Voices: Stuckey: ‘Love for the Lord and a good name’

He was born on May 8, 1928. He grew up in Huntsville, Texas. His name was and is Doyle Stuckey.

His parents were very poor. They were coming through the Great Depression. He and his three older siblings had only one pair of shoes to share. His oldest brother wore them one day, the next brother got to wear them the following day, then his sister got the next day, and finally Mr. Stuckey as a boy got his turn. They rotated each day with that one pair of shoes.

When Sunday rolled around, whoever’s turn it was to wear those shoes got to go to church. The others stayed home. Why? Because the family had a reverence for God. They refused to go improperly dressed.

From abject poverty, the family pushed through. They raised their own food. Their mother sewed the family’s clothes. The kids each had responsibilities at home and work outside the home to help survive.

With World War II underway, Mr. Stuckey joined the military at age 17. By then, the war had reached its near conclusion. Mr. Stuckey joked, saying he spent the rest of the war defending San Diego, Calif.

After the war

After his stint in the Marines, Mr. Stuckey went to college at Sam Houston State University, where he met his future wife Edloe Weems. Together they had three sons. They lost their third son at an early age to cancer.

Out of college, Mr. Stuckey took on three jobs to support his family, one of which was working for a building contractor. Three jobs. Today, people are pushing for a four-day work week. The Greatest Generation worked. They worked a lot. They valued providing for their own needs. It gave them a purpose beyond sustenance.

The next thing you know, Mr. Stuckey tried his hand at building his own homes. He was quite successful. Over the span of his life, he built more than 8,000 homes, several apartments, a few hotels, one women’s shelter and a church.

Mr. Stuckey also owned an insurance agency, two hotels and a bank. In addition, he was on the board of directors for two other banks, his church, the Shriners hospital, Young Life and the Leukemia Society. Not bad for a kid who once had to share one pair of shoes.

Homebuilder

In 2000, Lori and I saw a new development going up in Jersey Village, northwest Houston. We loved the design of the homes. The quality was outstanding. It was then we met our friend Mr. Stuckey.

From being the largest private homebuilder in Houston, Mr. Stuckey had lost everything to the savings and loan crisis of 1980. He sought no government bailout. He fought his way back.

Our first meeting, we were dealing with one of his salesmen. Mr. Stuckey walked in and thanked us for buying one of his homes. He handed us his card and left for his next project. He had a look of importance touched with grace.

Later, Mr. Stuckey built his own home in our neighborhood with his sweet wife. We became fast friends. Lori and I moved after several years, but missed our Stuckey home so much, we went to his house a year later and asked him to build us another one. He gladly did.

Church builder

Roll forward, the church I pastor was building our sanctuary. The builder ran off with our money. We were desperate.

I went to visit Mr. Stuckey to see if he could help. I expected a man with a red cape and a red “S” on his chest.

What I found was a sick man lying in his recliner with an eye patch. He had cancer and lost his eye. He was very weak. I decided not to mention anything about our church’s need.

As we finished visiting, with a soft voice, he asked how the church’s building project was going. I told him what had happened. He sat up tall in his chair with surprising strength. He said, “Johnny, I will build that sanctuary for you.”

I looked over at Mrs. Stuckey. She began to cry. To this day, I am not sure if it was because he was too sick to do it or because she had not seen him light up like he did at that moment.

I thanked him but told him we’d manage. He needed to get well.

Mr. Stuckey insisted, saying, “Johnny, I will get on this right away.”

Two weeks later, there was a construction trailer on our lot. Activity rolling on and off the property. Mr. Stuckey, dressed in business attire and a glass eye, was carrying architecture plans from an architect he hired.

Within a year, Church at the Cross was in its new building in Alief. We have baptized more than 500 during this time and the church is faithfully serving this community, because God used a bankrupt, cancer-ridden homebuilder who loved the Lord.

Mr. Stuckey went to be with our Father a few months back at the age 96. His son said at the funeral, “The greatest gift our dad gave us was a love for the Lord and a good name.”

I pray to leave the same. How about you?

Johnny Teague is the senior pastor of Church at the Cross in West Houston and the author of several books. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.