Community invited to celebrate teacher’s life today

Mike Stork had a 30-year teaching career with PSD

Brian McLean

of the Gateway

Rachel Stork Crane remembers her father, Mike Stork, as a magician. With a classroom full of 6- and 7-year-old first-graders, he was mesmerizing.

“It was like watching a show,” Stork Crane said Monday. “Even if a child was not exactly on task, my dad would maybe tell the kid to come up to the front and help him hold the story. Everything he did, he turned it into a positive.”

Mike Stork, who taught first grade for 30 years with the Peninsula School District, died Friday of pancreatic cancer. He will be honored at a ceremony open to the community at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Artondale Elementary School, where he spent 20 years as a teacher.

Kathy Weymiller, the principal at Artondale Elementary, estimated that Stork taught thousands of children. Thursday’s child-friendly, upbeat ceremony will feature some of Stork’s maritime photography as well as a slide show. Newspaper clippings from both The Peninsula Gateway and The News Tribune will also be displayed.

“Mike was a light-up-the-room guy for both kids and adults,” Weymiller said. “He made every kid a believer in their capacity to learn and to be a good person. When the primary adult in your life sees you as a superstar, it’s hard not to believe it.

“He made every adult who crossed his path feel that way, too.”

Weymiller said students and other young people will be wearing Otter Fun Run shirts — to commemorate the event last Friday — as a tribute to Stork. And those not wearing Otter shirts will be wearing Aloha shirts, which Weymiller said was Stork’s “favorite Friday uniform.”

Artondale officials are expecting the gym to be near its capacity of several hundred people. Weymiller asked parents to keep their children with them if they attend.

Stork Crane said her father always found something interesting to say about someone, even when it involved children in an age group that can be restless. “He had fun every day,” Stork Crane said. “He was beyond patient. Sometimes after he retired, he would still come and read to my classes.”

Stork Crane is a teacher, too, with experience both in Australia and at Whittier Elementary in Fircrest. Kathy Stork, Mike’s wife, worked for 30 years in the Tacoma School District. And Ebba Stork, Mike’s mother, taught first and fourth grades in Tacoma.

“People have been so wonderful. It’s been incredible,” Kathy Stork said of the outpouring of community support. “I just want to thank them.”

“Everyone adores our dad,” Stork Crane added. “We’re lucky.”

Stork Crane said her father loved publicity, often inviting people into his classroom.

“He just made life fun,” she said. “He made teaching fun, and he made our lives fun. He was the perfect dad.”

Celebration of life ceremony

A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held in Mike Stork’s honor at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Artondale Elementary School, 6219 40th St. NW in Gig Harbor.

The celebration, which will be held at the school’s gym, is open to the community.

Some of Stork’s maritime photography will be on display, and a slide show will be presented.

Stork had a 30-year career teaching first grade with the Peninsula School District, including both Purdy and Artondale elementary schools.

“His whole teaching career, he saved everything,” said Kathy Stork, Mike’s wife.

Reach Editor Brian McLean at 253-853-9245 or by e-mail at brian.mclean@gateline.com.