Supplements

archive ISSUE

eight honored for taking their faith into the marketplace

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

“Says the Lord, indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand. (Jer: 18:6)

Using the example of the Potter, the one who molds and shapes the lives of all, eight people were honored for molding themselves to God’s word and living their lives with faith. That faith inspires others especially as they see it lived in work places across the diocese.

The Messenger recognized these people and thanked them Oct. 17 at a dinner at St. Nicholas parish hall in O’Fallon.

A short descriptions of each person recognized is given, but these descriptions barely touch the surface of what they do at work with and for others.

Mike Doll: A life-long member of St. Joseph Parish in Olney and a graduate of St. Joseph’s School, Mike Doll has been active at his parish and in his community. He learned his values and his love of his Catholic faith through his family. He learned his work ethic and his love of service from his father, Leo. The family has cared for the parish cemetery, which, incidentally is across the street from his business. He can see when something needs to be done just by looking out the door.

One of the people nominating him said: “Mike models a strong teamwork ethic, always actively participating in all aspects of running a business. He never required his employees to do something he would not do himself. He shows up to work on time and stays until the work is done (even though he is more or less retired).

Mike calls it working when he wants to work. That would probably be just about every day. Most recently he was driving a caterpillar and putting in a drainage system for a new subdivision.

During the 1970s, Mike and the company were instrumental in providing a Vietnamese refugee a place to work so that she could leave a refugee camp in Arkansas. The parish sponsored Niki Nugen and the family, but Doll’s gave her a job. She didn’t speak much English then, but she ended up working at the company for 25 years. She became part of the Doll extended family. Mike wanted to send Niki’s brother a bicycle. He was still in Southeast Asia, but Niki told him it would be confiscated, so Mike gathered some things to send that her brother could use to trade for the bike. It worked.

Mike said his father told him: “What you give to the church you get back 100 fold. I don’t think you can ever do too much for a good cause.”

Here are some of Mike’s causes:
St. Joseph Parish — past president of parish council; building and grounds committee; capital campaign; smorgasbord committee; eucharistic minister; cemetery committee; and more.
In his community: Trustbank board of directors; past president of the Rotary Club; 4th-degree Knights of Columbus and more.

Mike leads his life with faith, a faith that was instilled in him by his parents, his school and the nuns, he said. But more than that, his faith lights the way for himself and his family.

Barbara Grace: A little girl followed 5-year-old Barbara home from kindergarten; she didn’t speak, but Barbara befriended her, and together with her family, they found out how to make sure the child got safely home. That was a beginning of a calling for Barbara, knowing that she could make others comfortable anFather Robert J. O’Shea died Oct. 20 at Rosewood Care Center in Swansea. Father O’Shea, 71, donated his body to science.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday Oct. 30, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Shiloh. Bishop Edward K. Braxton will be principal celebrant and homilist.

“The death of Father Robert J. O’Shea brings renewed sadness to the heart of our diocese, still mourning the untimely death of Father Thomas Stout, just one month ago,” Bishop Braxton said. d feel safe enough to reach out and grow.

Now, director of the Southern Region Early Childhood Program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Barbara reaches out first, to her staff, creating a workplace community where staff feel they are part of a decision-making team, where all ideas are welcome for consideration.

She instills in her team a sense of care and concern for the families in the program. They want to help families grow, for adults to be good parents, and for children to reach their potential. These parents may not understand how to nurture their children, how to feel comfortable in a school where perhaps they did not have good experiences. This is what Barbara and her team do for families with children from birth to 5 years old.

Barbara spends many hours working with families and her staff. She keeps an open-door policy whether a staff member wants to discuss a way to help a family or talk about something that bothers them. “If you walk into her office, signs of her faith are everywhere,” one staff member said. An angel here, a cross there, perhaps a Bible sitting on her desk. And she opens it more often than anyone might think.

“Barb is a visionary and her faith is part of her vision.” She takes time to dream and reflect with her staff about possibilities as well as how to deal with any problems that arise. She listens and observes; she encourages and acknowledges her staff. “It’s a privilege to work with someone like Barb, who lives her faith,” a staffer said.

W. Charles Grace was not always a judge, as he is today. He was the son of a G-man, an FBI agent who moved around the country a bit, and then settled in Carbondale. When Chuck was a youngster in southern Illinois, and a Catholic, he watched the first Catholic be nominated for and win the presidency of the United States. That was an inspiring time for him. He knew someone of his faith could reach the highest office in this land.

Through his family, Chuck was instilled with a firm belief in the Catholic church and a faith that would sustain him and grow with him throughout his life. He decided he would pursue law as a career, and after finishing law school became actively involved in trial law. He saw what it meant to preside as a judge, and a desire to become a judge began to grow. He could do more good, make a difference in more lives if he could be a judge.

Along his journey he spent more than 8 years as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. He stood as prosecutor before a judge, presenting his arguments for consideration and awaiting a judgement.

Eventually, he was elected to the First Circuit in Murphysboro in Jackson County where he has remained. While he feels he has made the right decision to pursue a place on the bench, he knows what he has chosen is not an easy way. He sometimes must separate a family, sending one member to jail. Never easy, it is sometimes required. He keeps a number of crosses in a space near the door of his office. This is a place he stops to pray before taking his seat on the bench, especially on days when hard decisions and difficult verdicts must be read.

At one point, not many years ago, Chuck heard about a program called “Awakenings” from Mary Lou Loos, head of Catholic Social Services Carbondale office and Sister Barbara Lux. Awakenings is a 14-week program for juvenile and adult criminal defendants and others with anger management issues. The program focuses on behavior modification and teaches participants ways to avoid crime when the opportunity presents itself. Working with the probation department and others in the legal system, Judge Grace offered this to defendants who volunteered for it, and later, after seeing the results, made it mandatory in appropriate cases.

Adoption of this program, one nominator said, is typical of Judge Grace’s approach to criminal defendants in which he tries to be compassionate but firm. He takes every opportunity to speak from his heart to try to influence those in front of him to improve their lives; he tries to view all before him as Christ, including lawyers and jurors.

Danny Krausz: Have you ever accidentally bumped a parked car and looked around for the driver, or just looked around to see if anybody had noticed? Danny Krausz said that happened to him, and when he couldn’t find the driver, he left a note on the car with his phone number. An astonished car owner was treated to Danny Krausz picking up his car and fixing it and returning it with an apology. How often does that happen?

If you are Danny Krausz it would happen every time an accident occurred. Customers at Southside Auto Body in Mascoutah have been taking their “accidents” to him for years, many more than once. They know he will do a good job at a fair price. That’s what he learned from his father when he began working with him after school at 11 years old. “I always wanted to be an auto body man,” he said. When he was old enough he became a partner in the shop and work with his father until he died eight years ago. It was difficult to continue, but with his mother as bookkeeper, he kept the business going. He has followed in his father’s footsteps, his mother said, practicing the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

A business owner in Mascoutah wrote this about Danny: He is a motivated, hard working honest and caring business owner.” His caring extends both to his employees and his customers, both groups said. His employees said he treats them fairly, more like friends than a boss, and his customers attest to his honesty in both pricing and business practices.

Known in the community as someone who is willing to help others, Danny is presently the head of Mascoutah’s Chamber of Commerce. He has been a long-time member of Holy Childhood Parish, not only sending his children to the school but working on fund-raising activities as well.

Percy and Judy Menzies: The Menzies put out their welcome mat every day, all day. They do this at their place of work — Assisted Recovery Centers of America — with their staff and their patients. One staff member spoke of them as treating everyone like family, and they mean it. “It is clearly evident to patients, families and staff that Percy and Judy both strive to live each day as their Christian faith requires,” one staff member said.

The Menzies know what it means to have a loving, caring family; they know how it feels to deal with crises in life. Living in India, they had no plan to immigrate to the United States, but when their son was born with severe brain damage, they knew his best chance for survival was here. They came seeking help and found their home. They cared for their son and had a second child, a daughter, who was soon diagnosed with the same brain damage. She eventually died, but their 31-year-old son lives in a loving environment where he is cared for 24 hours a day.

Knowing how many children in India are not so well loved and cared for as their children, the Menzies adopted a boy and a girl. Now, their son, Suneal, works at ARCA with them. For many years, Percy, who has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in pharmacology, has been working to spread a message about a drug treatment and behavior modification program for alcohol and drug abuse. With Judy, he continues to bring this message to others whenever he can.

Both Percy and Judy live their faith daily in their business, and they volunteer their time at various levels at their parish. They both serve on many committees and carry out a number of parish ministries from catechist to lector to pastoral council, rosary leader, prison ministry and more.

“The tenacity they have to keep promoting their recovery program is a by-product of their strong faith. They truly see their work as their ministry,” one nominator said.

Francis Rehkemper has never had an idea for a project he didn’t consider — at least for awhile. Some of those ideas were translated into homes or ways to remodel or improve an existing building. He always talks his ideas over with his wife, Rose, and that’s a good thing. She doesn’t know where they’d be if they followed up on EVERY idea.

Francis worked with his father at Rehkemper Construction in St. Rose. He began work as a carpenter right after high school graduation and has been there ever since. He works with his brother, Gene and nephew, Tim now, and he still loves the work. He not only likes building but thinking about how a project can be completed and sketching out plans.
No computer whiz kid, in fact, no computer at all, he gets his emails from the office staff, and hands his sketches over to someone to be drawn up in final form. He just doesn’t need a computer, he said.

A member at St. Dominic’s for many years, he has been involved in multiple building projects at the church, including the major reconstruction project in 2000.

Taking his “hammer” and his faith on the road, Francis has been involved in building with Habitat for Humanity for more than a dozen years. In fact, last weekend, he was on a build in St. Charles, Mo., for Habitat.

At his business, his employees speak highly of his “extraordinary patience” when dealing with them. “He’s a good listener,” they said. And he listens to their ideas as well. “He encourages people to give of themselves and be honest and fair in all they do.

A former employee said this: Anyone who knows Francis can easily see that serving God comes naturally to him. She was told on her first day that the company was built on honesty and integrity. She saw that “every time he met with clients, employees, material suppliers, literally everyone.

Paul Wilhelm: When you hear the term “Band of Brothers,” it could remind you of Paul Wilhelm of Wilhelm Construction. He and 4 of his brothers own and operate the construction business. That may seem like a rather large group to be in business together, but Paul doesn’t think so. He’s number 8 in a family of 13 children.

Growing up on a farm outside Lebanon, he said he learned his work ethic through his parents’ example. “We learned the value of work and of work well done,” Paul said.

And that ethic has earned them a reputation for quality workmanship at a fair price. Paul and his brother, Robert run the business. The other brothers are happy with this arrangement, Paul said. As a family, they all have the same values, and kind of think alike, he added. That doesn’t mean they always agree, but when they disagree, they can work things out because their core values are the same.

Doing the best job possible is very important to the Wilhelms, one nominator said. Customers have certain expectations and want a job done well. Paul wants customers to be happy with the job, and the Wilhelms want to be happy with it too. They take a lot of pride in their family business, and Paul believes that’s what God expects of them.
A nominator who has used Wilhelm Construction said: “We live in difficult moral times. It’s such a pleasure to deal with Paul because of his outstanding values toward his family and his work.”

Another person said: “They are always in demand. They have a great reputation for good, honest work.”