This scholarship was established in 2012 by Jon Lee Willand to honor Reverend Victor Weyland, a man he barely knew. The history of this scholarship is the story of these two men and how the Holy Spirit works over time and distance.
Jon Willand was born in 1940 and was a lifelong student of history. He taught survey courses in American history, Minnesota history, World War II, and family history research at North Hennepin Community College (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota) from its inception in 1966 until his retirement in 2003. He authored two local history books and advocated for the preservation of historic trails and sites in Lac qui Parle and Chippewa Counties, especially those related to the Dakota people, the early missionaries, and early homesteaders and settlers.
Victor Weyland was born in 1914 and graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1940. His first call was to the dual parish of Friedens Evangelical Lutheran in Bonduel, Wisconsin, and St. Paul of the town of Angelica, Wisconsin. He then took a call to Collins, Wisconsin, where he served the St. Peter congregation from 1948 until his installation at Northwestern Lutheran Academy (NLA) in Mobridge, South Dakota, in 1957. When NLA closed its doors in 1979, Professor Weyland accepted the call to New Ulm, Minnesota, to teach history at the newly formed Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School. He served there until he was called to glory in 1981 during Christmas break.
A love of history connected these two men. Their lives briefly intersected when both pursued graduate studies at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion during the 1960s. Victor Weyland, more than 25 years Jon’s senior, left a lasting mark on the younger man. With no connection to Martin Luther College or the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and 30 years after the men had been summer history students together, Jon established the Rev. Victor Weyland Legacy Scholarship. Jon’s sole reason was revealed in an email where he wrote, “I went to graduate school with Vic and found him to be one of the finest Christian gentlemen I’ve ever known.”
Reverend Weyland’s legacy affected many more beyond that fellow student. While at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, future pastor Kevin Mau was inspired to write a paper titled “Professor Victor J. Weyland: Portrait of a Patient Shepherd” about his former NLA teacher. He commented about Professor Weyland: “What made his class so attractive to me was his obvious love of history. He taught me that God has important lessons for us in history: lessons about sin and grace, wisdom and folly, knowledge and ignorance.”
Reverend Weyland’s impact was far-reaching, but also very personal to those who knew him best. His daughter, Barb Hennig, told the story of how a young man named Craig Hoffman, who seemed to need some direction in his life, kept “hanging around” her father and younger sister, Margaret. With her older siblings out of the house by this time, Margaret often saw a side of her father that the others hadn’t. She commented to Barb, “I know you didn’t get to experience Dad the way Craig and I did, but I saw him as such a great witness. His influence on Craig was tremendous.” That influence might have contributed to Craig and Margaret Hoffman being married for over 50 years.
This history of two lives is really a history woven by the Holy Spirit. Through Victor Weyland’s witnessing and Jon Willand’s responding to the Lord’s urging, the story that began 50 years ago left quite a legacy.
Scholarship recipients are pre-seminary students who demonstrate financial need.
