Lee Edward Bohnhoff, age 85, of Orfordville, passed away at his home, on Sunday, August 7, 2022.
Lee was born on November 22, 1936 at Brodhead, WI, the son of Charles Kenneth ‘Ken’ Bohnhoff
and Ella May Schumacher Bohnhoff. He was baptized and confirmed in Orfordville Lutheran
Church. He was married to Eloise Henrietta Hanson on May 20, 1962 in Edina, MN. Eloise passed
away on July 30, 1969 in Cameroon, Africa, where she is buried near the hospital in Ngaoundéré. He
was remarried on December 8, 1979 to Torbjørg Johanne Heimstad, whom he met in Cameroon.
After 32 years of married life, Torbjørg passed away on February 14, 2012 in Orfordville, WI, where
she is buried in the Lutheran cemetery.
Lee grew up on the Bohnhoff family farm south of Orfordville, and graduated from Orfordville High
School in the class of 1954. He studied at Luther College in Decorah, IA, graduating with a B.A. in
1958; then at Luther Theological Seminary, St. Paul, MN, where he graduated in 1962 with a
‘Bachelor of Divinity’, now called a Master of Divinity degree. Later he studied at Michigan State
University in East Lansing, MI, obtaining his M.A. in Linguistics in 1968. During an extended home
leave a few years later, he obtained his Ph.D. in Linguistics on December 3, 1976 from the University
of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
Lee was ordained on May 27, 1962 as a pastor in The American Lutheran Church, with a call to serve
The ALC's Division of World Missions, being sent to work in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Cameroon (ELCC). He retired in 2001 after 39 years of work, first with The ALC, then with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Division for Global Mission. He went to Paris, France in
the fall of 1962 for a year of French study where he obtained his certificate in spoken French, and his
diploma of the French language. French was to become his major tool for his writings and for
communicating with people and the authorities in Cameroon.
He arrived in Cameroon in September, 1963 with his wife Eloise and newborn son Jonathan. The
ELCC asked him to work in the Dii language (pronounced ‘Dee’ in English), where over the years he
trained 11 persons for work in the Dii Literature Center. These persons learned to read and write Dii,
type, edit, create or translate, and mimeograph books and booklets for the church’s use among the
Dii. Later he had to teach the center employees how to manipulate a computer, diskettes and printer.
During his time at the Dii center, he was constantly training staff and insisting on teamwork; usually
several team members contributed before any item was published. While Lee was in Cameroon, the
Dii team produced over 80 Dii books and booklets, or writings concerning the Dii language, some
going through several editions over the years: primers and readers to teach reading and writing in
Dii; hymnals; a catechism; a liturgy book; Bible stories booklets; evangelism tracts for ELCC work;
development booklets on pregnancy, how to care for children, the danger of pesticides, how to
improve cooking; and general literature and technical items like calendars, a Dii-French dictionary, a
Dii Phonology and Grammar, booklets of folktales, and a Dii language course for expatriates
(including audio tapes). His last year in Cameroon saw the latest edition of the hymnal published, as
well as 91 selected Old Testament Psalms, and the whole New Testament in the Dii language was
dedicated and put on sale. At the time Lee left Cameroon, more than four thousand Dii knew how to
read in their own language.

Although Lee was an ordained pastor, he seldom had a parish in Cameroon, but used his knowledge
of theology and linguistics to work with the Dii language and produce good literature so church
workers could do their work better. The Dii seldom called him ‘Pastor Lee’, but usually: Baa yag dii
‘the Dii language man’. A major concern of his was to train literature center personnel to be able to
write and/or translate and publish literature that the church needs in its life; Lee spent all his life
training staff and supervising their work. Late in 1987, he gave up the title ‘technical counselor’ and
a Cameroonian pastor, Mathieu Kadia, was elected director of the literature team. Lee then worked
under him until 1999, at which time he helped train a new director for the literature team, Pastor Iya
François. Training, training, it was always training and teaching.
In addition to working with the Dii people, Lee was often handed other responsibilities in Cameroon.
He was national Literature Coordinator over all seventeen ELCC literature projects for five years,
representative or vice-representative for the ELCA missionary group for eighteen years, treasurer for
the ELCA missionary group for over three years, national ELCC treasurer for three years, and a
member of the Cameroon Bible Society Administrative Board for twelve years.
In 2001 he retired and took up residence with Torbjørg in Orfordville, WI, where they were active
members of Orfordville Lutheran Church. In retirement he enjoyed reading, entertaining friends and
neighbors for meals and movies, meeting with pastoral colleagues in the local pastoral group, and
loved video chatting with friends back in Cameroon. He also continued writing about the Dii
language, editing the most recent version of the Dii dictionary in collaboration with Mathieu Kadia
and Marthe Asmaou: Dii (Duru)–French Dictionary with French and English Indexes, which was
published in 2019 by Rüdiger Köppe Verlag in Cologne, Germany. The latest version of A
Description of Dii Phonology, Grammar, and Discourse was published on the internet in 2019.
He is survived by his sons Jonathan of Albany, WI; and Roger (Judy) of Highlands Ranch, CO; his
brother Hal vonBohnhoff of Tucson, AZ; and sister Helen (Jerry) Pearson, of Rockford, IL. He was
preceded in death by his parents, his wives Eloise and Torbjørg, and his sister Elizabeth Blush.
A Celebration of Life will be held Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. at Orfordville Lutheran
Church, Orfordville. Visitation will take place on Thursday, from 11:00 a.m. until the time
of service at the church. Newcomer Silverthorn Chapel on the Hill, Orfordville is assisting the family.
Burial will be in Orfordville Lutheran Cemetery.