Supplements

archive ISSUE

folks recognized for taking their faith into the marketplace

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Ordinary people who live extraordinary lives of faith were recognized Sept. 20 at a dinner in their honor at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville. The Messenger sponsored the recognition because Gospel values must be lived all day every day, not just at weekend liturgies or in personal comfort zones.

Six people were selected by a selection committee from among those nominated to receive a symbol of their faith, of their lives being shared with others to make a difference in this world.

Each person received a bowl made of pottery, an “earthen vessel” as they were reminded of St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” (4:7)

Each story differed according to background and circumstances, but the message remained the same: People who were honored live their lives in service to others. Following are parts of their stories.

Those recognized were: Cindy Bevis, St. Barbara Parish in Scheller; Ed Breeze, St. Mary Parish in Mt. Vernon; Andy and Kathy Bridgeman, St. Clare Parish in O'Fallon; Bill Roewe, St. Nicholas Parish in O'Fallon; Steve Scates, St. Mary Parish in Shawneetown; and Wil Baechle (posthumously), St. Luke Parish in Belleville.

A story about each of those recognized follows.

Faith more important than ‘location’ at Cindy Bevis Real Estate

In real estate people talk about location, location, location as the three important factors in choosing a home or a business.

In the real estate market in Mt. Vernon, the important location to visit first is Cindy Bevis’ Real Estate.
There, people find a staff that cares, and a realtor who gets to know clients so she can make recommendations that fit the person and the family rather than the property.

Described as “wearing the 10 commandments on her sleeve,” Cindy practices her faith all day every day, and always on Sundays at her home parish of St. Barbara’s in Scheller.

Working as a secretary in 1996, a co-worker who was retiring, suggested Cindy become an agent and realtor.
Launched on her own in 2005, Cindy said her business is “going wonderfully.”

Given the state of the economy lately, Cindy must have a secret. She does: She treats everyone as she would like to be treated, she said, including telling clients not to buy a home if she believes it doesn’t fit her clients’ needs.
How many realtors do we know who say: “Don’t buy this house. It just isn’t right for you?”

Believing that clients are more than a paycheck, Cindy goes out of her way to help people.

Joyce Frisch tells this story about Cindy: When she first began to work for Cindy, Joyce noticed a man with disabilities visiting many times every week. Andy is his name. When she inquired about Andy, Joyce discovered Cindy had been helping him for three years to find a home.
Not only was Cindy trying to find Andy a home, she was helping him qualify for disability benefits. Last summer Andy had open heart surgery for the sixth time.

Cindy stuck with him. After spending countless hours on the phone with him, then an attorney, Cindy helped him qualify not only for disability benefits but for a home loan. He recently moved into his own home.
“It breaks your heart to see what some people have to go through and don’t have a friend to help,” Cindy said. “I want us to be that friend.”
For Cindy, it’s not just about “having faith” but sharing her faith through all of her dealings with her clients and staff as well.

Known as a business leader who puts family first, Cindy makes sure her staff knows that if a family member needs help, that person comes first. “There is no business matter more important than a family matter,” Joyce said.

Cindy is also active in her parish, St. Barbara’s in Scheller. A eucharistic minister and lector, Cindy is also a member of the choir, the altar and rosary sodality and the parish council.

In her spare time she attends meetings as a member of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Mt. Vernon Development Corporation.

When she opened her own business in 2005, Cindy said she took a leap of faith. And she has landed squarely on her feet as a leader in both her community and her parish.

Cindy is married to Patrick and has two daughters, Tiffany Delaney and Toni Andrews.

Cindy takes her faith into the marketplace ever day and shares it with others. For her contributions of her time and talent to her church and the community, she accepted The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace Award.

Caring for people key ingredient when Ed Breeze fills prescriptions

A spoonful of kindness helps any medicine go down, and Ed Breeze has more than one spoonful. In fact, his kindness and concern for his customers at Byrd Watson Drugs, where he fills prescriptions and helps folks with medical equipment is well known.

According to Lindy Hudson, who met Ed and his wife, Brenda, in a Renew group at St. Mary’s in Mt. Vernon, “Ed is a Catholic from birth and carries a very strong faith in his heart at all times.”

Lindy met Ed through the parish and now works for him at Byrd Watson where she has seen his faith in action day in and day out.

When a customer brings in a prescription that costs more than a person can afford, Ed works with the customer and the doctor to find a way to make the medicine affordable.

If someone comes in for medical equipment and can’t afford the Medicare co-pay, that doesn’t mean the customer will leave without the equipment. Ed manages to meet the co-pay so that someone can get the medical equipment needed.

“It happens all day long,” Ed said of customers coming in and needing a bit of extra care.
An elderly man who mows yards as his only income takes care of the mowing for Ed to replace the co-pay for medication. “There is not enough grass to make up the difference in this man’s medication bill, but Ed accepts
it as payment just the same,” Lyndy said.

Ed grew up in Centralia and moved to Mt. Vernon after pharmacy school. In the beginning, that would be 1974, Ed said, “we started from zero; we started from scratch. As soon as we got a little, we started to give some away.”
Ed knows when his customers come in, they probably don’t feel good. “You have to deal with a person that’s sick, who doesn’t know about medicines. You have to put them at ease and make sure they can afford the medicine.
Ed and Brenda’s son, Adam, keeps things going, taking care of the business.

About his father, Adam said; “He genuinely cares about people. It’s a good reason to work with someone.”
Ed’s philosophy, which he has passed on to his son: “If they have less, it’s your job to take care of them.”
Lindy said when someone comes in for medical equipment or medication, Ed looks at the situation, gives the customer options and cares for every customer. “He teaches us to do the same.”

Ed’s wife, Brenda, has been working with him for the past 35 years. She said she’s reading a book called “Hug Your Customers.” It’s our philosophy, she said. “Living your faith is a way of life,” Brenda said.

Ed works more than the usual 40 hours per week and then volunteers at St. Mary Parish as well, serving on the finance council and the building fund committee.

As a local business owner, he is also committed to his community and serves on the Mt. Vernon Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development Committee.

For his genuine caring and example of faith in his business, at his parish and in his community he accepted The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace Award.

Bridgemans lead business with faith

Life is filled with risks, so we’re all concerned about insurance and paying the premiums can be tough in economic times like these. Are the insurance agents as concerned about premiums as we are?

If Andy and Kathy Bridgeman are any indication of the type of people calculating our premiums, we are in good hands.
Caring about customers comes with the territory when you own a business, but Andy and Kathy Bridgeman have taken that caring to a new level in the insurance business.

In calculating an insurance premium, the Bridgemans must determine a company or a person’s risk as part of the formula, but the Bridgemans took a risk of their own in April of this year when Andy decided to accept an offer to testify at a state Insurance Committee hearing at the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield, Ill.

At the time, Andy had decided to leave Farmers Insurance where he had been an agent for six years to open an independent agency with his wife, Kathy, as his “boss.”

Kathy had worked for Andy at Farmers for five years in personal insurance — home and auto policies. Andy continues to concentrate on commercial policies.

The couple moved to the Metro East from Chicago in 2000, and are parishioners at St. Clare Parish in O’Fallon.
Active in the parish, they have become much more aware of social justice issues, they said.

One such issue had been bothering Andy for a long time: the use of credit scores when determining insurance premiums for clients. “Every day we have wonderful people come in to the office,” they said, “and they may have a poor credit score.” That means their premiums for the same coverage will be higher than someone else’s with a better credit score.

And the Bridgemans see credit scores getting worse in the present economy with higher prices for everything and more foreclosures.

“I want insurance companies to do their homework and rate people on what they have done and what their risk is,” Andy said.

A person’s credit score may have no bearing on what kind of driver that person is, but it will make a difference in how much they pay for auto insurance.

Andy decided to write about his concerns. He contacted his pastor, Father Jim Deiters, to ask for his advice.
He also contacted Tom Holbrook, his state legislator, about his concerns and then Andy thought he could “cross it off his list.”

He had made an effort to shine a light on the situation, so now he could let it go. It didn’t quite work out that way. He received an invitation from Holbrook to speak at the Insurance Committee hearing, and now he would have to decide exactly what he would do. A friend, and also his attorney, cautioned him about his own risks at speaking “on the record” at the hearing.

“It was a little scary,” Andy said, remembering how he had finally made the decision to speak at the hearing.
The couple prayed about what to do, and as they were making a final decision, an email blinked on his screen from Cheryl Sommer, St. Clare Social Justice and Outreach coordinator. Sommer’s email encouraging them seemed to be sent at just the precise time they were discussing what to do, Andy said.

Even Holbrook expected him to decline the invitation to speak, but Andy believed it was the right thing to do.
In his testimony, Andy described Farmers as an “outstanding,” company, and one “which regularly makes extraordinary efforts to take care of its claimants.”

He told the committee: “I have strong ethical criticisms of unfair practices with respect to credit scoring and its use to develop insurance rates. Customers with poorer scores experienced rate increases triple and quadruple those of other customers without regard to their personal claims experience. The result of this rating behavior brings the premium difference from an uncomfortable disparity to ethically questionable.”

Andy suggested caps on credit scoring so that the most vulnerable people will not be penalized for circumstances unrelated to the insurance they are trying to get.

While no changes have occurred in the industry to date, Andy expects the issue to be raised again next year.
What he and Kathy want to do is raise awareness about how premiums are calculated since most folks don’t realize how this is done.

Their decisions in their business and home are directed by their faith. What is right and just and the ability to help people they know and those they do not guides their life.

For standing up to speak for those who may not be able to speak for themselves, for taking their faith from the pew into the marketplace, Andy and Kathy accepted The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace Award.

Bill Roewe believes in giving people a chance every day

Being in business isn’t just a job to this man who has seen good economies come and go and come back again.
But it isn’t the economy first that Bill Roewe, 84, of St. Nicholas Parish in O’Fallon thinks about — it’s the people. In his over 50 years in business he has always put people first, and family over everything else.

Every day he gives people a chance. In 1957 when Bill was managing Missouri Pipe Fittings in St. Louis, J.C. Owens walked up to him and asked for a job.

Owens, an African American, wasn’t dressed very well, certainly not ready for a job interview. In fact, he needed a job but was convinced if he filled out an application as Bill had recommended, no one would give him a chance.

Bill decided he could find something for Mr. Owens to do that day, and the days after for the next 28-plus years.
“We became friends,” Bill said. “I gave him a chance, and he stood behind me in everything I attempted to do.”
When Mr. Owens died, Bill and his wife went to the funeral where Bill eulogized his longtime friend.

Bill’s employees at the plant, who include three of his four children, come to work for him and stay. When times are good, Bill shares the company’s success with them. When times are bad, he doesn’t lay people off.

“If there’s no work, we’ll put them to work doing something,” Bill said.
The “catalyst” that keeps him going, he said, is Dave, his wife of 57 years. Real name: Wanda Davis, but everybody calls her Dave. “She’s been an inspiration for all of this.”
Backing up to another woman who served as an example for him, Bill described his mother as “a Christian lady, dedicated to her faith, as was my father.”
Growing up, Bill said three classes of people lived in his neighborhood: poor, very poor and destitute.
His mother told him he “had to get an education,” and she wanted Roewe to be the first to graduate from college.
Using the G.I. Bill and a job at the U.S. Post Office at night, Bill worked his way through St. Louis University. Along the way, he took a third job at a stationer’s in St. Louis where he met Dave.

The rest has been more than “history,” with their lives an on-going journey of discovery and love.
Bill’s philosophy: honesty — “if you can’t be honest in business, there’s no reason to be in business.”
Bill began running the company, owned by Mark Eagleton, father of the late Sen. Tom Eagleton, in 1953. He bought the company in 1994, and while he has had opportunities to sell it, he said it’s a family business.

He likes working with his children. “Not many people can see their family members five days a week and visit with them on weekends,” he said. “Family is everything.”

A self-described optimist, Bill said the seas of competition have been rough but he has kept the business going.
He credits his son, Dan, who he says runs the company these days, with broadening the business and including a wider customer base for their products.

Dan said his father is still “the boss.”

Dave said Dan’s business practices reflect his father’s attitudes and faith. “The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Those attitudes and beliefs led the Roewes to give employees a bonus one month because of spiking gasoline prices. Other times, employees who have good work habits — at the plant every day and on time — also receive bonuses.
“I want to share our good fortune,” Bill said. “They stuck with us when times were tight.”

Most of his employees have “stuck” with the company for many years. John Castaldi, 69, has been at Missouri Pipe Fittings for over 40 years. He retired and has come back part time.

Castaldi said Bill has been “like a father to me,” but hastens to add that he treats all employees like part of his family.
Someone might have an electric bill or car payment past due, and Bill would advance them the money, Castaldi said. “It’s hard to leave when you have somebody who really cares for you.”

Other employees describe Bill the same way, and they respond to his respect for them by taking care of business.
At 84, many business owners would be slowing down or just plain retired. Not Bill.

“I love it and the challenge is still there,” Bill said.

His daughter, Connie White, described her father as “really, really sharp. He has an aptitude for numbers.”
Son Dan, who gives a nod to his father, as the boss, said, “he’s just a good guy. He’s always thinking of other people. He thinks of his family, but that includes strangers, I mean total strangers.”

For example, Bill was on a plane next to a young person who was kind of distraught. Bill gave the person advice and his telephone number. Later, he received a call from the person saying thanks for that advice.
Another time, another plane, he gave someone a rosary. To Bill, no one is a stranger.

Bill has also donated his time to his parish, St. Nicholas in O’Fallon, serving on the parish council and as president of St. Clare school board.

Friend, Bruce Holland, said “Bill hired many men that were down on their luck and gave them a chance to get back on their feet.

“What makes Bill so impressive to those who are closest to him is that we will never know all the lives he has touched,” Holland said. “Everything he does is done quietly with no bells or whistles whether at work or in the community.”

Son Dan, who has worked at the company since 1980, has seen his father change little over the years except in perhaps one area: “As he gets older, it has become more important for him to make money — so that he can give more of it away,” Dan said and smiled.

While Bill agrees that he is optimistic, he describes himself as hope-filled. There’s a difference between optimism and hope, the father and son said.

For being a man of hope and faith, and willing to give everyone a chance, Bill Roewe accepted The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace Award.

Faith sustains Steve Scates on the farm and in the marketplace

Although farmers don’t look like gamblers, they probably are: They gamble on the weather — too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold — and they gamble on the markets — too volatile, too high to sustain, too low to make a profit.
While Steve Scates is a farmer, and may be a gambler, he never wonders about whether his faith will sustain and guide him. It always does.

“Steve is true to the core and always treats people with dignity and respect regardless of the situation, and he tirelessly and unselfishly works to make things better for others.”

That description by Gary Minish, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, sums up the philosophy of Steve Scates, born and raised in Shawneetown.

Steve, one of 10 children, grew up on his family’s farm and was formed in his faith by his mother. She always treated people with respect whether they were her peers, the hired help or even her children. He remembers his mother inviting the hired hands to come in and sit down for dinner. At the time racial integration was hardly a concept, let alone a way of life, but his mother didn’t worry about the color of someone’s skin. If they were hungry and invited in to eat, that’s what they should do.

Steve carried those values with him as he grew up and began farming with his father and younger brother, Mark.
Now 71, Steve has been not only a farmer but has used farm products to change lives for the better for those in need across the globe.

Working with the Illinois Soybean Association, Steve “was instrumental in helping start the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health — the WISHH — Program. The program works with private volunteer organizations and non-governmental organizations around the world to be sure populations have adequate protein to balance their diets,” Lyle Roberts, CEO of the Illinois Soybean Association, said.

“Steve personally started and signed agreements in Haiti, Honduras and Vietnam to assist the most needy people: school children, people and families affected by HIV/AIDS” and the poor.

To achieve that balance, soy isolates were introduced into the diets of those in need. The powder was mixed with foods that were already in the local diet of a particular country, but the protein level was increased dramatically with the addition of the soy.

In some ways, the soy isolates have created business opportunities for the locals, Steve said, with “ladies bottling and selling soy milk.”

Not shy about inviting other businesses to participate in WISHH, Steve has visited Bunge North American and Cargill — where farmers take their grains to be marketed — to ask for donations.

And, if possible, after they have agreed to a donation, he asks them to ship the grains to the country in need.
In 1990, the Scates family farm began growing produce in cooperation with Twin Garden Farms in Harvard, Ill., and needed to hire migrant workers to harvest the green beans, cabbage, sweet corn and other vegetables. That meant hiring workers who could harvest vegetables quickly, efficiently and at the peak of the season.

“I looked at treating migrant workers the same way I would like to be treated and live in conditions I would be willing to live,” Steve said.

With actions speaking louder than words, the migrant workers saw day in and day out how they were treated and appreciated their treatment.

Steve and his wife, Kappy, take especially good care of the people who work for them, according to Frank Nino, who supervises the migrant workers and has been with the Scates farm from the beginning.

“Steve will do anything for you,” Frank said. “If the guys need something — maybe a doctor or just a favor — he and Kappy are right there.”

Because migrant workers are predominantly Catholic, the Scates family has become involved in Hispanic ministry with health checks in July and supporting a Spanish liturgy in September.
“It’s just what we do,” Steve said.

Over the years, Steve has been active at the state level, heading the Illinois FSA for eight years. During that time, he began a gleaning program to harvest food to be donated to the poor, and he has continued giving fresh produce to the poor in the diocese, bringing crates of fresh sweet corn to Daystar and to Catholic Urban Programs.

Describing her husband’s faith, Kappy said she doesn’t believe “Steve could separate his faith from his everyday life. He means it when he says what’s good for the family is good for others.”

In his parish of St. Mary’s in Shawneetown, Steve has served as a lector, eucharistic minister and has served on the parish council. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus.

For his quiet caring, for expanding his view and ours of a world in need, for offering help and hope to those closest to him and those he may never meet, Steve accepted The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace Award.

Al’s Automotive a happier place with Wil Baechle on the job

Having a strong work ethic hardly does justice to Wilbert Baechle who began working full time after high school graduation in 1965 until pancreatic cancer began changing his schedule.

Wil died in May, but stories of what his faith and his friendships meant to him have lived on. Sister Grace Mueller, parish life coordinator at St. Luke’s in Belleville where Wil was, and his wife, Sandy, continues to be a parishioner, described him as “a beatitude man.”

He lived the beatitudes day in and day out. Work was never a 9 to 5 job for Wil. He was employed first by Al’s Machine Shop as a salesman. During those years, service stations and garages were open during the evening and on weekends. If his clients needed parts for their customers’ cars, all of them had Wil’s home telephone number. They called, and he delivered.

If someone needed a bit of extra help, Sandy discovered, Wil just gave it to them. Once, someone dropped off $50 at the house. She had no idea at the time it was a repayment of money Wil had advanced to someone just because “they needed it.”

In 1988, Wil realized a lifelong dream when Al retired and he and another co-worker purchased the machine shop. Deciding not to cut workers’ wages or benefits, Wil froze his own wages and realized little benefit from becoming a part owner. The other owner did not share Wil’s views or values about employees, so Wil sold his portion of the business and went to work for the Scrivner family at Al’s Automotive Supply. The Scrivners shared Wil’s values, and most of Wil’s clients followed him to Al’s Automotive.

Although Wil worried most of his life about a tendency to stutter and shunned public speaking, he maintained wonderful relationships with his customers whom he saw as friends as well.

Jim Scrivner said he knew they had hired “someone special” in Wil almost from the beginning.
“I never really had to train Wilbert to do anything other than how to work our computer,” Scrivner said. “He got all his ‘training’ from his faith, family and values that he brought to our workplace.”

With Wil’s attitude of helping customers and employees alike with any problem they had “lifted our entire store up.” Scrivner said.

Al’s became a “happier place” after Wil began working there. He changed the atmosphere, Scrivner said.
No matter how many people needed help “all at once” Wil defused the tension saying he was doing the best he could, and “it’s not up to me; it’s up to the man upstairs.”

Although Scrivner was Wil’s boss, he said he learned lessons about people and business from Wil.
Even a competitor in the automotive parts supply business who knew Wil respected him.

Matt Lanter recounts a story about his time working at Den’s Auto Supply. At the time, Lanter thought competitors in the business didn’t get along but learned that wasn’t the case where Wil was concerned.

“Den Leuhder, owner of Den’s Auto Supply told Matt he would “never meet a nicer guy than Wil Baechle. That guy would give me the shirt off his back this afternoon if I asked him to, and I’d do the same for him.”
Lanter was stunned that Leuhder, a competitor, respected and admired Wil so much. That, Lanter said, has continued to serve as a lesson for him in his business dealings.

Wil was also for many years a volunteer fireman and fire chief and encouraged Lanter to consider volunteering as a firefighter some day. Lanter acted on that suggestion and has been involved with the Swansea Fire Department for 17 years, in part, he said, because of his conversation with Wil.

Sandy said Wil’s service to others was part and parcel of his life. “It was the way he was raised,” she said.
Wil’s sister had polio, and he “dealt with life and death issues every day. They knew what was important”: faith and family.

Wil’s parish was also important to him. He served on the pastoral council and was a member of the men’s club and president for four years. Although he played other roles in the parish, he enjoyed working on the parish’s annual St. Pat’s Dinner for 20 years.

When he was diagnosed with cancer in September of 2007, he told Sandy this disease was not going to take over and change their lives. He approached it like a job, Sandy said.

That worked for awhile with Wil having a blood test and chemotherapy treatment in the morning and going to work in the afternoon. He didn’t ask for time off, and the only time he missed work between October of 2007 and January of 2008 was when he had a doctor’s appointment.

Eventually, the pancreatic cancer began sapping his strength, but he never lost hope. He expected to go back to work when the weather warmed up this spring.

God, as everyone knows, sometimes has other plans for people. Wil died at home May 12, but his spirit continues to draw people together in service to one another.

Sandy said if Wil knew he was being honored in this way, he would be embarrassed.

However, for Wil’s indomitable spirit and his willingness to share his faith and friendship with others, Sandy accepted the The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace Award for her husband, Wil.