Evangelist N12d #1
2
BY ANGELA CAVE STAFF WRITER It wasn’t enough for Jim Tschinkel to tackle the 35 peaks higher than 3,500 feet in the Catskill Mountains. Twenty-five years ago, the parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Delmar decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. In September, at the age of 82, he finally finished the 2,181-mile trek. He’d spent a quarter-centu- ry hiking bits and pieces of the trail to cover its entire length — 14 states, from Georgia to Maine. The end of the journey has left a slight hole in his life. “There’s some sadness there,” Mr. Tschinkel admitted. But “there’s some joy. I’m really thankful that I had the health to do it.” Thousands of people attempt to “through-hike” the Appalachi- an Trail every year, but Mr. Tschinkel had neither the time nor the interest to do the whole trek in one shot. “To me, it was the journey; it was the planning, meeting the people,” he said. Planning a week of hiking — including mapping out trail- heads and packing — often took a week in itself. The Appalachian Trail is “not just a designated walk from here to there,” Mr. Tschinkel explained. He carried a map, a compass, matches, a first aid kit, water purifying tablets, rain gear, a sleeping bag and a mummy- shaped air mattress. He likes to keep his load under 30 pounds, skipping items like a radio or a pillow. Mr. Tschinkel retired as a tele- phone company repair techni- cian and installer in 1991. He and his wife, Joan, have lived in Delmar for seven years; they serve as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist at their parish. Family affair It seems everyone in Mr. Tschinkel’s life was involved in his Appalachian Trail expedi- tion in some way. Family and friends joined him as hiking partners; his wife, Joan, served as chauffeur. “All six of us had someone in our families hike with him,” recalled Kristin Olson, the Tschinkels’ youngest child. Mrs. Olson’s husband hiked 67 miles with Mr. Tschinkel last summer. The Olsons and their sons, ages nine and six, hiked 33 miles during August in the Great Smoky Mountains on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. The family slept in a lean-to and forged ahead through wind and rain. “At one point, [my six-year-old] was standing up on this cliff and praying, ‘Please, God, I want you to have rain for the animals, but don’t give us thunder,’” Mrs. Olson recalled. Mrs. Olson credited her moth- er with grueling behind-the- scenes work: navigating narrow dirt roads, tolerating the road rage of other drivers and dodg- ing mountainous drop-offs. After Mrs. Tschinkel dropped her husband off, she would find the other end of the trail — often without a GPS signal. She wor- ried for his life if he didn’t reach that point at an agreed-upon time. One time, a park ranger told Mrs. Tschinkel her husband had taken a wrong turn on the trail. She was in tears by the time Mr. Tschinkel finally made it to the car. “I was, like, three minutes late,” Mr. Tschinkel argued, conced- ing: “She was very brave and very helpful and very support- ive.” 8 November 24, 2011 THE EVANGELIST SENIOR LIFESTYLES For all of you, all of your life RESURRECTION NURSING HOME 90 NORTH MAIN ST., CASTLETON, NY12033 Resurrection Health Care Are you looking for skilled nursing care for a loved one? Resurrection Nursing Home is an 80-bed skilled nursing facility located on Route 9J in Castleton, an easy commute from surrounding counties and easy access to I-787, I-90, the NYS Thruway and the Berkshire Spur. Please contact the Admissions Coordinator at 518-732-7617, ext 114 or [email protected] for more information or to schedule a tour. To learn about Resurrection Nursing Home, please visit our website at www.reshealthcare.org, click on locations, select nursing homes, and scroll down to Resurrection Nursing Home. Job Hotline 732-7617 ext. 301 QUARTER-CENTURY HIKE 82-year-old reaches end of the Appalachian Trail MR. TSCHINKEL AND FAMILY ON THE TRAIL
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90NORTHMAINST.,CASTLETON,NY12033 8 THEEVANGELIST Areyoulookingforskillednursingcareforalovedone? QUARTER-CENTURY HIKE Family affair Job Hotline 732-7617 ext.301 Forallofyou, allofyourlife phone company repair techni- cian and installer in 1991. He and his wife, Joan, have lived in Delmar for seven years; they serve as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist at their parish. Resurrection HealthCare MR. TSCHINKEL AND FAMILY ON THE TRAIL November 24, 2011 STAFF WRITER BY ANGELA CAVE
Transcript of Evangelist N12d #1
BY ANGELA CAVES T A F F W R I T E R
It wasn’t enough for JimTschinkel to tackle the 35 peakshigher than 3,500 feet in theCatskill Mountains. Twenty-fiveyears ago, the parishioner of St.Thomas the Apostle Church inDelmar decided to hike theAppalachian Trail.
In September, at the age of 82,he finally finished the 2,181-miletrek. He’d spent a quarter-centu-ry hiking bits and pieces of thetrail to cover its entire length —14 states, from Georgia to Maine.
The end of the journey has lefta slight hole in his life.
“There’s some sadness there,”Mr. Tschinkel admitted. But“there’s some joy. I’m reallythankful that I had the health todo it.”
Thousands of people attempt
to “through-hike” the Appalachi-an Trail every year, but Mr.Tschinkel had neither the timenor the interest to do the wholetrek in one shot.
“To me, it was the journey; itwas the planning, meeting thepeople,” he said.
Planning a week of hiking —including mapping out trail-heads and packing — often tooka week in itself. The AppalachianTrail is “not just a designatedwalk from here to there,” Mr.Tschinkel explained.
He carried a map, a compass,matches, a first aid kit, waterpurifying tablets, rain gear, asleeping bag and a mummy-shaped air mattress. He likes tokeep his load under 30 pounds,skipping items like a radio or apillow.
Mr. Tschinkel retired as a tele-
phone company repair techni-cian and installer in 1991. He andhis wife, Joan, have lived inDelmar for seven years; theyserve as extraordinary ministersof the Eucharist at their parish.
Family affairIt seems everyone in Mr.
Tschinkel’s life was involved inhis Appalachian Trail expedi-tion in some way. Family andfriends joined him as hikingpartners; his wife, Joan, served aschauffeur.
“All six of us had someone inour families hike with him,”recalled Kristin Olson, theTschinkels’ youngest child.
Mrs. Olson’s husband hiked67 miles with Mr. Tschinkel lastsummer. The Olsons and theirsons, ages nine and six, hiked 33miles during August in theGreat Smoky Mountains on theborder of North Carolina andTennessee.
The family slept in a lean-toand forged ahead through windand rain.
“At one point, [my six-year-old]was standing up on this cliff andpraying, ‘Please, God, I want youto have rain for the animals, butdon’t give us thunder,’” Mrs.Olson recalled.
Mrs. Olson credited her moth-er with grueling behind-the-scenes work: navigating narrowdirt roads, tolerating the roadrage of other drivers and dodg-ing mountainous drop-offs.
After Mrs. Tschinkel dropped
her husband off, she would findthe other end of the trail — oftenwithout a GPS signal. She wor-ried for his life if he didn’t reachthat point at an agreed-upontime. One time, a park rangertold Mrs. Tschinkel her husbandhad taken a wrong turn on thetrail. She was in tears by the timeMr. Tschinkel finally made it tothe car.
“I was, like, three minutes late,”Mr. Tschinkel argued, conced-ing: “She was very brave andvery helpful and very support-ive.”
8 November 24, 2011TH E E VA NG E L I S T
SENIOR LIFESTYLES
For all of you,
all of your life
RESURRECTION NURSING HOME
90 NORTH MAIN ST., CASTLETON, NY12033
Resurrection
Health Care
Are you looking for skilled nursing care for a loved one?
Resurrection Nursing Home is an 80-bed skilled nursing facility
located on Route 9J in Castleton, an easy commute from
surrounding counties and easy access to I-787, I-90,
the NYS Thruway and the Berkshire Spur.
Please contact the Admissions Coordinator at 518-732-7617, ext 114
or [email protected] for more information
or to schedule a tour.
To learn about Resurrection Nursing Home, please visit our website at
www.reshealthcare.org, click on locations, select nursing homes,
and scroll down to Resurrection Nursing Home.Job
Hotline
732-7617
ext. 301
QUARTER-CENTURY HIKE
82-year-old reaches end of the Appalachian Trail
MR. TSCHINKEL AND FAMILY ON THE TRAIL
9November 24, 2011 TH E E VA NG E L I S T
SENIOR LIFESTYLES
SM
The family often vacationedwith Mrs. Tschinkel while Mr.Tschinkel hiked. “She needed asupport crew, too,” Mrs. Olsonremarked.
Mrs. Tschinkel, now 78,injured her knee and stoppedparticipating in the hikes a fewyears ago. “It never really was,like, my thing, but I did it becauseit was something he enjoyed,” shesaid. “Frankly, she lets him go,”Mrs. Olson said, adding that gas,gear and hotel fares can rack uplarge bills. “She wasn’t alwaysoverjoyed, but in the end, shesupported him.”
Mr. Tschinkel received clear-ance from his heart doctor andnever injured himself hiking, buthe did encounter some chal-lenges: bears, moose, deer, rat-tlesnakes and other animals. InMahoosuc Notch, N.H., he tra-versed some rugged terrain onhis back, passing a dead moosethat had been trapped.Pennsylvania portions of thetrail also proved rocky.
“You could wear out a pair ofboots in that state alone,” he toldThe Evangelist.
Walking with GodThe most difficult leg of the trip
was when it rained for three daysstraight and Mr. Tschinkel worewet clothes every morning.
“‘What am I doing here?’” herecalled thinking. But the suneventually rose: “I guess that’swhere God came in to do Hispart.”
Mr. and Mrs. Tschinkel blessedthemselves at the start of eachtrip. Mr. Tschinkel prayed theRosary on his fingers — hikingpoles made it hard to carry beads— when he got lonely.
“It’s almost like having some-one there,” he said.
He was delighted by “trailmagic”: coolers of drinks andsnacks left at trailheads by trailveterans. He also enjoyed thehospitality of residents when hepassed through towns; he evenstayed in a friary in Garrison tosave on lodging costs.
Mr. Tschinkel sometimesfound hiking partners throughhobby magazines, but never feltalone if no one walked alongsidehim. Other hikers, he learned,are not “just hippies. These peo-ple are doctors and lawyers andall kinds of people.”
BY ANGELA CAVES T A F F W R I T E R
Joan Tschinkel was 15 whenshe met her husband, Jim, then19, at a soda counter in Queens.Mrs. Tschinkel’s hair was incurlers in preparation for adance later on at Mr. Tschinkel’schurch.
It was love at first sight. “I knew from the first time I
saw him that I’d end up withhim,” Mrs. Tschinkel said. “Wejust knew we wanted to be witheach other.”
Their daughter, Kristin Olson,has heard another version fromher father: “The story that hetells is that she was sitting on theGeorge Washington Bridge,‘daintily dangling her feet intothe water,’ and he was riding awhite stallion.”
The couple dated for threeyears before Mr. Tschinkel pro-posed in 1950. He was draftedinto the U.S. Army a month later,during the Korean War. Theymarried during his secondhome visit.
“My mother couldn’t talk usout of it,” Mrs. Tschinkel said.
The Army sent Mr. Tschinkelto Germany for a year soon afterthe wedding.
The Tschinkels just celebrat-ed their 60th anniversary with arenewal of vows at St. Thomasparish in Delmar, a papal bless-ing and a party with their sixchildren and 15 grandchildren.
“I was only 18 years old, but Iremember distinctly — thosevows, to me, were very meaning-ful,” Mrs. Tschinkel said. “God’sbeen very good to us.”
Mr. Tschinkel agreed: “Iprayed over the years that wewould always be together.”
The Tschinkels had their firstfive children in less than nineyears and struggled with money.
“It wasn’t always a garden ofroses,” Mr. Tschinkel noted. “Wehad our moments where we did-n’t talk to each other.”
Mrs. Tschinkel added: “Whenyou first get married, you try tochange each other. Then you tryto tolerate” each other.
They credittheir Catholicfaith withkeeping theirmarriage andp a r e n t h o o dstrong. At the25-year mark,
they served as a team couple atMarriage Encounter retreats.
“They would come back andthey would be holding handsand kissing each other,” Mrs.Olson remembered. “You couldjust tell...it was magical.”
Mrs. Olson said she and hersiblings have been inspired bytheir parents’ marriage.
“They show an example ofsticking it out,” she said. “That’sthe big thing that they taught us:that it’s not just a big fairy-taleromance. They’re united. They’removing forward together, still.”
The secret, Mr. Tschinkel says,is a balance of personalities:“What you’re missing, I have,” hetold his wife, “and what I’m miss-ing, you have.
“You have to work together —not just once a month or once ayear, but every day,” he contin-ued. “Everything has moremeaning if you work together toget it.”
TEAMWORK
Secrets of a 60-year marriage
