Wangerin to resume tour

Fri, September 13, 2002 |

Valparaiso University faculty member Walt Wangerin Jr., who was injured Monday morning in a bicycle mishap near Alexandria, Minn., will resume his tour in support of Lutheran Vespers Sept. 19 with a rally in Marshall, Minn.

Wangerin was more than a third of the way into the nine-week bike tour when the accident occurred. He has been in the hospital since Sept. 9 after undergoing surgery for a fractured left hip. He is scheduled to be released from the hospital today.

Wangerin, who is Emil and Elfriede Jochum University professor and writer-in-residence at VU, was injured when a saddle bag came loose and lodged in the bicycle's back wheel, throwing him to the ground.

While Wangerin, a noted storyteller and author, will continue his tour, he will do so in a motor home, and not by bicycle. Wangerin's tour was scheduled to go 2,600 miles and into eight states. The goal of his trip is to increase listener participation in Lutheran Vespers, the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, thank volunteers, and raise funds to sustain the program's ministry.

His trip is to end with a celebration Oct. 20 in Chicago and Oct. 21 on campus.