Michael Bendicsen grew up near the Region. He comes from Addison, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. He attended Valparaiso University to earn his bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in secondary-education studies. Following the completion of...
Donald A. Heichel II was born, raised, and went to high school in the Region in La Porte, Indiana. He still resides there, yet when he goes into the office to work, he’s in Indianapolis, as he currently works for the Department of Defense as a...
Dr. Stephen Schnurr got his first church job when he was still a student in high school in Louisville, Kentucky. Then he went on to complete his undergraduate studies at Duke University in North Carolina. His graduate work was done at Yale University...
After graduating from high school in 1972, Sue White became a preschool teacher. She got her first job working at First Christian Church in Valparaiso. In 1976, she met her husband, Seth, at Valparaiso Nazarene Church. They had three daughters...
Deb Kucharyski grew up in the Midwest and met her husband after her college graduation. He took a job in Houston, Texas shortly thereafter, and then the couple moved there to live together and raise their children for 17 years. They also lived in...
John Kilavos has a big role with the ability to have a positive impact, as he’s the executive and family-ministry pastor at Heartland Christian Center in Valparaiso, Indiana, a church where community and faith cooperate. He took on his current role...
Amanda Bookholt grew up all over the United States. Her dad was an army officer, so she and her family moved around often. Her high-school years were spent in Grayslake, Illinois, a village not too distant from the Region. She’s been living and...
Larry Evans is a partner at Hoeppner Wagner & Evans, a law firm in the Region. The firm’s primary headquarters is located in Valparaiso, but it also has an office in Merrillville. While he works in Valpo now, Evans was born and raised in Gary,...
Julie Kissinger grew up in Valpo and graduated from high school in her hometown. She then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business from Purdue University. She currently works as the director of life services at VNA Hospice NWI, at the head...
Not all folks doing tremendous work in the Valparaiso community today were born and raised locally. That includes Jessica Luth, who comes from Kansas City, Missouri. She’s lived in various places, having spent a fair amount of years right outside...