History
Dr. Malcolm Lee Minnick Sr. would be proud of the schools named in his honor. Minnick Education Centers grew out of a need to educate the children of the Lutheran Children's Home of the South, a growing number of whom had emotional and academic challenges arising from abuse and neglect. In 1980, almost 100 years after its founding in 1888, the Children's Home established a school named for Dr. Minnick on its Salem campus to provide for the special needs of these children. Now with three campuses in Roanoke, Wytheville and Harrisonburg, Minnick Education Centers serves students with complex special needs from 24 school divisions under the auspices of Lutheran Family Services of Virginia, which was created in 1982 by LCH to provide community, church and home-based services.
So who was Dr. Minnick? As trustee of the Children's Home for almost 40 years, Dr. Minnick expressed his dedication to the young residents of the Home through stewardship and service. Described by friends and colleagues as personable, hard-working and an excellent teacher, when he wasn't tending to the business of the Home, he was ministering to its children at College Lutheran, where he was pastor for 26 years. When it came time to name the Lutheran Children's Home school, he was a natural choice.
Dr. Minnick served a broad range of Virginia Synod institutions. He was secretary of the Synod from 1943 to 1958, and a member of the Executive Council from 1945 until 1970. He was among several who envisioned homes to serve the elderly through the state and was on the study committee that brought into being the Virginia Synod Lutheran Homes, serving as the first president of the Board of Trustees. He was also a trustee of Marion College of Virginia from 1947 until its merger with Roanoke College in the 1960s.