Published: June 14, 2008 10:53 pm         

Goshen family enjoys 13-acre property

Goshen investment counselor Tim Stonger explained that he met his wife, Christi, 18 years ago when he visited her third-grade class she was teaching at an Indianapolis Christian school.

The courtship was helped along by his relatives in Indy, but he swept her off her feet.

“We were married in six months,” Christi explained.

Tim had the second Edward D. Jones office in Kosciusko County then and, after they married, Christi taught three years in Warsaw schools. There are now five Jones offices in Warsaw and six in Goshen, he added.

“We’ve traveled a lot,” Tim said, noting he moved in 1995 to the Edward Jones home office in St. Louis, then worked four and a half years at Pouslbo, near Seattle, Wash., before moving back to Indiana 10 years ago.

When Lee Theis retired from the Jones office at Goshen, Stonger replaced him here, returning to Indiana and closer to relatives.

“We love Goshen. Goshen has the most giving people,” he said, noting Goshenites give to charity, people in need and to churches. He also said, “Goshen people are down to earth.”

Both their children — Sydney, 10, and Jacob, who turns 9 this week — were born in Washington but are now busy in Wakarusa schools, swimming, 4-H club and with golf and tennis lessons at Tippecanoe Country Club.

Sydney just graduated from the fifth grade and will move on to Wakarusa Middle School this fall. Christi has been a longtime volunteer at Wakarusa Elementary.

Jacob explained he enjoys playing football with his friends. Besides swimming in their backyard pond, they enjoy catch-and-release fishing for the largemouth bass and striped bass.

They explained that they stocked their pond with several species of fish, but the hybrid bluegill proved to be too aggressive, biting people who used the pond.

“So we went fishing and caught them. They are in the freezer,” Sydney said.

Sydney said she makes greeting cards with her stamping supplies. As a member of Harrison Helpers 4-H Club, she will complete gift wrapping and cooking projects this summer. She was also in the 4-H ATV club last year.

The children enjoy helping raise steers, but are not in the beef club, they said.

Jacob said he plans to be in model making next year in 4-H and can’t wait until he is in fifth grade and can join the Shooting Sports Club.

Tim is a native of Miami County and graduated from Maconaquah High School and IU-Kokomo. He also took additional courses from the American College of Financial Planning.

Christi is an Illinois native and graduated from Johnson Bible College, Knoxville, Tenn. She first taught at Kingsway Christian School where she met Tim.

“I grew up on a farm,” Tim said, adding, “It’s funny how you go full circle,” explaining how he ended up on 13 acres in Harrison Township.

The family lived in Goshen when Tim spotted the property along C.R. 15, north of Bashor Road, dreaming of building a home here.

“It was just a cornfield,” he said, but he called Christi to tell her about it.

They built their home five years ago, adding a barn and fenced lot for horses and cattle.

“It’s fun,” he said of the family life. The kids keep busy with chores and Tim mows about three acres of grass.

The family strives to have dinner together every night, he added.

They are active in the Nappanee Missionary Church, with the children in youth activities, summer camps and vacation Bible school.

This year Tim is chairman of the Goshen Chamber of Commerce, in his sixth year on the board of directors and also serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club.

“We hope to expand into Elkhart this fall,” Tim explained. This area has many good programs for kids, he pointed out.

Tim is a member of the 4-H fair board, serving as the Chamber liaison in recent years.

Tim explains he keeps up with what is going on in the community by reading The News.

“I love the new format,” he said. The newspaper covers local events and he learns about the communities by reading it.

Sydney points out that she sometimes knows people who are written about in the paper. She has used the newspaper in school classroom work, too, she said. Jacob says he sometimes reads the comics.

“I always read the front page as I come up the drive” with the paper, Christi said. And often Tim “deciphers” the news of the day by reading it to the family.