Sigrid Adrian Lepik

On Wednesday evening, May 7, 2025, Sigrid Lepik of Columbia, South Carolina entered the presence of her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Her last hours were full of friends reading scripture to her and singing her favorite hymns over her with joy. She passed from this earthly life peacefully, after living her last months with stage four cancer. On May 13, 1943, Sigrid was born to Friedrich Gustav Adrian and Elfrede Martha Adrian in Solingen Germany, where she and her sister Ulrike grew up.

Well-suited in her skills in precision and multi-lingual mastery, Sigrid worked as an administrative assistant in the Netherlands, New Jersey and South Carolina. Her ability to translate Dutch and English into German was a very valuable skill in her work. She worked for everything from an American Company in the Hague of the Netherlands to a German/American company in the US to the Salvation Army.  While working in New Jersey for the German/American company, she became a United States citizen.

At her NJ company, Sigrid met her future husband over a daily, lingering cup of coffee in the breakroom. Their boss began to comment on "how long it was taking to make a cup of coffee". They fell in love and, when she was 39, she married her loving husband Űlo Lepik (originally of Viljandi, Estonia). They lived happily on a 2-acres, which she loved for its nature and creatures, until he passed away unexpectedly years later. The sorrow of Űlo’s untimely death weighed heavily on Sigrid, who found some peace in the company of their Burmese Mountain Dog named Eda.

While still living in New Jersey home, Sigrid lost Eda and, in the midst of crying out for God to help her, she was introduced to the peace of knowing Christ and decided to make a choice to follow Jesus whose love she felt deeply. This brought overwhelming and joy-filled peace to her. She sold their home and began traveling. Her travels took her to her family in Germany where she sought to share her newfound faith and to other places including Salzburg where she attended a revival. There she met Hap Struthers, a professor (at what is now Columbia International University) in Columbia, South Carolina. Through her encounter with Struthers, Sigrid felt led of the Lord to move to Columbia and attended seminary at CIU. She really loved the deeper learning there and became solid in her daily time with the Lord, which continued for the rest of her life.  This brought much peace and joy. Over time, God provided for her needs with a few jobs; among them, at CIU, as an administrative assistant.

Sigrid was most proud of her work finding housing for the homeless in programs where she worked in the Salvation Army. She had such a heart for displaced humans and creatures. After her retirement, Sigrid continued her days caring for the dogs that God brought her way, usually homeless themselves. Her care was loving and tender. Sigrid loved to be outdoors, to watch and feed birds, squirrels and all sorts of animals.  Her love of the natural world God made was contagious. For this, her neighbors and friends in Denny Terrace knew her best.

Predeceased by her own parents named above, Sigrid is also predeceased by her husband Űlo Lepik and her brother-in-law Horst Lűedde of Germany. She is survived by her stepdaughter Gloria Corrigan (Kevin) of Florida and her sister Ulrike Adrian Lűedde of Germany and Ulrike’s daughters/Sigrid’s nieces: Andrea, Barbara and Beate and their families.

Sigrid was especially thankful for the friends and families that “adopted her” in her years in Columbia. Among these were her friends at Mrs. Virginia’s Sunday School class at Columbia’s First Church of the Nazarene and, in these last years, her friends Paula Coonce and Gloria Jean Farmer.

Sigrid loved the hymns Fairest Lord Jesus, There is a Redeemer and Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus. Her eyes would gleam bright any time she sang hymns of praise to God or spoke of her Lord Jesus. For this she will be remembered. Proverbs 3:5-6, a favorite passage of Sigrid’s, reads: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Sigrid lived this verse many times over.

Please watch out for information and  mark your calendar to join us for a service to remember Sigrid in the Chapel/Choir Room (under Sanctuary level) at Columbia’s First Church of the Nazarene on Saint Andrews Road in Columbia, inn June. All are invited.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Sigrid’s memory to Columbia's First Church of the Nazarene or Columbia International University