The Rev. Ramona Soto Rank

Denomination: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Organization: Augustana Lutheran Church, Portland, OR

The late Rev. Ramona Soto Rank was associate pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland, OR, and president of the American Indian and Alaska Native Lutheran Association. She was an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon.

When Rank became a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 2000, she was the second American Indian woman to be ordained in the Lutheran church and the first in the ELCA.

Born on the Klamath Reservation in Klamath County, Ore., Rank attended Colorado Woman's College, Denver. She served as secretary to the General Council of the Klamath Tribes and as a member of the Tribal Restoration Committee. She was executive director of Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, an organization representing 49 federally recognized tribes in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

From 1978 to 1989, Rank coordinated Inter-Lutheran Native American Concerns and served from 1980 to 1987 on the Division for Parish Services board of the former Lutheran Church in America. She was president of the American Indian/Alaska Native Association of the ELCA (formerly the Native American Lutheran Association), served on the ELCA Church Council and chaired the ELCA Oregon Synod Multicultural Council.

A graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., Rank worked with PLTS and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., on curricula and experiences that help train church professionals in the context of American Indian and Alaska Native perspectives. She is a founder of the One in the Spirit gathering that brings together clergy and lay people with American Indian and Alaska Native theologians.

Rev. Rank passed away on January 12, 2007.