In 1999, he accepted a call to Bethlehem in Crete, where he served until he became disabled in 2015. He went Home to Heaven peacefully at his home in Milford on Feb 13, 2023, after an eight-year battle with Posterior Cortical Atrophy. He enjoyed writing, performing and recording music, bow hunting, fishing, dartball, and figuring out electronic and computer challenges. He loved being a pastor and viewed his parishioners as family. He was a member of the Lions Club and Ministerial Association. He loved the fellowship with his circuit pastors.
He is survived by wife, Nellie (Milford); mother, Betty Ristvedt (Elkhorn); daughter, Naomi Ristvedt (Grand Island), son, Joel, his wife, Karle, and their children, Finn and Gwen (Bellevue); son, Caleb (Milford), daughter, Tabitha (Milford); sister, Cyndi Vinovskis and her husband, Wally, (Macungie, Pennsylvania) and their children Carissa, Micah, Noel, and Oliver; brother, Phillip and his wife, Jesse, and son, Nolan (Omaha); sister, Jennifer Ristvedt Hille (Coer d' Alene, Idaho) and her children, Anika and Aidan; mother-in-law, Carol Cook (Hickman); sister-in-law, Kathy Weber Specht and her husband, Leo (Towner, Colorado); sister-in-law, Alice Fritz (Waco); brother-in-law, Charles Cook and his wife, Marjorie (Verdigre); sister-in-law, Mary Menter and her husband Paul, (Lincoln); sister-in-law, Ruth Cook (Verdigre); sister-in-law, Martha Cook (Norfolk); sister-in-law, Janet Hollman and her husband, Kent (Hickman); sister-in-law, Rachel Boyer and her husband, Steve (Atoka, Tennessee); brother-in-law, James Cook and his wife, Lisa (Verdigre); sister-in-law, Patty Cope and her husband, Kenny (Lincoln); sister-in-law, Penny Meyer and her husband, Brian (Seward) and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his father, James W Ristvedt; his father-in-law, Ronald L. Cook, and pre-born daughters Melinda Rose and Kris.
The funeral service was Feb. 17 at St. John Lutheran Church in Seward. Arrangements by Kuncl Funeral Home.
