September 13, 1929 –
May 30, 2025
Dwight Fullerton Zeller, of Westcliffe, a devoted servant of God, departed this life peacefully Friday, May 30, 2025, to be with his Lord and Savior. His legacy is rich in accomplishments, service to others, and ministry of the Word for more than 75 years. He was a man with a massive personality, a great mind, a tireless work ethic, and perpetual wit.
Born in Monmouth, Illinois, in 1929, to Frederick and Bertha Zeller, Dwight’s father was a minister and Army chaplain, while his mother ran the household and taught school. He and his older brother, Paul, were lifelong friends and collaborators, serving together in ministry. After graduating from Bob Jones College, Dwight and Paul preached at churches in western Kansas and eastern Colorado, establishing deep friendships that lasted a lifetime.
In the early 1950s, Dwight and Paul founded Horn Creek Camp, a Christian youth and family camp near Westcliffe, in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Dwight then served for 20 years as a Navy Chaplain, sending home funds early on to help launch the camp while Paul stayed behind to run it. Dwight’s final Navy tour was as Chaplain at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, at the end of which he began teaching full-time at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia.
In 1976, Dwight founded Sangre de Cristo Seminary, in rural Westcliffe, which started as a summer school and became a full-time seminary in 1979. Focused on the practical application of Biblical exegesis and the study of Biblical languages, Dwight and his wife, Lois, worked side-by-side, teaching and serving students, building the seminary facilities, per-forming maintenance, and preparing men and women for ministry. Dwight often reflected on attending a Billy Sunday revival as a youth, where the tent floors were covered in sawdust—an inspiration for the wood-chip flooring in the seminary chapel.
He stepped down from the seminary presidency in 2000 but continued teaching classes, including Old Testament Hebrew, until the fall of 2024, when he became ill.
Unable to sit still, Dwight pursued a multitude of hobbies with an impressive tenacity: playing the accordion; building wooden clocks; crafting wood pens, herb grinders, and ice cream scoops; setting gems into jewelry; machine knitting woolen socks;
experimenting with optometry eye testing machines; creating hundreds of Greek New Testaments; and so many more. Humble and hardworking, he insisted on doing maintenance and work around his property until his final months–cleaning out the chimneys, plowing roads, and inventing a way to move pellet bags for his stove. He was a master of grammatical rules; could discuss names, dates, and key issues of centuries of British monarchs; enjoyed studying genealogy; sang at the top of his lungs; laughed loudly and often (many times at himself); and loved visits from his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and his many friends and neighbors.
Dwight met his wife Lois in 1954, and their courtship was mostly done via letter correspondence as Dwight was stationed overseas. They married in October 1956. They lived overseas and stateside until his retirement in 1974 and were the proud parents of eight children.
He loved Lois immensely, and they enjoyed many overseas adventures, including their much-loved trips to Northern Ireland for many years where he served as a temporary pastor for months at a time. In their later years, after dinner, they would read the Bible out loud, pray, and play games like dominoes, triominoes, Quiddler, and Scrabble—sometimes adjusting the rules just to help the other person win.
A lifelong learner and passionate reader, Dwight earned several formal degrees: Bachelor of Art, Bob Jones University; Bachelor of Divinity, Cumberland Presbyterian Theological Seminary; Master of Divinity, Memphis Theological Seminary; Master of Theology, Chicago Graduate School of Theology; and Doctor of Ministry, The Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Survived by his wife, Lois; children Joel Zeller, Andrew (Beth Ann) Zeller, Rebecca (Don) Vanderlinden, Lydia (Bruce Stewart) Zeller, Jerry Zeller, William Zeller, Daniel Zeller; 21 grandchildren; and 36 great grandchildren. He was preceded in his death by his brother Paul and his youngest son, Paul.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Sangre de Cristo Seminary.
