[1] After his military service, Preus enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School for a year.
His first pastorate was in Brookings, South Dakota, where he married Ann Margaret Overgaard Madsen in 1951.
He later served a congregation in Vermillion, South Dakota, and at University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
[2] In 1988, Preus was appointed a distinguished visiting professor at Luther Seminary and director of its Global Mission Institute.
[citation needed] His funeral and interment service took place on August 1, 2021, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Laporte, Minnesota.