BERNARDS, VOLDEMARS TEODORUS
Date/Place of Birth: October 1, 1907; Cesis, Latvia.
Family: Had no family in the United States, but considered Kamilla Shulman of
Syracuse, N.Y., a foster sister since they escaped to the West together and maintained
contact with each other until his death.
Education: State University in Riga, Latvia, Licentiate in Theology. Earned the Ph.D.
degree in linguistics at Columbia University.
Ordination: February 13, 1944; Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia in the Dome
Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Riga.
Calls: Assistant Pastor of St. Gertrude Church, an academic parish in Riga. Joined faculty
of Lenoir-Rhyne, providing instruction in Latin, Greek, German and Russian.
Other: Fled from his homeland to escape living under communist rule. Arrived in the
United States in 1950 and became a naturalized citizen June 3, 1958. Received personal
greetings from Archbishop Arnolds Lusis of the Latvian Lutheran Church in the Free
World, Toronto, Canada. Translated Bible into White Russian for a Bible Society.
Retired from Lenoir-Rhyne faculty in 1973. Lenoir-Rhyne College presented him with a
Trustee Award in 1980.
Date of Death/Burial Location: July 29, 1988; Latvian-American Disabled Veterans
Cemetery in Elka Park, N.Y.