Stuckey, Walter E. (1909-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Mar 28 p. 7

Birth date: 1909 Dec 7

text of obituary:

Longtime Ohio pastor dies

By Susan Miller Balzer

STRYKER, Ohio — Walter Stuckey, 95, a lifelong pastor who served Lockport Mennonite Church for 30 years, died march 10.

His funeral was held during Sunday morning worship March 13 at Lockport — a fitting setting to remember a pastor who participated in nearly 5,000 worship services and led more than 650 funerals and 300 weddings.

Born Dec. 7, 1909, Stuckey grew up in an Amish-Mennonite church that met alternately as one congregation in three meetinghouses: Central, West Clinton, and Lockport. He was chosen by lot to become pastor and ordained Nov. 6, 1938. Lockport became a separate congregation in 1944. For the next 30 years, the stories of Lockport church and Stuckey became one.

In addition to pastoring, he was ordained as a bishop in 1951 and later served as an overseer for Ohio Conference. He served on the Ohio mission board and helped plant churches in Cleveland and southeast Ohio. Two rural churches, Pine Grove at Stryker and Salem at Waldron, Mich., grew as Lockport's daughter congregations during Stuckey's ministry. He also conducted evangelistic meetings in other communities.

Stuckey loved to read and teach the Bible. He taught released-time Bible classes in area schools and introduced vacation Bible school at Lockport in 1947. He got to know children when they thanked him for the pieces of gum he sent them with their birthday cards. During his greeting card ministry, he mailed as many as 750 cards per year.

Stuckey supported himself as a farmer.

At age 81, he began writing his memoirs, which were published serially as "The Days of My Years" in the church newsletter, Lockport Life. He submitted his 158th and final chapter last May after being hospitalized for congestive heart failure. His memoirs serve not only as an autobiography but also as a commentary on 20th century life in northwest Ohio. His story can be read on the Lockport Web site, www.bright.net/~lockport/index.htm [note: web site no longer available 2/3/2011]

"I was not a Billy Graham or a George R. Brunk, but just tried to be a pastoral minister, and to be a pastor in a local community is also needed," he wrote.

Stuckey married Virgie Amstutz on Sept. 5, 1934. She survives, at Fairlawn Haven in Archbold. Also surviving are two children and their spouses, Patricia and Jack Eberly of Stryker and William and Rose Stuckey of West Unity; four grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and siblings Earl, Anna Aeschliman, Ivan, Arthur and Clara Frey.

Mennonite Weekly Reivew obituary: 2005 Apr 4 p. 11

text of obituary:

WALTER E. STUCKY

Walter E. Stuckey, 95, of Wauseon, Ohio, died March 10, 2005, at Heartland Nursing Home. He was born Dec. 7, 1909, to Aaron and Sarah Eicher Stuckey near Archbold. He was a lifetime resident of the Archbold-West Unity area.

As a young man, he committed his life to Christ and was baptized on Feb. 22, 1931. This commitment led to many years of service for the Lord in the Mennonite Church of Northwest Ohio.

On Sept. 5, 1934, he married Virgie M. Amstutz.

He had been a farmer and then was ordained to the Christian ministry on Nov. 6, 1938. He served as lead pastor of Lockport Mennonite Church near Stryker for 36 years until retirement on Dec. 1, 1974. Since retiring as pastor, he worked at Sauder Village near Archbold for 19 years, drove bus for Quadco Rehabilitation Center in Stryker for six years and ministered in his neighborhood and community.

During his tenure at Lockport, two new congregations were started: Pine Grove Mennonite Church south of Stryker and Salem Mennonite Church near Waldron, Mich. A new building was constructed for the Lockport congregation in 1963.

He was a member of Lockport Mennonite Church, Williams County Historical Society and TRSHA.

Survivors include his wife of more than 70 years, Virgie; a son, William and his wife, Rose, of West Unity; a daughter, Patricia Eberly and her husband, Jack, of Stryker; three brothers, Earl of West Unity, Ivan of Burr Oak, Mich., and Arthur of Archbold; two sisters, Anna Aeschliman of Stryker and Clara Frey of Wauseon; four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a grandson, Walter J. Eberly; and three brothers, Chester, Joseph and Donald.

Funeral services were held at Lockport Mennonite Church. Burial was in the Lockport Cemetery.