Mike Podulke

Mike was a beloved member of our congregation until his untimely death in 2011. Mike's presence in our local community was joyous, generous, welcoming, and inspirational. He dedicated his life to his family, good government, and a diverse and cooperative community.

Mike is responsible for many outstanding traditions in the Rochester UU fellowship. He originated, with Jerry Katzmann, the annual Maypole celebration that continues more than a decade following his death. The annual fall fundraising auction carries his name in memorium. The church and the city are blessed with his stained glass artwork. He is the "godfather" of the "Boar's Head Feast," also referred to in the past as a Renaissance banquet.

Please see our separate post on this site regarding the Maypole observance, and Mike's joyous role in it.

The Post-Bulletin obituary from Feb 2011 states: "Olmsted County's smiling servant has moved on."

Mike served as an Olmsted County commissioner for 24 years and served as its chairman at the time of his unexpected death. "He is the epitome of believing in public service," said Amy Caucutt, the county's lobbyist. "He didn't come into government to make changes or diminish it, he came to really make it work."

Mike's legacy of community service has lived on through service as Commissioner by his wife, Stephanie, and now daughter Laurel.

Richard Devlin, Olmsted County administrator, described Mike as "a Will Rogers-type" who "could speak his mind and take the hard votes... He represented the people who were vulnerable: children, the elderly, and those with mental illness," Devlin said. "He's going to be missed by them."

Podulke was a customer engineer, diagnostic programmer and international technical support employee for Control Data Corp. for 12 years — four of them in Europe — before he moved to Rochester in 1976. Podulke and his wife purchased a building at West Center Street and 11th Avenue Northwest that now houses their Rochester Stained Glass business.

The Podulkes won Mayor Ardell Brede's Legacy Award in 2003 for being active in neighborhood and civic affairs.

An example of their work can be seen at the Mayo Civic Center. The Podulkes coordinated a community stained glass project to commemorate those who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The 30-feet high, 7-feet wide window shows images of New York's Central Park at the base. Rising from the park is an image of the World Trade Center towers made with hundreds of bits of clear glass. A rainbow-colored ribbon of glass ascends with the towers. A copper border includes stars: 354 star-shaped holes for the firefighters who lost their lives and another 3,000 star-shaped holes were punched for each person killed.