Whirlwind decade ends with promise for the future
Gary man changes career paths, focuses on family, looks ahead for opportunities to come
Editor’s note: With the days remaining in the decade dwindling, the Post-Tribune is talking to people in their teens to their 90s about how their memories of the 2010s and what they expect in 2020.
Ken Stalling is emerging from the past decade firmly rooted in his second act.
Stalling, 55, had been the dean of students at a local charter school, where he had worked for 14 years, until he was unexpectedly released from his position during a December 2018 reorganization.
It was a shocker two weeks before Christmas and with three of four children still in college that left him wondering what his future would hold.
“When they told me, I thought, ‘God, I know you got something else for me,” Stalling, of Gary, said.
He has always been a man of faith. A lifelong member of Trinity Baptist Church led by the Rev. Dwight Gardener in Gary, he has served there as associate minister since 2003.
Stalling stayed home for six months until he received a call from the director of the Gary Public Library who wanted to talk to him about a job opportunity as a librarian. When he checked his college transcripts, he had enough credits to become a librarian.
“I found out I love it,” Stalling said. Today he is working on his master’s degree in library science and working at the Gary Public Library main branch in the reference department.
“That has been the ending highlight for this decade for me, sort of a kind of change in professions. I’m still in education, but a more comfortable way,” Stalling said.
He enjoys helping people and understands the importance of a library in an economically challenged community like Gary.
“It’s the people’s university,” Stalling said. “I really enjoy working with the public. If they’ll keep me, I think I’ll work there until I retire.”
Aside from work, the father of four said the past decade marked many milestones for his family.
“My children along with my wife were really the driving force the last 10 years,” Stalling said. He and his wife, Pamela, have been married for 23 years.
All four children graduated high school in the past 10 years. His two oldest Alyncia graduated from Wilberforce University and Ivorie from Indiana University. Kenneth Jr. will be graduating from Earlham College in 2020 and his youngest, Langston, an Eli Lilly Scholar, attends Purdue University. All four received scholarships, he said.
“I’m just a family guy. These last 10 years showed me a whole lot about what it really really, takes to be a good parent, a good husband. I just learned so much,” Stalling said.
Stalling entered the decade as a member of the Gary School Board after winning a seat in 2008. He decided not to run for a second term in order to spend more time with his family. The decade was spent attending school functions like dance recitals and basketball games.
“It was probably most memorable 10 years of my life, right at the bulk of raising children,” he said. “All they want is you. I knew how important it is to be a parent.”
Moving into the next decade, Stalling would like to start a business that affords the opportunity to work as a mentor to local youth who may not have a stable family environment. He would also like to work as a consultant connecting outside businesses with potential space within Gary.
He recently was appointed to the newly reconstituted Gary Port
Authority and is hopeful the entity will be able to help attract development to the city.
“I feel as though Gary, Indiana, is a diamond in the rough,” Stalling said.
He applauded some of the progress made by outgoing Mayor Karen FreemanWilson’s administration and plans to support the new administration of Jerome Prince and hopes to see the improvements continue. He has no room for negativity, he said.
“Gary is slowly changing. If you’re going to complain about Gary, hit the road and get out of here.”
He described the last decade as the most impactful of his life and is looking forward to what the next 10 years will hold.
“I had to see a lot of things I asked God to let me see. So far, everything I asked for he has allowed me to see just the way I wanted.”