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Westphal, Enrique José (1903–1983)

By Eugenio Di Dionisio

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Eugenio Di Dionisio

First Published: January 29, 2020

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Enrique José Westphal served as a pastor, evangelist, and church administrator in the United States, Peru, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Mexico.1

Early Years, Studies, and Family

Enrique José Westphal was born on November 13, 1903, in Aldea Camarero (now Libertador San Martín), Entre Ríos, Argentina. His father, Joseph William Westphal (1861-1949), was a missionary, and pioneer administrator in South America, from 1901 to 1930.

Pastor Joseph William Westphal had three children with his first wife Allie Robinson: Florence (Flora) Lilian (1886-1921), Myrtle (1887-1888) and Arthur Leroy (1889-1983). With his second wife Jennie Peckover, he had Oliva Roberta (1902-1974), Enrique Joseph (1903-1983), Heriberto Melvin (1905-2007) and Chester Eduardo (1907-2002). Flora married pastor Eduardo Thomann; Olivia was a teacher in Argentina and in the United States; Heriberto was a doctor in the United States and Africa; Chester was a pastor in Inter-American Division and in the United States.2

Enrique Westphal studied at River Plate Academy, Entre Ríos, Argentina, and at Pacific Union College, USA. He married Barbara Luvern Osborne on July 11, 1927, and had the children: Halcyon Alicia, in Lima, Peru; Arthur Eugene, in Glendale, California, USA; Melbert Chester, in the current Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina; and Roland Howard who died when he was a child.

Pastoral Ministry and Evangelism

From June 1, 1926, he worked in the Nevada Conference for a year. Later in the Amazonas Mission, based in Iquitos, Peru, Enrique worked for two years with pastor Ferdinand Anthony Stahl (1874-1950).3 Later, he served in the Peru Mission, living in Lima for six years. Each year, Enrique Westphal held evangelistic meetings at each place where he was assigned to work: in Iquitos, Chepen, and Lima (Peru), La Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina), in Montevideo (Uruguay), Acapulco (Mexico), etc.4

On March 1st, 1930, he was ordained to the pastoral ministry, with J. A. Schwerin and Pedro Kalbermatter. The ceremony was held in the city of Lima, Peru, led by the pastors Arthur Daniells, Carlyle B. Haynes and Joseph W. Westphal.5

He was a pastor and lecturer in the city of La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1935 to 1937.6 From 1938 to 1940 he directed departments in the North Argentina Mission, based in the city of Corrientes, Argentina. Later he served as a teacher at River Plate Academy for a semester.7

From 1941 to 1944 he was president of the Uruguay Mission, based in the city of Montevideo. During that time the first youth camp was held in the territory of the South American Division. He developed the radio program "La Voz de la Esperanza." He promoted the founding Uruguay Academy, a boarding school.8

While he was president of the Buenos Aires Conference, the conference donated land by the Buenos Aires Publishing House where the first school building of Buenos Aires Academy was constructed.9

In 1946 and 1947 he served as a pastor for a year in Holly, Michigan. From 1947 to 1953 he served as president of the Mexican Union. From 1954 to 1962, he was ministerial secretary, departmental and evangelist in the Inter-American Division. He finished his service at the Texas Conference in 1966.10

Final Years and Legacy

After retirement, he conducted evangelistic campaigns in Trinidad, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Venezuela, Mexico, and California.11 He died on September 14, 1983, in Deer Park, California. He was an outstanding evangelist, valued and remembered for his dynamic pastoral leadership.

Sources

“50 Aniversario, 1943-1993, Uruguay Academy” [50th Anniversary, 1943-1993, Uruguay Academy]. Horizontes [Horizons]. Uruguay Academy, 1993.

Beile, L. L. “Evangelism in Central America.” Messenger, vol. 34, nº 5, May 1962.

Breitigan, R. R. “Ministerial Institutes-Inca Union.” South American Bulletin, vol. 6, nº 7, July 1930.

“Deaths” (Henry J. Westphal). ARH, vol. 160, nº 45, November 10, 1983.

Di Dionisio, Eugenio. “La Caravana Westphal” [The Westphal Caravan]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], vol. 76, nº 5, May 1976.

Dunn, N. W. “C. L. Bond’s Visit.” South American Bulletin, vol. 18, nº 5, May 1942.

Dunn, N. W. “News Flashes from a Secretary’s Desk.” South American Bulletin, vol. 16, nº 3, March 1940.

“Inca News Notes.” South American Bulletin, vol. 4, nº 5, May 1928.

Maas, Ellis. “The River Plate Junior College.” South American Bulletin, vol. 16, nº 12, December 1940.

“Medical Student Visits Mexico.” Atlantic Union Gleaner, vol. 49, nº 28, July 18, 1950.

Peverini, Héctor J. En las huellas de la Providencia [In the footsteps of the Providence]. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1988.

Schubert, Walter. “La Plata.” La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], year 35, nº 21, 28 October 1935.

Snow, T. B. “Obituary Notices.” ARH, vol. 72, nº 46, November 12, 1895.

Thomann, A. E. The Federick Westphal - Tribe Tabulation, vol. 3, nº 2, 1962, 3:102-109.

Thompson, J. T. “Chepen’s New Church Building.” South American Bulletin, vol. 7, nº 10, October 1931.

Thompson, J. T. “Our Hope are in God.” South American Bulletin, vol. 8, nº 8, August 1932.

Thompson, J. T. “The Opening of the Lima Church Building.” South American Bulletin, vol. 9, nº 4, April 1933.

Wasiuk, Oscar N. Reseña histórica de la Iglesia Adventista del 7° Día en el Uruguay [Historical review of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Uruguay], 1° ed. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1996.

Westphal, Barbara. A Man Called Pedro. Monuntain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1975.

Westphal, Henry J. “Broadcasting Our Message by Radio in Uruguay.” South American Bulletin, vol. 19, nº 3. Third Quarter 1943.

Notes

  1. “Deaths” (Henry J. Westphal), ARH, vol. 160, nº 45, November 10, 1983, 30. Buenos Aires Association Records Archive, Enrique José Westphal, “Prontuario Familiar de Obrero” [Family Medical Record of the Worker] (1935). Chester Edwin Westphal, “Obituary for Henry J. Westphal,” September 14, 1983, 1-5. Arthur Eugene Westphal, “Henry Joseph Westphal” (1983), 1-3.↩

  2. H. Westphal, J. W. Westphal, s.l.: Westphal, January 1953, 2-3; T. B. Snow, “Obituary Notices,” ARH, vol. 72, nº 46, November 12, 1895, 735. A. E. Thomann, The Federick Westphal - Tribe Tabulation, vol. 3, nº 2, 1962, 3:102-109.↩

  3. “Inca News Notes,” South American Bulletin, vol. 4, nº 5, May 1928, 4.↩

  4. J. T. Thompson, “Chepen’s New Church Building,” South American Bulletin, vol. 7, nº 10, October 1931, 5, 6. J. T. Thompson, “Our Hope is in God,” South American Bulletin, vol. 8, nº 8, August 1932, 3. J. T. Thompson, “The Opening of the Lima Church Building,” South American Bulletin, vol. 9, nº 4, April 1933, 1. ↩

  5. R. R. Breitigan, “Ministerial Institutes-Inca Union,” South American Bulletin, vol. 6, nº 7, July 1930, 2, 3. Barbara Westphal, A Man Called Pedro (Monuntain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1975), 3.↩

  6. Walter Schubert, “La Plata,” La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], year 35, nº 21, October 28, 1935, 16.↩

  7. N. W. Dunn, “News Flashes from a Secretary’s Desk,” South American Bulletin, vol. 16, nº 3, March 1940, 5. Ellis Maas, “The River Plate Junior College,” South American Bulletin, vol. 16, nº 12, December 1940, 3.↩

  8. N. W. Dunn, “C. L. Bond’s Visit,” South American Bulletin, vol. 18, nº 5, May 1942, 1, 2. Henry J. Westphal, “Broadcasting Our Message by Radio in Uruguay,” South American Bulletin, vol. 19, nº 3, Third Quarter 1943, 3. “50 Aniversario, 1943-1993, Uruguay Academy” [50th Aniversary, 1943-1993, Uruguay Academy], Horizontes [horizons], Uruguay Academy, 1993, 4. Oscar N. Wasiuk, Reseña histórica de la Iglesia Adventista del 7° Día en el Uruguay [Historical review of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Uruguay], 1° ed. (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1996), 26-27.↩

  9. María Isabel Mateo Larrea, 100 years of commitment, Instituto Adventista Florida (educaciónadventista.org.ar/iaf, 2013), 80-85.↩

  10. “Medical Student Visits Mexico,” Atlantic Union Gleamer,” vol. 49, nº 28, July 18, 1950, 2. L. L. Beile, “Evangelism in Central America,” Messenger, vol. 34, nº 5, May 1962, 2.↩

  11. Eugenio Di Dionisio, “La Caravana Westphal” [The Westphal Caravan], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], vol. 76, nº 5, May 1976, 12.↩

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Dionisio, Eugenio Di. "Westphal, Enrique José (1903–1983)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Accessed December 13, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=8GRL.

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Dionisio, Eugenio Di. "Westphal, Enrique José (1903–1983)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access December 13, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=8GRL.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File

Dionisio, Eugenio Di (2020, January 29). Westphal, Enrique José (1903–1983). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved December 13, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=8GRL.

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