Our dear friend John Stuckey passed into Glory on Sunday 6th November 2022, as we prayed in Church.
Our dear John was born in Umberleigh a village between Exeter and Barnstaple, he was the youngest of four, two brothers, Gordon and Graham and his sister Florence who was just eighteen months older than him. John had a happy childhood until at six years old he was involved in a car accident which left him partially paralysed down his left side. There followed two years in a wheelchair and then a caliper to help him walk. He made up his mind to lead a normal life and spent time roaming the woods around his home and frightening his poor sister by taking to walking by the river but that is a long story, At thirteen he threw his caliper away and worked on walking without a limp as much as possible.
John was so determined to lead a normal life that he volunteered for the army a year after National Service had ended. He was passed by six doctors as A1 and he started his training. As he was so tall he was placed as the right flanker on parade but this soon caused a big problem as the other men said they could not march in time behind someone with a limp, even though it was very slight. The army discharged him after three months.
John began training as an accountant and passed his book-keeping exams at a college for the disabled. He then spent a year in London as an Audit Clerk. He didn’t like London so he returned home to Devon. He then went through a series of jobs including Chauffeur Valet Chicken Farmer fetching and delivering cars for his eldest brother’s garage you name it, he had done it.
Eventually, he ended up as a Driver/Supervisor in an Adult Training Centre where he met Tricia. It was a case of love at first sight for both of them and they decided to get married. They both believed in God but did not go to church, however, they wanted to be married in Church. Having booked a date with the Vicar they felt it would be a bit polite to turn up at Church a few times. There followed a summer of attending church every week as they heard some wonderful preaching and came to know Jesus. Consequently, the Vicar, John and Tricia ended up in tears of emotion at the altar on their wedding day.
About a year after the marriage, the Vicar asked John and Tricia to hold a Bible study in their home, this led on to forty five years of Housegroup Leadership in the various places that they lived and eventually, numerous Alpha Courses in their home.
But, stepping back again to four years into their marriage and now with two beautiful daughters Pippa and Jo, John felt that the Lord was calling him to do more than just earn his crust of bread and he began praying about this. One day, flicking through his mother-in-laws’s ‘Lady’ magazine, he saw an advert which said, ‘Could you love an old lag?’ Not knowing what an ‘old lag’ was, he did some research and soon discovered that it meant a recidivist or person who was in and out of prison all their life. John and Tricia applied to work in the Langley House Trust which provided homes for ex-offenders and in some of the homes, there was also work. In his application, he stated that they were committed Christians which, at the time could mean make or break. He soon received a letter calling him and Tricia for an interview and stating that they only employed Committed Christians.
There followed a few years of working and living with about 20 ex-offenders at Wing Grange in Rutland. John and Tricia were given a lovely little lodge cottage at the end of the drive. Wing Grange had 23 acres of farm land plus a handicraft workshop which John was made manager of. He encouraged many men to take up woodwork, lathe turning, candle making, horse-shoe nail jewellery, pin art and many other things including making a fibre glass canoe for the local scout troop. He became recognised as the best Counsellor in Langley House Trust and was privileged to bring some of the men to finding Jesus. On one occasion, he found one of the lads sitting on a railway bridge preparing to commit suicide, John praised the Lord for finding him in time and to cut a long story short, he was instrumental in helping him through to faith, three years later, John was Best Man at the lad’s wedding.
When the farm manager at Wing was away, John had to step into his shoes for a week or so and on one occasion, a pig was due to farrow whilst John was in charge. Half way through the week John awoke in the morning to hear loud squealing coming from the farm yard, he quickly got dressed and went out to find that two of the lads had got it in their heads to move the pig to the farrowing pen and they were pushing her with a broom. As John appeared, the pig had had enough and bolted round into the rose beds in the main drive. Pippa and Jo were greatly amused as they sat eating their breakfast watching their Dad cuddling a pig in a rose bush and trying to feed it to calm it down. Eventually one of the older lads came to the rescue with three Mars bars which John and he broke up and gradually enticed the pig round to the farrowing pen. This pig was called June and each week she was walked down to the village by the lads and given a pint of cider at the local pub.
The work in Langley was not very well paid, but John always praised the Lord for his provision. One weekend, Tricia was in the local town and the girls wanted some cream cakes they had seen, but Tricia didn’t have the money spare, it was a bit of a tear-jerking moment but John said that God would provide. Sure enough, on returning to the hostel they were greeted by another member of staff who said that M & S had rung to say that they had a lot of food going spare and would the hostel like it. Of course it was a big YES and it arrived an hour later. A large proportion of it was cream cakes!
Eventually, it became time for the little family to leave Langley, God had always promised John that his girls would come to no harm in the work and John was getting a bit worried as a little blood was beginning to flow between the lads. John said he would only leave if God directed him to do so and sure enough, less than a fortnight later, he got an unexpected phone call from an ex-colleague 200 miles away who said he had seen a perfect job for John in Northampton. The job was to be Deputy Warden of a Probation Hostel with a house provided. Once again John applied stating that he was a Committed Christian, Surprise, surprise The Warden was also a Committed Christian. The next seven years were spent at the Probation Hostel during which time he was held at knife-point for over an hour plus he put out a fire in the hostel and one on the bridge outside the building. Fire seemed to follow him a little as, at two different Christian camps he had to dash into burning tents and remove gas bottles. John was a very brave man.
While John was at the Probation Hostel, his twin sons Jeffrey and Alan arrived and the family was complete.
Altogether he was in Northampton for twenty years during which time he was Warden of three different hostels for the homeless plus, he spent three years working as buyer in a Christian wholefood store which helped people recovering from mental illness. During all this time, he was leading a Housegroup, taking groups to Christian Camp in the summer and being a lovely husband and Dad. There was a Christian Community in the local church which provided homes for people with various needs. John and Tricia became part of this Community and opened up their home to three other people. John was made an Elder of the community and was part of it for many years. He was also very involved in the Northampton Christian Festival which was run by the late David Watson.
As Tricia ran a refuge for women and children escaping domestic violence, one of John’s favourite jobs became dressing up as Father Christmas for the children every year.
For many years John got shouted at in the street, children would shout “Hello Captain Birds Eye. It even happened when he was in France, but it was Captain Igloo there, this went on for years and even a few weeks ago, a taxi driver asked if he had ever been called Captain Birds Eye.
Often when walking the dog in the evening, he would see a tramp and buy fish & chips for him, he then sat and talked whilst he was eating.
After twenty years in Northampton which is very far from the sea, the call back to Devon came for Trish and John. By now they had saved up enough to buy an old boat which they did up and put on a mooring in Teignmouth.
John was headhunted by another Christian organisation providing accommodation for homeless men in Torquay. He became Warden and soon had it changed from a Night Shelter to an all day hostel/home plus he managed to open up some follow on accommodation to get the men back on their feet. This was his work until he retired, after which his time was spent doing up boats and sailing in them, his daughter Jo followed in his footsteps with her love of love of the sea and sailing.
Housegroup and Alpha were now his main concentration, on many occasions people would say that he never said a lot, but what he said really counted. After a while, his health began to fail, he gave up his boat and settled down to a quieter life which involved a lot of hospital visits and other appointments. Eventually, with failing sight, he had to give up driving and life became even more limited. However, to his delight, his beloved sister Flo with her husband John moved back to Devon and settled in Kingsteignton. Their daughter, son-in-law and family also moved to Dunchideock so for the past ten years or so there have been many happy family gatherings.
John was a real family man, he was very proud of all his children Pippa, Jo, Jeff and Alan and his lovely grandchildren Sasha. Ben and Edie. He was also pleased to welcome into the family Joseph and Amelia and was happy at how well they looked after Pippa and Alan. He would not want us to forget his friend Hendrik who he called his German son.
There is no doubt that he was a wonderful Husband, Father and Grandfather. Next to God, he loved his family more than anything. He will be remembered for always praising God in all circumstances and with a twinkle in his eye, he would say “We are in God’s hands” and “God will provide”