T-R PHOTO BY SUSANNA MEYER Captain Pam Kasten, who has been the head of the Salvation Army in Marshalltown for four years, is resigning from the post, and her last day will be May 22.

After serving as the head of the Salvation Army in Marshalltown for four years, Captain Pam Kasten has resigned from her position to pursue other opportunities. Her last day will be May 22.

Kasten has been working with Salvation Army Central Territory for 10 years — two years in Omaha, Neb., four years in Boone and then four years in Marshalltown. Kasten said her resignation hadn’t been a decision she had taken lightly, and she considered it for several months.

“I love Marshalltown and I love what I do, but I just felt like it was time for a change and I felt God asking me to do something different,” she said.

Kasten will be moving to Cedar Rapids, where she will be working for the manufacturing company Raining Rose as their training and development specialist. Raining Rose produces personal care products, and while Kasten is looking forward to starting something new, she’s also a little nervous about learning the ropes.

Before working in the Salvation Army Central Territory, Kasten spent two years in seminary and served as a youth pastor for three years. She also worked in a Salvation Army store in St. Louis for six years.

After spending so much of her adult life working with the nonprofit, Kasten said switching to a for profit company will definitely be an adjustment, but she also believes her experience will translate well to her new position.

“I’ll be in charge of all their training,” Kasten said. “I’ve trained a lot of different people in a lot of different capacities over 10 years, so yeah, I definitely will be using the skills that I’ve developed.”

She is also going from working as an administrator and being in charge of multiple departments and initiatives at once to running one piece of a company, which is one of the aspects of the new job that drew her to it.

“I’m looking forward to being in charge of just one piece,” Kasten said. “I always say I have about 50 plates spinning at a time, so it’ll be nice to just take a step back and just be a part of a congregation and to rest a little bit.”

Kasten is going from being on call to eight-hour shifts, and she is ready to welcome some of the downtime that will provide. She is also excited to indulge in one of her favorite pastimes.

“My favorite thing is spending time with horses, so I’m going to get that opportunity and just to kind of ‘be.’ As a pastor, you don’t get to really ‘be’ a lot, so, I get to attend church and not have to run it, so I’m looking forward to some of those things,” Kasten said.

Looking back on her tenure at Salvation Army, Kasten said working with the kids in youth programs was one of the highlights of her position.

“Kids are my heart. Youth ministry — that will probably be the thing I miss the most, is working with them,” she said.

Kasten also felt lucky to witness the support members of the Marshalltown community showed each other through the tornado and the derecho during her tenure with the Salvation Army.

Lts. Chris and Abby Nicolai, a couple from Porter County, Ind., will take over Kasten’s position on June 8. The Nicolais have been running the Salvation Army in Porter County for three years, and they were assigned to Marshalltown by the organization’s western division.

Chris Nicolai will be coming with some experience as a youth pastor, and Abby Nicolai has a bachelor’s degree in social work. Between May 23 and June 8, leadership from the Salvation Army headquarters will be stepping in to run the Marshall County branch, but no changes in services are anticipated.

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Contact Susanna Meyer

at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.