Trobisch, Walter

Walter Trobisch and Ingrid Hult were missionaries to Cameroon and family life counselors. Born in Leipzig, Germany, Walter Trobisch was drafted into the army at age 18. Wounded on the Russian front, he was evacuated to Vienna, where he began studies for the ministry. After the war he continued his study at Leipzig and Heidelberg and spent a year at Augustana College in Illinois. There he met Ingrid Hult, who was born of missionary parents in Tanganyika (Tanzania) and planned to serve in Africa with the Augustana Lutheran church’s Sudan Mission. While in language school in Paris, she renewed her acquaintance with Walter, who now was a pastor in Germany. In 1950 she went to Cameroon, but their love grew and two years later they were married. He joined her in the mission and in 1953 they began to pioneer work at Tchollire, in northern Cameroon. In 1957 they were reassigned to Cameroun Christian College in Libamba, where Walter Trobisch taught German and Bible and served as the campus pastor. He also offered classes on sex and marriage for older students, which led to the publication in 1962 of I Loved a Girl, the correspondence between him and two young African Christians who were deeply in love. This became a bestseller, and further books followed. The requests for advice on family life grew so heavy that the Trobisches left Cameroon in 1963, relocated in Austria, and formed the Family Life Mission, which conducted seminars all over the world and carried on a large counseling ministry by mail. After Walter’s untimely death, Ingrid Trobisch returned to the family home in Springfield, Missouri, and engaged in writing and speaking.

Richard V. Pierard

Bibliography

Walter Trobisch, The Complete Works of Walter Trobisch (1987); Ingrid Hult Trobisch, On Our Way Rejoicing (1964).

This article is reproduced, with permission, from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, copyright © 1998, by Gerald H. Anderson, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All rights reserved.