David Harold Andreae was born March 18, 1943 in Oelwein, Iowa. His parents are Herbert J. Andreae and Esther M. (Zwanziger) Andreae. They farmed in Clayton County, Iowa between Strawberry Point and Volga, and now live at the Kingston Court Retirement Center in Elkader, Iowa. David has two younger sisters, Nancy A. (Mrs. Gary) Klingman of rural Strawberry Point, Iowa, and Jane M. (Mrs. Jerome) Godson or Elgin, Iowa. His nephew, Mace and Kristin (Druecker) Klingman, and Parker, are living on the Andreae home farm near Volga.
David was baptized and confirmed at St. Sebald Lutheran Church, in rural Strawberry Point, Iowa. He attended public school at Volga, and was a member of the last class to graduate (1961) before consolidation into Central Community Schools of Elkader. He graduated from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa in 1965, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Greek, and from Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa in 1969, with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. (What with all those bachelors degrees, and several older unmarried relatives in the family, David comes by his bachelor marital status quite honestly.) During seminary years, David spent a summer leading worship at his home parish while they were without a pastor. He also spent a summer and some time during the school year, as a student pastor under Pastor Martin Bredow at Zion Lutheran Church, Clinton, Iowa. His official year of internship was under the guidance of Pastor Wm. A. Foege at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Walla Walla, Washington in 1967-1968.
Following ordination June 8, 1969 at St. Sebald, David was installed in July, 1969 as pastor of Bethel, Elm Grove, and Elk Valley Lutheran Churches near Larimore and McCanna, North Dakota. Twenty-two brief and enjoyable years of serving that three point rural parish made a Nodak flatlander out of Pastor Dave. But finally the homing instinct kicked in, and he was installed on August 4, 1991 as pastor of Big Canoe and Highland Lutheran Churches, rural Highlandville, Iowa (of which Decorah is a southwestern suburb). This brought him closer to family again, and still allows him to be the German Shepherd to a wonderful, rural Norwegian parish much like his North Dakota parish had been.
A pastor's time is generally well taken up, but David still takes time to enjoy motorcycling, snowmobiling, and toy (and real) tractors. He is a member of the Luren Singing Society, headquartered in Decorah. He also holds membership in the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, the North Dakota Heritage Foundation in Bismarck, North Dakota, the Two-Cylinder Club (for old John Deere tractor addicts) headquartered in Grundy Center, Iowa, the Iowa State Snowmobile Association, and the Winn Trail Twisters Snowmobile Club.