WINFIELD – For many years, the first person who parishioners saw when they arrived for Sunday Mass at Holy Spirit was usher Bob Gorski, stationed at the church entrance to open the automatic doors and greet them.
“Sometimes I’d just say ‘Good morning!' or I might say, ‘How are you doing?’, depending on who I was greeting,” said Gorski, 91, who began serving the parish after moving to Winfield with his late wife, Eleanor, who passed away 12 years ago.
On Oct. 3, the faithful volunteer turned the tables on his fellow Catholics as he bid them farewell at the parish’s Annual Homecoming Day, a day before leaving his Winfield home to move to Colorado, where he will be closer to his three children.
“I’ll be living close to my daughter and son-in-law, Carla and Josh Pearson, in Grand Junction,” explained Gorski, who also has two sons living in Washington state, Mark in Woodinville and Corey in Seattle. He also has nine grandchildren.
With his departure, Holy Spirit not only loses a greeter, but a longtime member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which operates one of the most successful food pantries in the Diocese of Gary.
“Bob was one of our earliest volunteers,” recalled Darlene Marchina, a SVDP leader.
“The St. Vincent de Paul Society does a lot of good,” said Gorski, who remembers packing groceries for clients, loading the panel truck that the parish acquired to pick up food donations and deliver donated furniture to families in need.
“One of the women who was a recipient of some furniture and other items dubbed Bob and his friend Don Zagotto, another volunteer, her ‘angels,’ and the truck became known as the Angel Van,” explained Father Thomas Mischler, who recently retired as Holy Name pastor. “One funny story involves my move to Holy Spirit when I was assigned here 16 years ago. The parish said they would send someone out to help because I was 55, and who showed up but Bob and Don, who were both 75 years old. Sure enough, they loaded up the Angel Van.”
Father Mischler praised Gorski for his faithful service. “He loved to greet people at the door,” said the senior priest.
Gorski was born in Dolton, Ill., which he proudly identified as the hometown of Pope Leo XIV, and later lived in Chicago and Tinley Park. As a resident of the Archdiocese of Chicago, he was an active Knights of Columbus member and helped with a Boy Scout Troop sponsored by his parish. “When Pope Leo was elected, I said, ‘Thank God for America.’”
Upon retiring after 45 years in customer service with Peoples Gas, Gorski came to Winfield in 2006 to visit his best friend, Don Zagotto, who had moved to the Indiana suburb from Illinois. “We’d known each other since grammar school in Dolton, and my wife and I decided to move out here, too,” he said. “We camped with them about once a month, at any state park that was available, often in Brown County.”
Once settled at Holy Spirit, Gorski volunteered with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and with the Prison Ministry headed by Charlotte Bennett at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Valparaiso. “Father Joseph Murphy, our first pastor, visited the state prison at Michigan City, while I helped collect clothing (for the men who were being released) and delivered it to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, where they sorted the clothes as needed,” said Gorski.
Gorski is proud to be a White Sox fan like Pope Leo, especially after the team’s successful 2026 season. “I had two aunts who were Sox fans, and they influenced me,” he noted. “My favorite player was Nellie Fox.”
For more about the St. Vincent de Paul Society food pantry at Holy Spirit, which operates on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., call the parish office at 661-0644.
Caption: Enjoying his final event at Holy Spirit in Winfield, Bob Gorski (center) is joined by his son-in-law and daughter, Josh and Carla Pearson, as he bid farewell to fellow parishioners and prepared to join his family in Colorado. Raised in Dolton, Ill., Gorski spent the first 70 years of his life in Chicagoland before moving to Winfield with his late wife 20 years ago and continuing to serve as an active Catholic. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
