The following story first appeared in the Spring 2004 Glenmary Challenge.
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Michigan Couple Moves to Kentucky
to 'Make a Difference'
Barbara and Wayne Levandowski were open to change—and the call of the Spirit.
By Margaret Gabriel

COMMITTED TO SERVICE: The Levandowskis at the lectern in Prince of Peace in West Liberty, Ky.

Barbara and Wayne Levandowski haven’t always thought of themselves as missionaries. For over 30 years they lived a more “typical” life in Freeland, Mich. Wayne was a welder and millwright for General Motors and Barbara was a homemaker and mother of three sons. But after a mission talk by Glenmary Father Pete Richardson at their Michigan parish, St. Agnes, in the mid-1990s, things began to change. By 1997 they had decided to move to West Liberty, Ky., to be of service in the mission Father Pete then pastored.

It began when St. Agnes decided to send $500 each quarter to Father Pete’s West Liberty parish, Prince of Peace, and to sponsor a group of volunteers to travel to Kentucky on a mission trip. That group, which included Barbara and Wayne, completed home repair jobs such as digging a well, finishing a roof and winterizing homes. Barbara and Wayne made another mission trip several months later.

“We fell in love with West Liberty during that trip,” Barbara says. “We loved the countryside and the slower pace.” That’s when they began to consider a permanent move to Mission Land, USA. “We wanted to give back while we could still get around,” Wayne adds.

The couple, married 39 years, came to the decision almost simultaneously. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Barbara recalls asking Wayne after their second trip to West Liberty.

“We’ve always been open to change,” Barbara says, “and we saw West Liberty as a place where we could really make a difference.”

Father Pete says the couple’s low-key humility and openness were qualities that made him realize they would easily fit into the community and the parish. “They showed a love for their faith and a love for the Church, and that’s what motivates them,” he says.

Since their move to West Liberty, Barbara and Wayne have become involved in religious education, the choir and the parish council. But their first commitment is service to the poor.

That commitment, as well as their graceful working together, was obvious the day they visited Ressie and Hager Trusty. After exchanging hugs with this elderly couple on the front porch, they petted the dogs in the front room and admired the new pictures of the “grandbabies” on the walls. While Barbara went into the kitchen to put away canned food, Wayne turned his attention to Hager, a man of few words. But before long they were engaged in conversation.

Barbara and Wayne are often called on by local social workers to help families with food and clothing and to assist with home repair projects in Morgan County where nearly 25 percent of the aging population lives below the poverty level.

That service, performed in the name of Prince of Peace Catholic Church, has broken down suspicion and led to a greater acceptance of the Catholic community in this Appalachian county, Father Pete explains.

The Levandowskis and their “caring, missionary spirit” are a gift that Father Pete leaves to the new pastor of Prince of Peace, Father Jerry Dorn. Father Pete left West Liberty in January to begin a several-month sabbatical in Rome.