Charlotte Grace Stucki of Wyoming, Michigan, passed away on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at the age of 83. She was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, in 1942 to Grace Svea Jarvela and Carl Lindgren, who preceded her in death. Charlotte is survived by her husband, Frederick Stucki; her children, Elisabeth (Ronald) Wierenga, Rebecca (James) Miles, Sharon (Jason) Coad, and Jonathan (Lauren) Stucki; her brother, Michael Pelto; ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Char, as all knew her, was born again at age seven. Her life verse was Philippians 3:10, “…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death….” She prepared for ministry at the Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music from 1960-62, where she met her husband, Frederick “Fritz” Stucki. They served as missionaries in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic in 1962 and 1963, and then in Argentina from 1963 to 1966.

After their missionary service, Char and Fritz served in various ministries, including Teen Challenge, where they ran a group farm for young men recovering from drug addiction. They also served at Maranatha Ministries in Grandville. Together they pastored New Hope Fellowship in Ovid for six years, and then Burton Street Church, Porter Street Church, and Shepherd’s Tent Ministries locally for 25 years.

Char also led numerous Bible studies, delivered messages, and wrote prolifically, including the book Golden Nuggets of Spiritual Truth, a compilation of devotions and reflections on the faith. Later in life, she traveled to various nations for short-term mission work, including Cambodia, India, and three visits to Zimbabwe. The ministry also conducted a fundraising campaign for a feeding program in Argentina, selling 10,000 empanadas, a favorite Argentine food, at the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts.

Char also studied to become a Licensed Practical Nurse at Lansing Community College. She served as a nurse at St. John’s Nursing Home and as a post-surgical nurse in Kingsport, Tennessee. She served as LPN-5 at the Grand Rapids Veterans Administration Hospital for 18 years.

Char was a lifelong musician, honing her skills in Bible college and using them everywhere she went afterward. She served faithfully as pianist in numerous churches throughout her life, most recently playing for services at The Cross Fellowship and Waterford Place. She played trumpet and ukulele, and she even purchased and played her own baritone. But she was especially adept with the accordion.

Her prowess with language was also noteworthy. In addition to the deep mastery of Spanish so important for her mission work with Fritz, she explored her ancestry by learning Finnish. She participated in the Finnish American Society of West-Central Michigan and traveled to Finland to meet relatives and discover her cultural history. But perhaps she demonstrated her love of words most fiercely in games such as Scrabble, Words with Friends, and UpWords, all of which she played ruthlessly.

As “Gramma,” she was particularly devoted to her grandkids and great-grandkids. She spent days and days with each of them, teaching them how to play piano, how to make empanadas, or how to cross-stitch, knit, or crochet. She took them on outings to all sorts of places, like berry-picking farms or Michigan’s Adventure, where she famously kept riding the Wolverine Wildcat roller coaster alone at the end of the day when everyone else was too tired. She was faithful to attend the kids’ sporting events, recitals, concerts, and plays. She even took a grandchild on one of her mission trips to Zimbabwe.

Char was an industrious scrapbooker for many years, serving as the family’s documentarian by making extensive books about every child and grandchild, as well as several other family-related topics. She was an avid hiker and walker and competed in numerous half-marathons and even a 60-mile walking marathon.

Char’s life was marked by faithful love and diligence for the Lord, the church, her husband, her family, and her patients. She could strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone, anywhere—and did. She was particularly fond of a Finnish word and concept she discovered, sisu, which is difficult to render in English, combining the ideas of determination, grit, resilience, and guts: the relentless ability to act against overwhelming odds, which characterizes her perfectly.

Char’s family will host a Celebration of Life Service in her memory on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at Woodward Baptist Church at 2160 76th Street SW, Byron Center, MI 49315. Visitation time will be 9:30 a.m. with the service at 10:30 a.m. The church will provide a luncheon afterward. The family encourages all to dress for a celebration and not for mourning.

Donations may be made directly to The Bible League at bibleleague.org/ways-to-give or (866) 825-4636.