Bob Juenke spent his entire 36-year career as a beloved teacher at The Summit Country Day School.
As the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur well know, exceptional teachers hold a special place in the hearts of their students. Mr. Robert C. Juenke was just such an educator in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mr. Juenke spent his entire 36-year career as a beloved teacher at The Summit Country Day School. There, he had ample interactions with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, foundresses of The Summit.
Equipped with a bachelor’s degree in history (summa cum laude) and a master’s degree from Xavier University, he taught both middle and upper school students from 1961 until retirement in 1998. Known affectionately by students as “Mr. J,” he was also an accomplished basketball and golf coach who was inducted into the Summit Athletic Hall of Fame and the Ohio High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame. He continued to impact Summit students as a popular substitute teacher and golf coach until 2010.
Bob was especially known for his generosity, at times loaning money to students in need. Pat Kelly taught across the hall from Mr. Juenke for many years and says that kindness was absolutely consistent with Bob’s character.
“The kids revered him,” says Pat. “He did not try to be friends with them; he was more like the perfect grandfather. Faculty called him ‘The Vicar’ because of his old world manners.”
While living in Sharonville, Ohio, Bob and his wife served as Eucharistic Ministers at St. Michael Catholic Church. During his final illness, Bob received a steady stream of visits from friends, neighbors, former colleagues and past students.
“Teacher, coach, mentor and friend — the single most influential person throughout my elementary years. A Christian gentleman, truly a man for others,” says Mike Woodhouse, a 1973 graduate of Summit Boys School.
Sara Mattingly-Hill, Summit Senior Class of 1982, shared that Mr. J was “a brilliant, very kind and generous man. I’m blessed to have had him grace my life.”
A widower, Mr. Juenke died at age 88 in 2023. When the Sisters received notification of a substantial gift from his estate, they were awed by his graciousness.
“The Sisters are immensely grateful to Mr. Bob Juenke for his extraordinary bequest on our behalf,” says Ohio Provincial, Sister Kathleen Harmon, SNDdeN. “A portion of his estate will be used to support our Sisters’ lives and ministries across the United States. Another portion will support the work of our Sisters around the world. It is the generosity of persons like Mr. Juenke that enable us to continue our mission of sharing God’s Goodness with those in need wherever they live.”