From the New Castle News: New Castle native sows seeds of knowledge, positivity

This story first appeared in the New Castle News.

Gardening and laughter are both activities that can reduce stress.

Luckily for the people of New Castle, Gary Church is an expert on both.

Many readers may know Church from his 600-word New Castle News column relating to things that grow. A weekly piece seeded with engaging storytelling, sprouts of humor and information that poses advice to “make your space a green space.”

From his first job at Welker’s Greenhouse in Union Township to the present day, Church grew a successful life from the ground up. Now retired, he fills his time with family, floras, foliage, photos and writing. He and his wife, Carol, celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier this year.

After leaving Welker’s, Church had a leg in the insurance industry before getting back into a greenhouse. In his early 30s, he accepted a job as a driver for Weingartner’s.

Church said he never had a passion for gardening and he didn’t know much about it, but that didn’t stop him from accepting a promotion at the popular plant store in New Wilmington.

“I have never had a green thumb! When I started, I knew absolutely nothing,” he admitted with a laugh. “I was the managing grower. The only thing was, I didn’t know how to grow.”

After settling his roots at the greenhouse and perfecting the art of growing lilies in time for Easter, Church said the turning point in his career was when a new boss came to town.

When Weingartner’s decided to combine the garden center with the greenhouse location, Church said they kept both head growers on the payroll. That’s when he met Paul Skuta, an educated botanist whom Church described as “absolutely brilliant.”

“There were two bosses: him and me. I didn’t know how it was going to work,” he said. “But Paul and I became the greatest friends.”

Working side by side, Church’s knowledge of botany flourished under Skuta’s guiding hand. After receiving multiple calls and questions from community members seeking information about plant identification, maintenance and care, Church suggested to Skuta that they start writing a weekly piece for the local newspaper.

“I’ll write about how to grow plants, and you can write about all this goofy stuff I have never heard of,” he recalled saying to Skuta.

There was no monetary compensation, but Church justified it as advertising for the greenhouse. Eventually, Skuta bowed out, but Church kept writing.

“I had no previous writing experience. I write the facts down and the jokes. They keep me around for the jokes,” he said before smiling at Carol. “She gives me good material.”

After he retired, he dedicated a fair amount of his time to teaching others. He collaborated with the Lawrence County Historical Society for an event titled “Plants Past and Present,” and for a number of years, Church taught gardening classes with Butler County Community College. Simultaneously, he kept creating his weekly stories, sometimes poking fun at his wife, but always passing his knowledge to a greater audience.

“I hope somebody learns something,” he said. “I meet strangers, and they all say the same thing, ‘I just love your articles.’ Some say it’s the only thing they read in The News.”

A proper newsroom has a variety of assets outside of full-time employees: political connections, community relationships, insider sources and freelancers like Church.

“When I was down at The News, becoming friends and writing every week, they had a scanner. One weekend, the guy assigned to work the scanner was out of town. Eventually, he got fired, and I became the Scanner Guy,” Church said.

If you were to see Church in public, out to eat, making his yearly debut at the Lawrence County Fair or otherwise, you may notice a small walkie-talkie-like scanner clipped to the side of his trousers.

“You need to have a special type of scanner to get all the calls. I only get dispatch. I take it with me everywhere.”

During the interview, the scanner let out a high-pitched beep accompanied by static and muffled voices. Church motioned to a line of cellphones sitting beside the scanner in his living room, explaining that each of them had a job to do. One to listen to a website that allows him to hear the calls in greater detail, another as a backup, and another to call the reporter who covers New Castle’s crime and breaking news.

Church’s role evolved from the newsroom’s “Scanner Guy” to sometimes being one of the first people on a scene. During these endeavors and on-the-ground reporting, Church, with a camera in one hand and the scanner nearby, sprinkles seeds of lighthearted humor when community members and first responders need it most.

Many of the scenes he responds to are disheartening, but they are calls that journalists and first responders answer every day. Church said most times, the first responders on the scene are happy to see him.

In situations surrounded by tense feelings, sometimes, people just need to smile. Consistently, that is what Gary Church delivers.

During the interview, Church questioned the New Castle News editor’s decision to make him the subject of this story.

“When Pete [Sirianni] said he was sending someone to interview me for a story, I said, this is unbelievable. What do I do? I have fun. That’s all I do,” he explained.

Raised on the city’s West Side, Church graduated from New Castle High School in 1962. When he got his first full-time job shoveling dirt at Welker’s, he could not have predicted the influence it would have on the rest of his life.

“I would’ve never said I wanted to be a garden writer when I was 17 years old. I never planned on it,” he said.

When Church sits down at his computer to write his column at 8 a.m. every Wednesday, he has no idea how the story will evolve until he starts to write.

Like plants, Church seems to be oblivious to the ways his existence benefits complete strangers. While he may not intentionally make the world a better place, it appears to be something that comes to him naturally.

This New Castle News story is one in a series on Western Pennsylvania doers from a partnership of about 30 regional newsrooms as part of an inaugural Newsapalooza event, Sept. 26-29. The collaborative series demonstrates the power of a story when networked through an entire community. Read more on the event and buy tickets at newsapalooza.org.

Others in the series include: 

Faces of the Valley: Volunteering and firefighting is family affair for Lower Burrell woman (from TribLive.com)

She came back a different person to help people and live well (from Soul Pitt Quarterly)

A Joe of all trades helps his North Side neighbors (from YaJagoff!)

Pittsburgh environmental activist’s ‘sustainability salons’ foster community (from The Allegheny Front)

A Penn Hills candy factory is making life sweeter for folks on the autism spectrum(from Pittsburgh Magazine)

‘Give Back King’: Go-getter Jamal Woodson a leader on and off the court (from Pittsburgh Union Progress)