Stuckey, Anne Woelfle (1953-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Jun 11 p. 1, 3

Birth date: 1953 Feb 26

text of obituary:

Ohio pastor dies in crash on rain-slicked highway

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

ARCHBOLD, Ohio — Anne Stuckey, associate pastor of Zion Mennonite Church, who was known for her writing and was documenting her struggle with breast cancer, died May 31 in an automobile accident near Peru, Ill.

Stuckey, 54, of Somerset, Mich., died when she apparently lost control of her vehicle on a rain-slicked Interstate 80. Stuckey's eastbound Volkswagen sedan crossed the highway median and collided with a westbound semi driven by a Minnesota man, who was not injured.

According to news reports, Stuckey had been in Iowa researching a new book about her battle with breast cancer, tentatively titled When the Pastor Gets Cancer. She had recently begun a sabbatical from her pastoral work to concentrate on the book.

"She had just begun the introduction to the book when the Lord chose to take her," Stuckey's husband, Terry, wrote in a remembrance of his wife. "The book was to be her spiritual journey and awakening as she went from a dedicated caregiver in the congregation to one receiving the care and trying to understand that process.

"She was overwhelmed by how much the congregation at Zion taught her about caregiving and wished to put it in writing."

Stuckey often counseled with church members who were grieving or facing major life challenges, according to the Toledo Blade newspaper.

"She was superb at doing that and incredibly appreciated by the congregation," Zion Pastor Ronald D. Guengerich told the Blade.