Paul Radke, pastor, West Bank activist, dies at 83 09-08-2010 Times Picayune Submitted by N.O.V.A. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ The Rev. Paul Radke, a longtime West Bank leader who helped pave the way for the Alario Center and hosted elaborate Fourth of July celebrations with Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee, died Tuesday at his Westwego home of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. Equally concerned about the community’s spiritual and economic well-being, Pastor Radke served as pastor of Westbank Cathedral in Marrero for 34 years and was a tireless proponent of building a major West Bank community center as an anchor for economic development. “He always said the West Bank was the best bank, and he wanted to help the people thrive in every way he could,” said one of his daughters, the Rev. Kathy Radke-Storey, who is chaplain for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Pastor Radke led a 1985 campaign for a property tax and service charge to build a community center near Bayou Segnette State Park. The proposals were defeated badly at the ballot box, but his continued unflinching advocacy for the project helped the Alario Center become a reality a decade later. A World War II veteran, Pastor Radke founded the Fourth of July celebration “I Love America Day” in 1977. He viewed it as a way to reassert America’s can-do spirit during the gloom and economic stagnation following the Vietnam War. “There was so much un-patriotism around in 1977,” he said during the 1995 celebration. “I wanted to do something to let this community know which side of the fence I am on.” Held for more than 20 years, the event was co-hosted by Lee in later years and typically drew several thousand people for a couple of hours of patriotic and religious songs and speeches capped by a fireworks display and a military flyover. “Harry Lee would bring the fireworks, and my dad would handle the spiritual content,” Radke-Storey said. “They were both larger-than-life figures. I think that’s why they were such longtime buddies.” For a man who rubbed elbows with high-profile politicians, including former Gov. Edwin Edwards, and global religious leaders during multiple trips to Israel and China, much of Pastor Radke’s ministry focused on those at the bottom of the social ladder: prison inmates, especially youths at the Rivarde Juvenile Detention Center. “He had been through some scrapes of his own before answering the call to serve God,” Radke-Storey said. “No matter how troubled a person might be, he always had such a passion for them to know God.” Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts said Pastor Radke will be remembered for his prison ministry and willingness to reach across denominational lines as former chairman of the Greater New Orleans Federation of Churches. “Whenever we needed an invocation, he was always someone that we turned to,” Roberts said. “I don’t recall a single time when he or his family weren’t willing to get involved in something to benefit the West Bank community.” Pastor Radke moved to Westwego from Beaumont, Texas, in 1963 to become pastor of the 100-member Westwego Assemblies of God Church. The congregation grew to more than 1,000 after he built a new church in Marrero and renamed it Westbank Cathedral in 1981. His son, Chip, took over as pastor in 1997, and Pastor Radke became a bishop or overseer of the church, which is now called God’s House Westbank Cathedral. He and his wife, Ruth, had five children, a son and four daughters, all of whom followed their father into the ministry. “I think that’s quite a tribute to my dad,” Radke-Storey said. “He was a wonderful father to his children and a wonderful spiritual father to so many more.” Visitation will be held at God’s House Westbank Cathedral, 7301 Lapalco Blvd., Marrero, on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., resuming Saturday at 9 a.m. unril 10:30 a.m., followed by religious services. Burial will be at Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Gretna. Mothe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.