The Rev. LaVern Seth

Rev. LaVern Seth was ordained as Minister of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. 60 years ago. Friends, family and church members will be recognizing this milestone this Sunday, Nov. 1.

A reception is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, Church Fellowship Room. 100 W. State, Toledo, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. A light lunch will be served.

Over the course of his ministry, the Rev. LaVern Seth has served churches including the Meskwaki Presbyterian Mission Church on the Settlement west of Tama, Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church, rural Toledo and Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Marshalltown.

Along with other local pastors, he served a ministry at the Iowa Juvenile Home / State Training School for Girls in Toledo for more than 20 years after the state Chapel Program was ended.

Among his additional areas of service over the years have been ministering at local care centers, the Tama-Toledo Ministerial Association and Tama County Council on aging.

A pastor’s duties vary as this Toledo Chronicle file photo identification noted in 2011. The Rev. LaVern Seth (center) was called upon and he obliged with a blessing for the downtown Toledo stoplight in a build-up to the annual Stoplight Festival in July. Chronicle - News-Herald file photo./John Speer

Rev. Seth has received the Governor’s Volunteer Award on three separate occasions. He last was honored in 2011 by Governor Terry Branstad, was recognized in 2007 by Gov. Chet culver and first by Governor Branstad in the 1980s.