Lucille Alice Stahlke

Lucille Alice Klamm was the third child born to Anna Katarina (Nielsen) and Jacob Klamm on July 3, 1931, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her parents were among the many German tenant farmers that emigrated to the United States from Russia, although they did not meet until they had settled in the Twin Cities. Anna’s first husband was a railroad brakeman and died in a train accident a few years before she met Jacob. Mom had a sister and five brothers from that first marriage, along with an older brother and sister from her mother’s marriage to Jacob. Mom was baptized at the Dutschen Volks Kirche on August 16, 1931. She was confirmed on March 25, 1945, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Paul, where she attended Christian Day School.

The family was not strangers to adversity, overcoming many of the challenges of immigrant life and single-parent households of the day. As Lucille entered middle school, she lost her father to illness. Shortly after, the brother she was closest to, Adam (“Honey”), was killed in World War II. Lucille and her mother formed a team that provided for the family and got them through. Mom was curious, adventurous, “spunky,” and bright. She befriended shopkeepers and neighbors, ran errands, did the shopping, and counted pennies for her mother. Although she was a “city girl” she was down to earth. Mom was just as likely to wipe the dirt off of a carrot from the garden for a snack or teeter on the neighbor’s fence to pluck a crab apple as she was to sample the fare offered at the corner store. She learned to drive at a very young age, stealing the keys for her older brothers’ cars when they were sound asleep, resting from long work shifts at neighboring plants. She was never one to bemoan her circumstances or limit her opportunities! She always focused on solutions and meeting the needs at hand. She was resilient. She was kind.

Mom loved music. She sang all the time. Hymns in today’s service are among those she loved. Now the Light has Gone Away was one of our bed-time prayers. When she wasn’t singing, she was listening to records of all kinds of music. And Bach. There was Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, Mozart, Grenadier Guards. And Bach. Her love for music was cultivated by her school Principal, Paul Manz, who would become one of the most famous Lutheran organists and improvisers in the United States. He taught her to play the piano and organ. More importantly he mentored her in the absence of her father. Mom instilled the love of music in us all. The practicing piano part maybe not so much for all of us. But the love of music, nonetheless. Dr. Manz also gave her the vision of going on to college.

Mom enrolled in Concordia Junior College, St. Paul. She decided to become a teacher as a way to honor Dr. Manz. It took her a few years to get through, since she had to sit out periodically to work and raise the money to pay for school. That was a good thing, though. Our Dad, Leonard, enrolled there, as well, as a pre-seminary student headed into the ministry. Dad was one of the students assigned to greeting students as they returned to campus his second year when he first met Mom. She was a veteran on campus already, but played along with the orientation. He got to know her very well in his physics class. He was having trouble getting all those abstract concepts straight. Mom was gracious to help get him through, and that lit the fire that brought them together.

Mom and Dad parted ways after Junior College – Mom to Concordia College in River Forest (Chicago), Illinois, and Dad to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Mom finished just as Dad was ready to go on his year-long vicarage (internship). Dad was assigned to the mission field and went to Pasaquina in El Salvador (Central America). Mom took a job teaching religion at the State School for developmentally impaired children and young adults in Grafton, North Dakota. When Dad came back from El Salvador, Mom moved to St. Louis to teach at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. She lived with Dad’s twin sister, Lois, who had just graduated from the Lutheran Nursing School in St. Louis. Mom was glad to have a chance to get the dirt on Dad from a person with first-hand knowledge.

The inevitable happened – Leonard and Lucille were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 29, 1958. The officiant was Leonard’s father, Ernst Stahlke, who had a parish in Minneapolis at the time. Despite all the festivities, Mom and Dad had to cut the party short so that they could report to mission school first-thing Monday morning – June 30! Apparently, they made it. After six weeks of intensive cultural and linguistic training. Dad had the Spanish down pretty well, but Mom had some catching up to do. They got a ride to New Orleans, Louisiana, to catch their ride back to Central America – Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. Their transport was a huge freighter ship that was used to transport bananas back and forth from Guatemala to New Orleans. It has a few guest cabins on board for the ship crew and occasional passengers. Soon after leaving port they hit the tail end of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Empty banana boats get tossed around a bit on stormy seas. Turns out the boat wasn’t the only thing getting tossed! Dad spent three days peeling oranges in order to try to keep Mom alive. Turns out she might have also been a few weeks pregnant, too!

Mom and Dad forged a marvelous life together for the next 14 years in Guatemala—although not without its trials and adversities as the result of civil war, poor roads, limited communications, terminated pregnancies, and tropical illnesses. Mom endured many days apart from Dad as he travelled to remote villages, often not knowing when he would return, or without any information about why he was delayed and had not returned. Her faith kept her strong. Her love for the Lord and for Dad made any consequence, inconvenience, or disruption worth it. Her love for us gave us the security we treasured. Sometimes the music just played louder in the house than others.

The family moved to Mexico City in 1971, where Dad became the President of the Lutheran Latin American Seminary. Mom was his Executive Assistant, Operations and Facilities Manager, and seminary student Case Worker. And she was still our Mom. Never missed a beat. Made sure we went to concerts, and international events in town. Visited museums. Allowed occasional trips to soccer games on Sunday mornings, too. She was the best!

In 1980, Dad took a position at Concordia University Texas, and we relocated to Northeast Austin not far from Hope Lutheran Church. Mom became the interim Principal and taught for a year at Hope Lutheran School. She went on to be the Executive Assistant for the Director of the Clayton Research Foundation in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. When they closed, she went on to be the Executive Assistant for the Executive Director at the State Bar of Texas. And then adversity struck in a major way, again. Mom was involved in a car accident that ultimately led to her leaving her job at the State Bar due to the recovery time needed from her surgeries. She went on to be the school secretary at Hope before finally retiring in 2003.

And challenges continued to come – she had a knee replacement, which introduced an MRSA infection in her leg, and, ultimately, the amputation of her left leg, and her adaptation to a wheelchair for the last years of her life. She was a breast cancer survivor, and overwhelmingly recovered from a brain bleed/stroke. She suffered through the frustrations of her dementia these past few months. None of this ever shook her faith. She never doubted her purpose in life. She sought ways to be the best Grandma she could be, including the requisite Valentine, Easter, and Halloween goodie bags. She was always available to give us her opinion, in-laws included. She never wanted to be anything but kind. She was a constant witness of her love for her Lord. She was committed to find ways to “meet people where they were at” in all she did.

We are so blessed as a family to celebrate with her how God has so graciously gathered Lucille to Himself. We are so blessed to live our lives as a tribute to her love.

Memorials for Lucille Stahlke may be sent to: Jesus is Lord Mission Society, https://www.jilmission.org, or The Lutheran Hour, https://www.lutheranhour.org.