Mrs Pugh

My name is Carolyn Pugh. I am the lunch lady and am very happy to be here at St Stephens working in the kitchen with all the school and church staff. 

I attended a Catholic Grade School in Minneapolis, grades 1-8, and was part of the first class to attend Archbishop Thomas L. Grace High School in Fridley, now known as Totino Grace.  I have wonderful memories and respect for the education my parents provided myself and my siblings. I completed my Bachelor’s Degree at St Mary’s University and have a partial Masters degree in Servant Leadership from Viterbo University with hopes to finish in 2024. 

I have been married for almost 52 years, have 4 adult children with various occupations, 2 are teachers and coaches for their schools as well as in their communities and the other 2 are in business and medical services. They attended St Raphael and Totino Grace High School. I always felt blessed to be able to provide the education that helped to develop them into the remarkable adults they are. All of them attended Catholic Universities as well. I have 8 grandchildren, the oldest attended the same schools as her mom did carrying on the family legacy and recently started college. 

I spent 38 years working for the “phone” company in many different capacities, the experiences, opportunities and friendships that I left with are wonderful gifts. I retired in January of 2016 with no knowledge of my next steps. 2 months later, my husband and I was serving as fulltime missionaries in Haiti.  We served until August of 2018, several of our family members came to serve with teams throughout various communities in Haiti and in our medical clinics while we were there. 

When I returned from Haiti, I was asked to help in the kitchen at St Raphael, the “lunch lady” had become gravely ill. I was asked to step in and continued to served there for 5 years.