LseTrib: Spunky Independence WI native donates $500,000 for elevator addition to church

At 88, Adeline Kulig Puccini remains spunkier than a cherub on Christmas Eve, with a devilish twinkle in her eye when asked where she got the half-million dollars to pay for an addition, including an elevator, for the church where she was baptized.

“None of your business,” Puccini said with a mischievous smile during an interview Friday, in advance of the dedication and celebration Sunday of her gift to Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Independence.

A knowledgeable fly on a pew hinted that Puccini had done well with investments.

Puccini, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s from Northwestern University, confessed as much a few minutes later, saying, “I had a 40-year career as a speech pathologist. I’m vested well.”

So was her husband, the late Navy Capt. Joe Puccini, a Top Gun aviator, she said, adding quickly and firmly, “This is my charity. His charities are in Texas.”

continue at La Crosse Tribune

If you are following along at home, Sts. Peter and Paul is also undergoing a good renovation (as opposed to those popular 1970's hack wreckovations).

Sts Peter and Paul Parish in Independence, WI gets face lift

Sts Peter and Paul Parish renovation

The church, built in 1895 by Polish settlers, is in the final stages of a massive renovation that began in 2010. The second-largest church within the Diocese of La Crosse was in disrepair and could have easily succumbed to the elements and been shuttered. But the parishioners, the community and total strangers stepped in to prevent this from happening.

From re-leading 33 massive stained-glass windows, to new electrical, to replastering columns and painting, to stripping the interior to the bare wooden floors and putting everything back together … every inch of the 121-year-old church was touched in one way or another.

The majesty of the steeple soaring towards the clouds captures people’s hearts, and the magnificence of the newly renovated interior captures their soul and takes their breath away. All eyes are drawn upwards toward heaven.

Paintings of saints decorate the nave and the Ascension of the Lord hovering high above the altar conveys a sense of holiness to those who enter. The renovations bring the church back to its original glory.

continue at CatholicLife

This is so good to see, not just a beautiful restoration, but the people of the parish understanding their connection with the building.  Church buildings in this diocese have always been secondary.  I read one historical account that a school was always built first, then the church.  In fact, the first Catholic church in the city of La Crosse was razed some 50 years ago.

Bravo, can't wait to visit!

Parish website: 4apostles.org/wp