Honoring Rachel Stasko on December 13,2009
By Robert & Gina Stasko
St. Giles Young at Heart Christmas/Celebration Luncheon
[Gina]
Hello. My name is Gina Stasko and my husband is Robert Stasko. Robert is an only child
and when I became a part of this family, Rachel would always introduce me as her daughterin-love. So, today, I consider it an honor to share about my mother-in-love.
When Robert and I were considering what we wanted to share today, we decided if we had
to describe Rachel in one word it would be FAITHFUL. That word has been used today a lot
for our honorees.
One of the ways Rachel is faithful is as a friend. Many of you may not know that Rachel has
a phone ministry. There are many women, many of them single, who have needed a safe
person to share their burdens and cares with over the years. Rachel has spent many hours on
the phone listening to women and promising to pray for them. She has and is a faithful friend
to them.
And now Robert is going to take it from here.
[Robert]
Well, I’ve known my mom all my life. Mom grew up in the Eastern part of the state. She
lived in Shallotte and her family moved to Wilmington when she was in high school. Mom
got a job in Wilmington after she graduated from high school and that’s when she met my
dad. And her life was never the same because they started moving. They moved to Atlanta,
to Washington where they both worked in the Pentagon for awhile and then they moved to
Paris, France. My dad worked for the Inspector General’s office. They lived in Paris for a
year and that’s where my dad died. My mom was in Paris with a 19 month old son deciding
what to do next. So she moved back to Charlotte to be near family. She had a sister living in
Charlotte. We can see God’s faithfulness to my mom and in turn she tried to walk faithfully
with him.
My aunt came to live with us. So I ended up with two moms. Everyone knows that moms
have eyes in the front and back of their heads. I had two moms so that’s four pair of eyes and
I didn’t get away with anything.
In the late 60’s, my mom and aunt went on a church retreat and were encouraged in their
relationship with the Lord. About that time Larry Gregory’s mom who worked with my aunt
at Exxon invited them to come to St. Giles to a Thursday night service. So in 1972 we
started attending St. Giles on Thursday nights. In the fall of 1974 we joined St. Giles. That’s
almost been 35 years ago.
In the mid-70’s, mom found a Friday morning prayer breakfast and has been faithfully
attending that to the present.
I remember as a child my mom was up early in the morning sitting in her chair in the den
faithfully reading her Bible and devotional books. In the middle to late 80’s, St. Giles began
an early morning intercessory prayer group. And Mom decided that was something she
wanted to do, so she started attending that group.
My mom has also been very faithful in her giving. She gives of her time, her attention and
her resources. I know she’s been faithful to give to this church and she’s been giving to
missionaries all over the world. And that’s had an impact on our lives too as we have begun
to give to different missionaries and organizations.
Through this brief tale we can see that God faithfully used my mom and she has faithfully
done those activities that she thought would be honoring to Him. She has faithfully studied
the Bible, she has faithfully attended this church, she has been faithful in intercessory prayer
groups and she has been a faithful giver of her time and resources. We love you, Mom, and
we honor you for your faithful service in the kingdom for many years.