Erwin (Erv) Uecker said, when asked about his life goal: “To leave this human family in a little better condition than I found it.” And that he did, in spectacular fashion, his whole life long.

Erv was born in Chicago during the 1932 Democratic National Convention there. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his motorcade drove past the hospital, and Erv’s grandfather remarked, “There goes one president, and here comes another president,” referring to the birth of his grandson.

Erv enjoyed a very rich life, both personally and professionally. He met the love of his life, his husband Ross Walker in June, 1957 through a mutual friend. “It wasn’t ‘love at first sight,’ we were ‘friends at first sight,’ said Erv. And they remained the best of friends through all their 67 years together. Perhaps that’s the key to a relationship which took them from a Lutheran parsonage in Chicago, to a horse breeding farm in Wisconsin, and finally to Milwaukee, where they were instrumental in keeping the BESTD Clinic operating.

Erv was ordained as a Lutheran Minister in 1968, and for 10 years he was the pastor at Chicago’s St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, where he directed a staff of four associate pastors. Although the church was in a middle class, blue-collar neighborhood, the couple lived together in the parsonage. “Everybody did what they had to do to deal with it,” said Erv. “Some people thought we were brothers until both our mothers showed up at church one day.”

The two bought a farm in Oxford, Wisconsin where they bred horses for about 12 years. In 1983, the couple stopped in Milwaukee on their way through to sell a property. “We were going to retire at Marco Island, Florida. But, we met some friends in Milwaukee, and we decided we didn’t need Florida,” Erv said.

That fateful decision was Milwaukee’s gain. Erv and Ross got very involved in the BESTD Clinic. They both worked full-time, without pay, for the clinic. They were also instrumental in the founding of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. In addition to activism and personal time, they provided the initial funds by making a long-term pledge toward rent and operating costs of a true community center.

In 2015, Erv took on the role of pastor once again when he served as Interim Pastor of Pilgrim UCC Church in Grafton for six months, after the departure of Pastor Franz Rigert, to keep the church moving forward during a critical period of transition.

Erv will be greatly missed by his devoted husband, Ross, and by many extended family and friends, including those at Alexian Village, where he has lived for the past 14 years; the LGBT communities he was such an integral part of; and the many church congregations that were blessed to have Erv as their pastor.