FAMILY TIES
6
Elms College Magazine
Extending Family and Faith to Elms College
Paul Stelzer, Chair of the Board of Trustees, (3rd from the right), stands with three generations of his family. Left to right are: Paul’s mother-in-law, Barbara Brennan Garde ’79; his father-in-law, Deacon Joseph Garde; his wife Donna; Elms President Harry Dumay; Paul; his son Ryan; and his brother, Father Mark.
With a deep affection for western Massachusetts and many family ties to Elms College, Donna and Paul Stelzer, current Chair of the Board of Trustees, knew they wanted to do something meaningful for the Building Bridges Campaign. They have established The Deacon Joseph Garde and Reverend Mark Stelzer Faith and Spiritual Development Fund at the St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion and Culture (CERC). The real story, the Stelzers say, is about the two remarkable men honored by this fund and the unique intersection between the CERC and their families. “When you have both of these incredible men, two close family members, my brother Mark and my father-in-law Joe, who have dedicated their lives to faith formation, spiritual development, and ethical learning and who are living this every day in the prisons, their parishes, and hospitals, and of course, Mark, in the classrooms, it’s pretty special, pretty amazing,” Stelzer explained. “The more we thought about it, the more it seemed like the stars were lining up; connecting us to this fund,” he said. What exactly are these stars, Stelzer is speaking of? He and his wife feel there are many connections between Elms and the CERC with their family. To start, Deacon Joseph Garde is Donna Stelzer’s father, a youthful 92 years old, who became a lay deacon after retiring from a lengthy career with the
telephone company. He took many of his classes at Elms when the Diaconate program was taught at the college. Deacon Garde served all across the diocese, eventually becoming the Assistant Director of the Diaconate program. He helped recruit, interview, teach, and mentor, in addition to his role serving the people of his primary parish, St. Catherine of Siena, and the other parishes he was assigned to over the years. He is also married to an alumna of the college, Barbara Brennan Garde ’79, who graduated with a degree in social work. The youngest Stelzer brother, Thomas, is on staff at Pope Francis High School and taught side-by-side with the Sisters of St. Joseph (SSJ), the founders of the college, for many years at Cathedral High School and Holyoke Catholic High School. He also took many of his graduate courses at Elms. The connections continue with the relationship between Joe and one of his best friends, Fr. Hugh Crean, and the Elms. “Fr. Crean, who we all (Stelzer’s family) knew and loved, was very close to my father-in-law, and of course, we have the Reverend Hugh Crean Lecture Series at the CERC,” Paul Stelzer explained. But this connection to the CERC and Reverend Crean also continues with Stelzer, himself, and his very good friends, Jack and Colette Dill, who are among the founding supporters of the CERC. “That connection is important to me
