Seventy years ago on December 28, 1944, Amee Gunlikson and Roland Brandt were married at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa in the USA. In 1945 they accepted a call to serve as Lutheran missionaries with the American Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Guinea. Amee and Roland are looking forward to being surrounded by their family on January 3, 2015 as they celebrate this special occasion with them at Croixdale in Bayport, Minnesota where they now live in the assisted living facility.Athletics PNG congratulates Amee and Roland on reaching this remarkable milestone and sends our best wishes to them
In October of 1948 Roland and Amee walked south from Ega to the village of KauKau to establish a new mission station at Omkolai. During the 1950’s and 1960’s they had two home leaves, but then returned to their beloved Omkolai. In 1967 they took two years of leave in the USA. On their return they were posted to the TokPles Teacher Training College at Rintebe in the Eastern Highlands where they continued serving until they went finish in 1972.
They once again returned to serve in PNG at the Katherine Lehmann School in Wau a boarding school for missionary children. Amee and Roland had sent their seven children to this school in the 1950’s and 1960’s for their primary education. They left PNG for good in October of 1980. For the next twenty years Roland continued serving a number of congregations in a part time or visitation capacity in the Waterloo, Iowa and St Paul, Minnesota area of the USA.
Tom Brandt was born at Finschhafen in 1947 in the old US Army hospital at Buangi. He represented PNG in the 10,000m and marathon at the 1971 SP Games in Tahiti, and the 1975 SP Games in Guam, securing a bronze medal in the 10,000m and silver in the marathon at the Tahiti SP Games. He was head coach for Athletics at the 1979 SP Games, Fiji; 1981 Mini Games in the Solomon Islands; 1983 SP Games in Western Samoa; 1984 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane; 1985 Mini Games in the Cook Islands; 1986 World Junior Championships in Greece; and the 1987 SP Games in New Caledonia.
Tom has recently renewed his affiliation with PNG Athletics and is applying his experience in running the University of Queensland Track and Field Facility to assist PNG with the development of new facilities, procurement of equipment, and training of officials.
Last Modified on 02/01/2015 11:19