Pastor killed in hit-and-run hours after announcing retirement to congregation
Just hours after he announced plans to retire after more than 40 years in ministry, California pastor, Dale Paulsen was killed in a hit-and-run while on his favorite walk on Sunday. He was 67.
“Dale Paulsen died tragically last night on his favorite walk along the bay. He was a man of faith and of integrity who served Jesus with his wife Emily for over 40 years in ministry. Dale is survived by his wife, also by his 3 sons and their wives and 7 young grandchildren who were looking forward to so much fun with him in his retirement and loved him very much,” Paulsen’s family said in a statement Monday.
The California Highway Patrol told KSBY that Paulsen, who led the Morro Bay Presbyterian Church, was walking westbound on the shoulder of Ramona Avenue in Los Osos when he was hit by a pickup truck east of Pine Avenue at about 5:30 p.m.
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The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office says that the driver of the pickup truck, Emily Bales, 24, of Los Osos, left the scene but was later detained and arrested on suspicion of driving drunk. She was booked at around 9 p.m. Sunday and released from custody at around midnight on $100,000 bail.
Just hours before the tragedy, members of Morro Bay Presbyterian Church had started planning for his retirement party. Now they are planning for his funeral.
“Did this really happen?” Lynne Oliverius, Morro Bay Presbyterian Church’s worship director, said to KSBY on Monday. “We were just here together worshiping the Lord, praising together, and pastor got to announce his retirement yesterday.”
It would have been Paulsen’s 24th year at the church in February 2019.
“On Wednesday, we set his favorite songs for his retirement service and now I’m setting those songs for his funeral,” Oliverius added.
Church elder Erica King told The Tribune that her pastor’s death is a “great loss” for the church.
“He was so full of life and love and laughter and that’s a great loss. That’s a great loss,” King said.
“One moment you’re going about your business and the next, you’ve run headlong into an immovable object. And you recoil and you say, ‘This can’t be happening,’ but it just did,” she continued.
King recalled Paulsen as “a clear thinker and a tenderhearted shepherd” who cared about and was committed to his congregants and his family.
She said he loved playing basketball and he was out walking on Ramona Avenue on Sunday because he had injured himself and was trying to stay strong and eventually return to the sport.
“He wasn’t going to sit in a chair and get stodgy,” King said.
In a sermon earlier this month, Paulsen encouraged his church to turn to God during times of crisis.
“I would say to you all this morning, if you are facing some sort of crisis, some kind of difficulty, you’re facing a stressful situation and you think there is no way you are going to survive, there’s no way you are going to get through this, I encourage you to turn to Jesus,” he said.
“He may not answer the prayer you would like to be answered, He may not give you what you want but He will give you His peace in the face of it all, and He will get you through it, no matter what you have to get through. He will get you through the darkest storm.”
