3 minute read
Surrounded By Strong Examples Of The Faith, Gene Stukel Feels Inspired To Serve
Perhaps no one understands the power of a positive role model more than those who have devoted their lives to the education of young minds. When retired high school teacher Gene Stukel reflects on his involvement in St. Andrew Parish and the surrounding community, he is the first to give credit to the many strong examples he has witnessed of faith in action. In his parents, his wife, and countless fellow parishioners, Gene has found abundant inspiration for following a stewardship way of life.
In addition to his “day job” teaching high school social studies in Granite Falls, Gene also spent several years teaching Faith Formation at St. Andrew. Currently, Gene is a member of St. Andrew’s Administrative Council and he helps with setup, serving, and clean up at funeral receptions. Also, he shows his support for St. Andrew’s ministry at the nursing home by attending Friday Masses there.
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Gene enjoys being a Dinner at Your Door driver with his wife, Helen, who is also a retired teacher. Although Gene and Helen attend two different churches — Helen is a member of the United Church of Christ — the two often find ways to serve together. Helen has participated with the Dinner at Your Door ministry for about 20 years. When her small church needed more volunteers, Gene began helping her. Now he accompanies Helen on her deliveries while helping this ministry through St. Andrew Parish as well.
Gene is thankful that his wife led him to this form of service.
“It does my heart good to know that we’re doing something to help,” Gene says. “Helen does a lot of things at her church, and I see her as a role model. She is a strong believer and such a good role model for me.”
For both Gene and Helen, stewardship was something modeled to them from early on. Realizing what an influence their parents had on the way that they live their faith, Gene and Helen raised their three children to be active disciples of Christ. Their two daughters and their son attended both Sunday School at Helen’s church and Wednesday evening Faith Formation at St. Andrew every week as they were growing up.
“Both sets of our parents were very faithoriented people, so when Helen and I got together, we talked about these things,” Gene says. “We hoped to be good role models for our kids. We knew that when they left the house, they were going to be the ones making decisions, and you just hope you’ve planted those seeds.”
Today, the Stukels’ two daughters have become teachers themselves, and their son works in IT for the school system. With so many models of service to emulate, their seven grandchildren will surely find their own ways to serve the community someday!
In the 52 years that Gene has been a parishioner at St. Andrew, he has found additional examples of an active faith life right here in our parish family. He still remembers when Sr. Mary first asked him to join the Parish Council. Gene calls that personal invitation a “game-changer” for him. In that moment, he decided that whenever he was asked to help with something, he would say “yes.” And, at St. Andrew, there is always inspiration to answer the call to serve!
“I’ve been able to develop some really meaningful relationships and strong connections with others and with God through my little faith journey here,” Gene says. “I think a lot of credit for that goes to St. Andrew because we’re small, we need the volunteers, and it’s easy to build friendships as we work together to build a strong faith community. I’ve also developed some good relationships with people in the other two parishes and feel like I can go to Mass there and fit in.”
Surrounded by such strong examples of faith in action, Gene is continuously inspired to give of his own time, talent, and treasure in thanksgiving for the many blessings he’s received.
“There are some people in our church that I just admire,” he says. “I call them ‘holy role models’ because they are just so good, and I hope I can be like that. Plus, a great partner never hurts!”
St. Andrew parishioner Gene Stukel is continuously inspired to give of his own time, talent and treasure in thanksgiving for the many blessings he’s received.
