[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 68 (Friday, May 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNITION OF MRS. MARY GUDE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN SHIMKUS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 19, 2005

  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mrs. Mary Gude of 
Dorsey, Illinois. On May 27, Mary Gude will be retiring as a teacher at 
Trinity Lutheran School in Edwardsville after 30 years of teaching.
  Trinity Lutheran School is the only place Mrs. Gude has ever taught. 
During her years there, she has taught preschool, kindergarten, first 
and third grades. Most recently, she has been the very beloved second 
grade teacher. Her second grade classes have been filled with much 
learning, but also the joy of music and the love of all God's creatures 
with several classroom pets.
  Her second grade classes have annually produced a Second Grade 
Operetta. These productions are truly a labor of love, taking a great 
deal of extra time and commitment on Mrs. Gude's part. The shows are 
enjoyed by all the children of the school, as well as parents and 
family members.
  Mary Gude's years at Trinity have not all been easy. Early in her 
tenure, she lost her husband to brain cancer and was raising two small 
children by herself. But God does provide, and in 1980 she married a 
Lutheran pastor, himself a widower, with two children. Mary Gude and 
Pastor George Gude together raised their four children, and she became 
a part of the family at Emmaus Lutheran Church in Dorsey, where she 
serves as the choir director yet today.
  Today, Mrs. Gude is the proud grandparent of three--two of whom she 
was able to teach at Trinity. She looks forward to this retirement so 
she can spend more time with her family, continue to teach piano 
lessons, and continue to serve as the director of the choir at the 
church.
  Mary Gude has seen Trinity Lutheran School and the hundreds of 
children who have passed through her classroom as her calling from God. 
Her kindness, goodness, strength, and love of God shines through in all 
she does and is forever part of the children who have been fortunate 
enough to have her as a teacher. In the words of Jesus, in Matthew 
25:21, ``. . . Well done, thou good and faithful servant . . .''

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