Prepared to Serve: Don & Dona Price

Prepared to Serve

By Lauren M. Gross

In the small town of Jersey Shore, Pa. (nowhere near New Jersey, nowhere near a shore), St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church has stood for more than a century as a beacon for the faithful. Located on the furthest end of the Diocese of Scranton, Jersey Shore is about 130 miles away from Delone Catholic High School.

In this tiny hamlet, Donald C. Price, Jr. a 1962 graduate of Delone Catholic, who along with his wife, Dona, are parents of three Delone Catholic alumni, has made his home and found a church community.

The Prices have been married for “going on 56 years now,” Dona said. They met when Don was being treated for appendicitis and Dona was volunteering at the hospital. Not a Catholic at the time, Dona converted the summer before they married.

At St. Luke’s, they’re involved deeply in the daily life of the parish. Dona is a cantor, a member of the adult choir and the Director of Religious Education, overseeing 35 students in grades K-8.

Don serves as what Father Burt Kozen calls “an altar pappy” – a grown-up altar server – and a sacristan. He had wanted to be an altar server his whole life. Then he became an extraordinary minister of communion, and now serves for daily Mass.

“I just love being an altar server,” Don said.

“The church is our life, to tell you the Gospel truth. Our kids aren’t here, they aren’t in the area. We spend our time with church and church people. It’s just what we like to do, serve the Lord in any way we can,” Dona said.

Don attends daily Mass on Mondays and Fridays: the only days they have daily Mass at St. Luke’s.

“I feel like we get more involved with people; it really helped us to get to know them a lot more, and get involved with the community,” Don said.

“Don is correct, it does connect us to the people of the parish but there is more to it. We have been blessed with a good life, we have three wonderful daughters, Dana, Dora and Jenn (all of whom went to Annunciation B.V.M. School and Delone Catholic), who brought us three great sons (in-law) and blessed us with five terrific grandchildren. We wanted to give back and find it a true blessing to serve the Lord through the church. When Father Kozen asked me to be the DRE I thought I was not smart enough but he asked me to pray about it and I couldn’t say no. This is my eighth year,” Dona said.

Don feels so blessed that he can serve the Lord that he never says no when asked to help, she added.

“We both begin each day with the daily Mass readings and prayer. I have been journaling my thoughts on the Mass readings since 1987 and find it a blessing. I’m an avid reader and have read the Bible daily since the age of 13 and have read the entire Bible more than seven times.

“We both have a great love of the Lord our God and find our greatest joy in serving him. We have been blessed with so much we feel the desire to do whatever we can for God and his people. Our faith and God are first in our life and in our marriage,” she said.

Dona and Don Price

Dona and Don Price