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Kindness is a language
which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.
-- Mark Twain |
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Back to Member Directory
Mary
Dunkle
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About Me and King Street
Church |
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I still remember the first time I saw King Street Church.
We had lived in Danbury for several years, and I thought I
knew the city well -- but I was stunned, one day, to round
a corner and discover this lovely country church so
perfectly suited to its setting.
A few years later, after our third son was born, my
husband, Terry, and
I made the decision to start going to church -- something
we hadn’t done for many years. On our first visit to King
Street Church, I had expected to sneak in quietly and
simply observe, unnoticed. It quickly became clear that
you can’t do that at King Street Church. The building is
too small, the congregation too friendly.
Although we made a few perfunctory visits to other
churches afterwards, I knew King Street was our home. Over
the 12 years since then, I have served on the
religious education
team, as Sunday School superintendent, as a Vacation
Bible School helper, as a
trustee, and now as
a deacon. Some of my
most enjoyable “assignments” have been the little ones
that come up sporadically -- serving coffee after services
on a Sunday morning, helping hang the wreaths at Christmas
time, and hiding Easter eggs for the children.
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More About Me |
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Our sons Tom, Bill,
and John with me at Bill's Penn State graduation in 2005. Terry
and I spent a dozen years studying and working at
Penn State, where
generations of Dunkles are alumni. Behind us is Mount
Nittany, famous for its association with Penn State
football.
I grew up in rural Indiana,
in a town where the prosperous families attended the
Presbyterian Church and the working-class families, like
mine, the Methodist. Our church was an extension of my
family: I knew just where to look for my grandparents each
week, in their usual pew. My father was the Sunday School
superintendent, my mother a Sunday School teacher. He
worked in a Chrysler plant; she stayed home.
I love gardening.
I wish I had time for it! |
The Vietnam War and accompanying social
upheaval dominated my college years, leaving many of
my generation with a feeling that the church (and much
of what our parents had taught us) was irrelevant.
The week I graduated
from college, I met
Terry, and we were married a year later. As
newspaper reporters, we worked long and unpredictable
hours. This, too, kept us away from church.
Later, I became a
writer/editor, and eventually assistant director of
public relations at Penn State University. It was,
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in many respects, a golden period in our
lives. We lived in a classic little college town,
State College, Pa.,
where we walked or bicycled to work. We made friends with
experts in every conceivable field. Our first child, John,
was born during this time.
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After 12 years, Terry’s work as a
magazine editor took us to Boston, where our second
son, Bill, was born.
When Terry joined
Reader’s Digest,
we settled in Danbury and I became director of public
relations for
Danbury Hospital. Our third son, Tom, is a Danbury
native.
I'm now vice
president, communications at the
National
Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). I love my
job because it gives me opportunities to meet people
whose courage and strength in the face of
devastating diseases is awe-inspiring. |
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My work takes me to
far-off lands... |
I also love the fact that my colleagues and
I have direct, one-on-one contact with the people we are
trying to help -- something that was lacking in my earlier
work.
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...so it's always a joy
to come home. |
Two of our sons are grown now, and we
are very proud of them. We’re also thankful that Tom,
too, is having opportunities to experience the kind of
church family that Terry and I both remember.
My work involves travel, and I am
constantly amazed at how friendly and homelike the
church feels to me each time I enter it again after
returning from some distant point. |
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