Hemmelgarn retires from St. Charles Center

After 28 years of service, Mike Hemmelgarn retired from his position of St. Charles Center maintenance manager on July 1. Though he will continue to work at St. Charles two or three days a week, he will no longer be responsible for the day-to-day breakages and blockages and general disasters that a historic building can suffer.  

For the past 28 years, Mike has been the go-to guy for problems large and small. Morning, noon, and sometimes night, Mike has been caring for St. Charles Center, its bowels, its brain, its lungs; its roofs and chapels; its famous dome; its miles of hallways and tunnels. Because of Mike and many others, St. Charles is both a local landmark and a comfortable and classic home. 

No one could have been a more devoted caretaker to St. Charles at large, and its residents individually, who have nearly all called on Mike to solve all sorts of problems.  

Mike grew up on his family’s farm outside of Burkettsville, Ohio. “You learn a lot on a farm,” he says. “Most of the repair work (at St. Charles) is similar to what you are doing at your own house. Fix a leaky sink, something like that.”  

More than any of his life experiences, it is his willingness to try that is Mike’s greatest asset. He is not intimidated by objects or systems. When something is broken, Mike reasons, “you can’t break it worse,” so you might as well tear it apart and see if you can figure it out. “I’ll try something, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll try another way.” 

Tech issues were added to Mike’s other responsibilities over the years. He’s on his third phone system at St. Charles, and he had to learn all about Wi-Fi, as gradually it became indispensable to St. Charles’ residents and staff.  

Technology has changed Mike’s life in one important way: “It was a lot harder to get ahold of me before cell phones,” he says. Then, as now, “I could literally be anywhere in the building,” and it could be really hard to track him down, somewhere in St. Charles’ 176,044 square feet. 

Mike and his wife, Ann, who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in May, have three children and 11 grandchildren.  

Ann, a respiratory therapist, will retire later this year. The Hemmelgarns love to travel, especially road trips to national parks. They toured Israel in September 2024 and will travel to Rome in November, with a group led by Fr. Andrew Hess, pastor of the St. Henry Parishes. Closer to home, they enjoy taking walks on St. Charles’ spacious grounds. 

We thank Mike for his devotion to St. Charles Center over the years and wish him the very best in the next chapter of life.