Martin Kuntz, a 76-year-old member of Holy Cross Parish, shows the rosary he carries in his pocket.
Sentinel photo by Ed Langlois
In retirement, Martin Kuntz would putter in his North Portland yard and garage, popping inside every half hour or so, just to see his beloved.
There, Stella would come to embrace him and call him sweetheart.
But Stella, a popular member of Holy Cross Parish, died in 2006.
More than 300 people attended the funeral for this woman known for kindness and generosity.
Martin, a 76-year-old former shipyard worker, sees his five children and 14 grandchildren whenever possible. But nothing can replace the Stella-shaped void in his soul.
“I’m still in love with her,” he says, standing in the living room that looks the same as when Stella was alive. Statues of John F. Kennedy and Pope John Paul are perched in a tall display case.
“She was a very good wife. Everybody loved her,” Martin says, his voice crackling. “I loved her. There were no hard feelings with me and her.”
They met in North Dakota. The year she was 17, they were both at a dance. Friends told Martin that the comely young girl was talking about him. That gave him confidence to begin courting her and then they married.
About four decades ago, the couple left Martin’s family farm in North Dakota and came to Oregon, mostly to help Stella’s ailing eyes, which doctors thought would do better in the Northwest climate.
Martin landed a job with Dillingham Ship Repair and was soon promoted to foreman because of his dependability and amiability. Workers with more seniority resented his meteoric rise and jeered. He talked them down, showing everyone that he was nobody’s fool.
The Kuntz’ bought a house near Interstate Avenue in 1971, just up the hill from the shipyards. They raised their children there and lived a happy life.
Martin plans to continue living in the house, though it is full of reminders about Stella.
“I do a lot of crying,” he says.
When Stella went blind in the months before her death, Martin fell to his knees and prayed the rosary, which he keeps in his pocket. That led to a frank conversation with Jesus and an unexpected conclusion.
“I asked Jesus to cure her, like he did the blind beggar,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Can you let Stella get some eyes to see, like you did that man?’”
He got up from his knees and returned to her bedside. Stella’s sight had not returned, but when she opened her eyes, Martin was struck anew by her beauty.
“She had the most beautiful eyes you ever saw,” he says, implying that the prayer worked in its own way, sending his appreciation for her to whole new levels.
This summer, Martin has been traveling on missions of mercy. He went to Tacoma to be with an ailing daughter and then to California to see an ill brother-in-law.
In his shop, Martin makes wooden toys, including sleds and wagons for youngsters in his life. His grandchildren also know he’s usually good for a piece of candy.
Martin has become locally famous for his tasty homemade sausage, which he imparts to friends, including parish staff.
“He’s just a real sweetheart of a guy,” says Deacon Brett Edmonson of Holy Cross. “He is very dedicated to his wife. They were just as much in love at her death as they were the day they were married.”
After Mass at Holy Cross, Martin often has coffee with a group of friends. He’s proud to report that some of them call him a sweetheart of a fella, like Stella used to.
Faith helps in healing
A 2007 survey published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that 85 percent of U.S. doctors believe religious faith can help patients have good health results.
Researchers polled 1,144 doctors. Only 1 percent said they believe religious faith and spirituality have a negative effect, while 2 percent said it has no effect and 12 percent said they think the positive and negative effects are balanced.
Dr. John Robertson, chief heart surgeon at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., told the Los Angeles Times last year that patients with a strong faith are more optimistic and recover more quickly. Other doctors say churches and other religious organizations can provide emotional and practical support to patients.
Some doctors said the peril of religious belief and health is that some patients believe their illnesses are divine punishment.
A 2006 study at the University of Michigan Medical Center found that faith can guard psychological well-being during stressful times like heart surgery. Researchers found that the mere perception of social support that comes from churches can aid healing by blocking depression and anxiety.
The study, presented during the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, also found that having negative religious thoughts — like doubt or feelings of divine retribution —may hinder recovery.
A 2007 study done in Rome showed that strong religious faith can defend stroke patients from depression.
“Faith is something that is constant with older people,” says Greg Buzzy, administrator of Assumption Village, a residence and care center for elders in North Portland. “Their marriage status can change, where they live can change and society can change, but the thing they can lean on is their faith.”
Assumption Village, built on the grounds of a former Catholic parish, offers Mass five days per week and an interfaith service twice per month.
Evelyn Gerardo Challis, director of pastoral services at Mary’s Woods, a continuing care retirement community founded by the Sisters of the Holy Names, is impressed by the vitality of Mary’s Woods residents, many of whom remain active through and past their 90s.
“A faith community provides a sense of peace, support, and hope for people,” Challis says. “A community of care and compassion enhances the sense of belonging and being loved and helps people cope with life’s challenges.”
As people approach the end of life, spirituality becomes even more explicit as they grapple with ultimate realities, she explains.
The Rev. Charlene Epp, a chaplain at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, often gives input on treatment plans for patients, including those who are dying.
“Belief makes a difference in their ability to have hope even when they know life is coming to an end,” says Rev. Epp, a Mennonite minister who admires the Catholic hospital’s mission.
“It sharpens the focus of what they want to do and what they want to be in the time they have left.”
Catholic hospitals have long known that spiritual care is an integral part of healing, and most other health providers have come to the same conclusion.
“A basis for faith is offering hope,” Rev. Epp says. “Hope is not a particular outcome, it is what allows you to move through experiences regardless of the outcome. Hope allows people to move forward.”
And faith goes beyond social support, she explains, saying that a church community will have a different effect on a person than, say, playing cards at a community center. While the card players may make conenctions, “there may not be as frequently the experience of that intimate deeper solace with something that is transcendent.”
Some studies even suggest that patients get benefit when others pray for them, even if the patient is unaware of the prayers.
“That,” says the Rev. Epp, “speaks to an energy greater than the individual.”
— Ed Langlois
