Maryanne Ratekin appreciates her job as secretary at Main Street Christian Church for several reasons, but one advantage is getting to know people in the community.

When she felt the need for a job outside the home to help pay medical expenses for her mother, Maryanne took the advice of neighbor Katie Blair Burkhardt and applied for the church position.

“I needed an extra job that I could still be there for my kids and still take Mom to all her appointments,” Ratekin explained. “I wasn’t so convinced that they would consider me since I’d been a stay at home mom for the last seven and one-half years. I thought, ‘I’ve not been working for so long they’re never going to hire me,’ but they did.”

The job didn’t fit her preconceived concept.

“It wasn’t what I expected at all. I had this image in my mind and that was cemented a little bit when I came for my interview and there were three other ladies here and they were all 50-somethings in their perfect church secretary outfits,” Maryanne recalled. “I was thinking ‘I’m not going to fit in.’ But it’s been so different. Everybody has been so warm and welcoming. I didn’t grow up here so I don’t know very many people but everyone’s really made me feel welcome and I think that it’s actually been really good for me because I’ve met and made so many new friends here in town, people that I never would’ve been exposed to.”

Although she spent her younger years as a self-described “Army brat” Maryanne is glad to call Rushville home now. When asked about staying in one city she responded she liked living here very much.

“I hope I never have to move again,” she exclaimed.

“All of my brothers and sisters were born all across the country,” she remarked. “I was actually born in Ft. Bragg, not in the city next door but actually in Ft. Bragg.”

One of her two sisters was born in Hawaii and one of her three brothers was born in Tacoma. The family was stationed in Germany too. According to Ratekin, her older brothers and sisters didn’t enjoy changing schools every other year but did appreciate seeing the different places they lived. She’s the youngest girl and second youngest child.

Her parents divorced when she was young and she moved with her siblings and mother, Gwen Vigeant to Washington state.

“She was a single mom with six kids. She had her hands full. She set a great example for all of us,” Maryanne said proudly.

Maryanne, her mother and one brother moved to Jennings County and the youngest daughter of the family completed her junior and senior years there.

“My oldest sister had the first grandbabies and her husband was originally from Indiana,” Maryanne noted, adding that her mother decided she wasn’t going to miss the grandchildren growing up.

Gwen was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis in 2001; that was changed to progressive in 2006. A brother had been staying with their mother but when he got married Gwen let the newlyweds start their new life without his mother living in the same house.

“We were in the process of moving to Rushville and we just started shopping for a house that would suit all of us and we found one, thank goodness,” Maryanne reflected. “So for the last three years she’s been living with us. She doesn’t drive anymore so I take her to all her appointments and everything but we make it work.

“When she’s healthy she travels quite a bit,” Maryanne noted about her mother. “She’s got grandkids everywhere now. When able, she goes - Grandma on the go.”

Maryanne met her husband, Rushville native Pete Ratekin, in North Vernon. His sister’s husband was the manager of a fast food restaurant. Both Pete and Maryanne got summer jobs there.

“We met there and fell in love like a couple of kids,” she recalled.

The couple has an 8-year-old son Connor and 6-year-old daughter Abby who both attend Rushville Elementary School. The family also includes a German Shepherd named Edy, a Chocolate Lab named Buster and two kitty cats.

Pete’s parents Rex and Nancy Ratekin also live in Rushville.

“I just love them. They’ve been so good to us,” their daughter-in-law enthused.

Maryanne dropped out of college after her son was born.

“I finished two years of general studies because I could not pick a major,” she said. “I briefly considered going back to school after my son was born,” but she couldn’t stand the thought of not being at home with the infant.

“I was really lucky because Pete was the one who made a lot of sacrifices with me so I could be a stay at home mom,” she reflected. “It was probably the best thing that I have ever done in my life and the best gift that anyone has ever given me to be able to do that.”

Her work experience before becoming a stay at home mom was interesting. Between high school and her freshman year of college she took a summer job at an egg packing plant.

“It was the experience of a lifetime. I felt like a character in I Love Lucy. It was like eggs going everywhere, breaking,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t last long; I wasn’t cut out for that work. I failed miserably as an egg packer.”

Her next position was more rewarding and more suitable to her skills. She worked at a day care with special needs children.

“That was probably the best job I ever had,” she added.

The best part of her current job is the members of the congregation with whom she interacts.

“They’re such good people,” she noted. “Everyone nowadays has such negative lives but if you be quiet and listen to the people around you everyone has their story to tell and there are some amazing stories around here. When you listen to people you think, ‘Gee, I didn’t know.’ Everyone is so giving and open and kind. If you let people be nice they will.”

Mary Anne is a member of St. Mary Catholic Church in Rushville, her adopted home town.



Jan Voiles can be contacted at jan.voiles@rushvillerepublican.com or at (765) 932-2222 ext. 107. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.