Pastors and parishioners who knew the Rev. John and Lorraine Nicolai were still working through their shock Wednesday following the deaths of the couple in a car accident Tuesday morning at Dickinson.

Nicolai, 84, and his wife, Lorraine, 81, were a longtime, well-known Bismarck couple; Nicolai was a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bismarck from 1955 until his retirement in 1989.

The couple made a huge impact at Trinity, said the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Steve Sathre.

"Warm and fun," Sathre described Nicolai; at Trinity's centennial celebration in September, Nicolai was "just in his glory, seeing people come back," Sathre said.

The word that describes him aptly was "connection," Sathre said. "He was totally involved with the community in so many ways, a huge sports enthusiast" who loved high school sports.

Nicolai trained as a social worker before entering the ministry, so he had "a helping heart, all that compassion, and brought the faith element, too," Sathre said

"He was personally interested in you. Made connections, kept up connections, was so excellent at it."

During the Nicolais' years there, "they worked together as a wonderful team, complemented each other,"he said.

People have been calling Trinity, reacting to the couple's deaths with shock and disbelief, Sathre said. "They can't believe it happened, especially that both of them are gone is double overwhelming."

The Rev. Robert Lynne, former bishop of the Western North Dakota Synod of the ELCA, said that the impact that the Nicolais had on Trinity and on the Bismarck community was nothing but positive.

From his involvement in service clubs, community activities, the Lions Clubs and Buckstop Junction, "everybody knew Nick, everybody liked Nick," Lynne said. "I think he was a tremendous human being."

Lynne also called John and Lorraine a great team. Lorraine Nicolai was "the ideal pastor's wife, one of the most positive ladies in the church you ever discover,"he said.

Rather quiet and somewhat reserved, Lorraine Nicolai was very self-giving, always positive and supportive, he said: "She was really a wonderful lady."

Lynne came to Bismarck in the fall of 1960 and has known the Nicolais since then.

"Nick, he loved a good joke. He had a good sense of humor, was giving of himself, supportive of the church."

The couple were two very warm personalities,he said - "they lived their Christian faith.""

Nicolai retired 19 years ago, and Sathre remembered his own years as a young pastor coming into Trinity. Nicolai treated him as a member of the team from the beginning, he said.

"When I came on board here, he and Hensel Hendrickson had served together for 25 years and I was this young pastor coming in," Sathre said. "He was so gracious … just awesome.

"Speaking at the funeral of someone like John and Lorraine, it's so easy. Nick and Lorraine's gifts were so obvious," Sathre said.

"You celebrate their lives and the blessings they brought. You celebrate the God that they loved and the resurrection."

Among his other activities, Nicolai served in the 1970s as the chairman of the Committee on Children and Youth of the Governor's Council on Human Resources.

Anative of California, Nicolai served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, graduated from Luther Theological Seminary in 1952, and served at Dunn Center before coming to Bismarck. Lorraine (Solberg) Nicolai was a native of Butler, S.D. The couple has five children.

Visitation will be held from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, and will continue one hour prior to services at the church. A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at Parkway.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church.

Further arrangements are pending at Parkway.

(Reach reporter Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@;bismarcktribune.com.)