Oliver Harms was a 1926 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He was ordained on October 4, 1926, as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Eden, Texas, where he served from 1926 to 1935. Also in 1926, he married Bertha Serrien. In 1935, he became pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas, where he succeeded John W. Benhken, who had become the sixth president of the LCMS.[1]
Harms served as a vice-president of the Texas District from 1939 to 1948, and as president from 1948 to 1950. From 1941 to 1947 he was a member of the Board of Electors of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He served the LCMS as a member of its board of directors from 1950 to 1956, as a vice-president from 1956 to 1959, and as president from 1962 to 1969. In 1953, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.[1]
Harms died on June 3, 1980, in Houston. He and his wife are buried in Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in that city.[1]
