Darlene Vanderstelt
Growing up as a child and sister to 3 brothers and 4 sisters, I was extremely shy. Whenever visitors came to our house, including aunts and uncles, I would go hide in my room until our visitors left. This bothered my mother greatly and she always tried to break me of this habit. The only person I never hid from was Uncle Frank. As soon as I heard his voice or saw him, I stayed in the living room to visit with him. He had such a kindly nature and had a big smile I loved so much. I always enjoyed his visits and how he loved teasing his brother and my dad, Robert Stuhan. He took time to include me and my brothers and sisters in conversation, which most adults didn't do at the time and this impressed me greatly as well. I remember one time, there was a church social at St Thomas Church in Muskegon after catechism. My seven brothers and sisters and I did not realize we needed money for the social and so we waited outside for our folks to pick us up. Uncle Frank saw all of us sitting outside and insisted we all go in for ice cream and when we told him we couldn't, he took all eight of us back inside with him to get ice cream. I never forgot that act of kindness from Uncle Frank and I admired him even more after that. It was a special day for all of us and the image of him taking us all back in the church to get ice cream is forever etched in my memory. This act of kindness made a huge impression on me as a child and I never forgot it. In my eyes, he was the epitome of a what a kindly and giving person should be and the fact he paid as much attention to us kids as the adults in conversation when he visited our home, made a huge impression on me as well. I will truly miss him and will never forget him.
