Third career was his destiny all along, Robbinsdale man says BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER The Rev. Don Genereux says he knew early on that his vocation would be the ministry. It just took the longtime Robbinsdale resident 30-plus years to work through two other careers first. The oldest of seven children growing up in a Roman Catholic household in the north Minneapolis “projects” at Olson and Emerson avenues North, Genereux said, “From the time I was 5, I knew God was calling me to be a minister. I studied for the priesthood for two years in high school and two years in college.” But circumstances intervened. His father died, and Genereux had to drop out of school and support his family. At the age of 20, he got a job at Red Owl in Hopkins. It wasn’t long before a coworker said to him, “You’ve got too many brains to keep working. You ought to go back to school.” That was the first of numerous people Genereux believes God has sent into his life at various times to guide his journey. He heeded the suggestion, got back into school, and began working as a psychiatric social worker at University Hospital. Subsequent jobs in his 20-year career as a social worker included working as a “buddy” in Minneapolis schools; helping to start the autism program during a four-year stint in Minneapolis schools; an eight-year stint working with juvenile delinquents at the County Home School; and then working with emotionally disturbed high school students in the Minneapolis district. “One of my mentors, a principal who was retiring, told me to get my principal’s license,” Genereux said. “A couple of years later I did that. I was an assistant principal for three years and spent another eight years as a principal before I retired in 2004.” But prior to his retirement, he was
out of work for several weeks recovering from triple bypass surgery. By then a member of Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Genereux decided he would read through the Bible in one year. “I never read the Bible as a Catholic,” he said. “But I was doing Stephens Ministry, and I needed to read the Bible daily.” Stephen Ministry congregations equip and empower lay caregivers – called Stephen Ministers – to provide confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting. In the meantime, his wife began asking him if he was thinking about the ministry. At the time, Genereux was thinking more along the lines of spending time at the cabin, enjoying a fishing boat and getting his son through college. But Genereux, a man with a wellhoned sense of humor he uses often, quipped, “If you want to hear God laugh, make plans.” His wife kept suggesting the ministry, and by then, Genereux had discovered that reading the Bible daily “changed my heart and thinking.” His pastor advised him not to do anything about the ministry for a year, but to pray about it and talk to his family and friends. A year later, he began looking at seminaries and found that at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul he could attend classes nights and weekends, since he was still working full-time as an elementary school principal then. “I ended up doing what God wanted me to do way back when,” said Genereux, who graduated from Bethel Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in 2007. He was ordained Jan. 19, 2008. He worked as a chaplain resident at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park DESTINY - TO PAGE 7
Don Genereux, above, skydiving, is pictured with his family after graduation ceremonies when he received a Master degree of Divinity from Bethel Seminary in 2007. From left are Anne, Paul, Don, Sue and Alyssa Genereux. (Submitted photos)