There are some peoplewhose impact can be measured in awards, buildingsor accomplishments.

And then there are people whose influence lives quietlyinside the lives of others.

A reassuring voice during life'smost uncertain moments.

A steady handwhen hope seemed fragile.

A physician who believed everyfamily deserved compassion.

for me personally, when I first started to noticethat my dad was special.

It was countless timeswe would go out to dinner and we would be sitting down and people would just come upand randomly talk to us.

and they were, you know, other families that he had metthrough being an obstetrician and delivering those babiesand now becoming young people.

That just seemed to kindof happen over and over again.

even back in seventh andeighth grade, before we went, we went off to Adams,that Kurt was wannabe and and I andI mean that in the very best way because I wanted to be likeKurt's Stiver.

he was popular.He knew everybody.

Everybody knew Kurt.

he was just a great, great guy.

the first timehe saw a baby born, he said,this is what I want to do.

there's almost no partof this community in Michigan or in Indiana that you mentionedDoctor Stivers name.

And somebody doesn't say, oh,yes, I was one of his babies.

people coming up to us, either in the grocery storeor at the farmers market.

And you were out in publicand saying, doctor Stiver, you delivered my baby22 years ago.

Kurt has delivered over10,000 babies, imagine just the impact that alone has on the community.

One of the first wordsthat come to my mind when I think of Kurtis compassion, caring, integrity, kindness.

anything that Kurt touches,I really believe this in my heart.

They're better because of it.

when you are speaking with himit is as though you're the only person in the room.

He loves children.

He has dedicated his whole lifeto children.

his love for care for children and families hasjust been amazingly apparent.

Legends of Michiana.

Kurt Stiver.

A Life Delivered is brought to youby our platinum level sponsors.

Jamee Decio, the Gurley Leepautomotive family.

Beep beep.

Its Gurley Leep and our gold level sponsors.

Long beforehe was known as Doctor Stiver, he was simply Kurt,the classmate.

Everyone liked, the friendeveryone trusted.

Even then, people were drawn not to his achievementsbut to his character.

Those friendships would spend decades and helped definethe man he would become.

So I went to Jefferson, walkedto Jefferson, went to Adams.

there were a lot of usthat looked up to Kurt.

Kurt was a natural leader.

Kurt was a good friend.

If you needed something, Kurt would always be thereto help you.

Always with a smile on his face.

he wasn'ta member of a clique because he was click less because he liked everybody, Kurtand I go back a long, long way.

About 73 or 4 years ago.

We learned how to swim together.

We were in a swimming class,and that's when our relationshipfirst started.

And it's gone on for now.

74 years plus or minus.

we weren't that close in high schoolor college or professionally, but we had the same high schoolexperience, the same college experience.

We were in differentprofessions, but we approached itthe same way.

We've learned bothtrying to be the best we could in our professions.

he's never led with ego.

He's led because of his heart.

even when we take himto our kids sporting events, he's always going upand being kind to people.

I think that's really lasteda lot, not only for us, but something that we're trying to impacton our children as well, because I do believe that's such an important charactertrait to have.

From an early age, Kurtexcelled in nearly everything he pursued.

Law school seemed like the next logical step,but sometimes the path were good at isn'tthe one we're meant to follow.

And he did not likethe University of Michigan Law School, which obviously is one of the top schools.

he practiced for about a year.

And then, which I think isa very courageous thing to do.

Decidedto go back in the medical school Kurt is one of the mostintelligent people I know.

I mean, the guy is a sponge.

Kurt was valedictorianof his high school class.

Then he went to Northwestern,you know, great undergrad.

And then he went to Michiganlaw school and and got his J.D., his juris doctorateSo I went to law school.

I hated it, I totally hated it.

It was so adversarial.

But it wasn't too long into his career as a lawyerthat he just thought, you know, this just isn'tisn't where it's at.

After practicing law for a year,he decided to move on to medical school,after I finished practicing law.

I had to go back to South Bend.

I used to bend to take pre-medclasses, He needed to take some courses at IUSBin order to take his from his law degree,to go get his medical training and get into IU Medical school,which was.

Somethingthat he really wanted to he is so kind and supportive and loving that being a lawyerjust doesn't seem like to me that it fits his personality.

Medicine is so much morehis right place Choosing medicine changedmore than Kurt's career.

It allowed him to combinehis intellect with somethingeven more important.

His compassion.

Kurt took care of his patients likethey were his own children.

And you could tellthat this was not a physician who just did the work as a job.

It was it was obviousin interacting with Kurt that he he saw this as a calling Kurtwould play golf in his scrubs because he would sleep in thein the locker room because he was up all night.

Yet he wanted to play golf,and he was an excellent golfer, and he'd be called offthe course.

That's who he was.

people loved him most of the pregnant womenwho came to Kurt's care were complicatedpregnancies that were not routinepregnancies.

DoctorStiver was very diplomatic.

He never showed anger.

he alwaysknew how to read people.

It was always reassuringwe came across each other in some extremely difficultcircumstances where we were both supporting our patients, not only in the medical carebut as people, Curtis so relaxed once again and easy going,he put everyone at ease.

knew for myselfabout why I chose medicine was something that saw,the joy that it gave my dad.

You know,he always would tell us that he got to see a miracleevery day to have a doctor like Kurt at your sidewhen things don't go perfectly is a wonderful legacy that he leavesbecause of the compassion that he has with womenwho haven't had, I'll call it a perfect pregnancyand a perfect delivery, Doctor Steiger was very supportiveof us when we came here, and there were times when he covered for uson the weekends and things.

So from that relationship,we got to know him better.

we have a very, you know, intense group of people that we work with, high risk doctorsand OBGYN to refer patients.

He was always able to to cut through the tensions and get to the real meatof the problem.

and diverwas like the orchestrator.

he always knew how to, toto engage each person as to what their interest was in the issuethat was being discussed.

And he was able to finda common ground.

time I asked KurtI said, I said, you know, you're smart enough.

You could be any kind of doctoryou want to be.

I said,why did you pick obstetrics?

He said, you know, he says,I just love delivering babies.

It's a happy thing.

Kurt and some of his fellowdoctors had an idea to create somethingcalled Allied Physicians.

And it was a wonderful idea.

It was a big undertaking.

A physicianwas a big undertaking.

It was one of the first surgerycenters in our town, and a wonderful groupof diverse practices came together to formAllied Physicians.

is obviously there were a lot of practicesinvolved in allied positions, including his practice,which was OBGYN You know, I was at one point chairman of the board of theAllied Surgery Center, and.

But Kurt was one of the founding fathersof the Allied Surgery Center.

And if itwasn't for his drive and and getting going in that end of it, I doubt that the Alliedsurgery center would have, would exist todayor would have existed today.

People rememberthe people that helped you, that'spart of the oath you take.

And Kurtwas the epitome of the oath.

and I always toldpatients, I said, thank you for trusting me with the most importantpart of your life.

Having a babyis other than your marriage probably is the most importantpart of your life.

I've been hugged a thousand timesand each time it never gets old.

So the indelible mark thathe has left on this community, by virtue of bringing togetherallied physicians and then Allied Physicians SurgeryCenter, will never be forgotten.

For every physician, there arepatients they'll never forget.

And for many families,there is one doctor they'll rememberfor the rest of their We met Kurt after we had lost our firstborn son.

And we realizedI was high risk.

And if I was to have more children,I would have to be with a high risk physician.

So when we got pregnantwith our second born son.

Kurt was our doctor.

He was for our secondand our third son.

And all through that pregnancyof my second born son.

He.

I cannot emphasize enoughhow he was there for us.

It was scary.

I was afraid that I wouldlose this baby, too.

but he was ever so present for for us in that time.

He actually gave my son's fatherhis pager number and said, if you need anything,you give me a call, regardless of the time of day,whatever.

There was an episode.

When I was pregnantwith our second born son where I started to bleed and.

And Steve called,couldn't get Ahold of Kurt.

It was early in the morning,got Ahold of Joey, Kurt's wife, and Joey said,go to the closest hospital, which at the timewe were living in Elkhart, so it would have beena different hospital.

And I said to Steve at thetime, take me to where Kurt is.

I want to be where Kurt is.

He's like,But Joey said, go to the close.

I said, I want to go where?

Kurt is.

That's where I felt the safest.

stayed with me the whole time.

he was with us inthat he heard us.

He heard my fears.

He heard heard my concerns.

I felt safe.

I felt my baby was safein his presence.

I felt like everythingwas going to be okay And once we deliveredour healthy son, I remember having this conversation with my children's father thatand we were we mutually agreed.

We wanted to name Kurt Will's godparent.

He really protected me.

But he also protected Will.

Some storiesstay with you for decades.

This is one of them.

one day I was in my office, 1993, I think it was.

And a womancalls me from Indianapolis.

She lives in Lafayetteand told me the story of how she had had her water breakprematurely at 14 weeks, she had been toldshe should have her pregnancy terminated and she just didn'twant to do it.

I said, well,that's your choice.

I said, come on up and meet meand we'll talk.

whatever.

this was back in 1993.

So we don't have the technology.

We did we do now to take careof premature babies.

So a lot of doctorswould be like, we don't knowwhat's wrong with them.

This child is going to havea lot of birth defects.

Another doctor brought mymy parents into a room with griefpamphlets and said, you have about 30 minutesto decide if you want to terminate this pregnancy or not.

So my parents talked about itand they decided, no, we're not going to doAnd we made a plan.

And she carried the boy to 27weeks, and I delivered him alive.

Kurt would do everything he could to push back against that,that that tide would find signals of life And on that, that all paid off on the daythat I was born.

fast forward about 20 years,my mom had written a really beautiful blog posttelling my story of how I was bornand the role Kurt played in it, and somehowsomebody that new Kurt sent the blog post to him.

Kurt got in contact with my mom,who I remember.

She said, hey, DoctorStiver is going to call you.

And I'm like, what?What do I say?

And one of the first thingsthat I remember saying was, just thank youfor everything you've done.

And we eventually made time to get together for lunch.

I asked him, Kurt,you know, you work with mothers and parentsthat are struggling all the time with kidsthat may or may not be born.

How do you handle that?

And his answer to me was, well,I can tell you that I never tell themI know how you feel.

You said instead of saying that,I say, I can understand why you would feel this waygiven what you're going through.

And that was super impactfulto me, What inspired me to expressmy gratitude in a poem instead of just thank you, wasthank you simply wasn't enough.

Like, I could do more.

Not because I had to, butbecause I really, really wanted to.

How do you fit everything that you feelabout such a special person?

Like it's going to take morethan two words.

Thank you to do that.

This is a poem called My Middle Name.

Some men find strengthin their family name.

A badge of prideto honor where they came.

I find comfortbetween my first and last shared with a friendfrom the distant past.

I've heard the same storyevery birthday.

How one doctor remainedwhile others swayed.

When most questionedwhy even bother?

He stood with my father, heldmy mother.

Said hope is hardto find, harder to hold.

I promisemine will neither bend nor fold.

The months slow to passwere steeped in night.

But each heartbeathe found renewed the light.

On the 4th of July.

I did arrive, tiny and fragile,but breathing alive.

He cried with my parentstearful joy as they rejoicedover their baby boy.

22 years have passedsince that day.

When I meet that man,they'll be much to say.

We'll laugh together and raiseour glass to a name of hope.

My middle, his last.

Every remarkablelife is built on relationships.

For nearly 50 years, Kurt has shared hiswith one person who has stood beside himthrough medical school, long nights at the hospital and every chapterthat followed his wife, Joey.

then I moved to Park Jeffersonin 1974 and I spotted Joy.

Jolene.

She is in the parking lotand I just went, oh boy.

We started dating and we weremarried three years later.

Joey has always beenmy best friend.

are not enough goodthings can be said about my mom.

With my dad's work schedulethe way it was, a lot of the day to dayparenting fell to my mom, she is absolutely the rockand the foundation and the glue that holds our family together.

My parents, when I see themtogether, are just such a team, I give huge credit to Kurt, butI also give huge credit to Joey because she wasthe perfect partner for Kurt.

And little did we know when we first met them,when he was in med school and she wasa pharmaceutical rep, how wonderfultheir marriage would be and what a huge impacttheir marriage would have on not only their family,but their friends and this town When I see Joey and Kurt togethethere's such a commitment.

Such a devotion,when Kurt talks about Joey, it is the one of the mostinspiring things you can see.

He is so still enamoredwith Joey to these days.

I love when he speaks about her.

He always says, put her namefirst in whatever we do.

So it's not Kurt and Joey, it'salways Joey and Kurt Stiver.

He's always made a pointto do that, just to see how they grew uptogether, to see how they interacttogether, their exchange, their passion for the communityand what they're involved in.

It's remarkable.

It's an example for allof us, and it's fun to watch.

think, you know, what'sspecial about their relationship is really just it'sit's an even playing field.

Well, Kurt and Joey are fun.

That's that's the most wonderfulthing about them.

And so we've had great timestogether.

But most of all,I was impressed at how kind and generousthey both were.

Kurt has displayedthat over and over.

She seems to be the the managing,the managing partner.

You know, she's the onewith the office and the desk and the computer, where I think Kurt is very happy with this iPadand letting Joey direct things.

what I seewhen Kurt and Joey are together is tremendous passionfor the love that they have and the children that they have.

a that's a wonderful love storyright there.

Because if you want to lookat a couple that's growing together,supporting each other Their desireto support their community in whatever way they can.

It's somethingthat they both share.

Kurt and Joey are the epitomeof what you think of as good friends.

They absolutely step up.

So all of this that they've donefor the community, they also have just beenso supportive as friends.

I can't say enough about whatwonderful people they are, the world revolves around Joey and always has.

She's a magnet, and everybody wants to be herdear friend.

She is behind and aroundand through Kurt.

He is who he is because of Joey.

I'm the luckiest guy alivewhen it comes to that.

To have a wife who.

40 some years later, 50 yearslater, we're still in love.

Ask her about his greatestaccomplishment, and he probably won'tmention medicine.

He'll tell you about his family.

you know, I think my one favorite thing about my dad is the relationshipwe have now.

I don't know how many peoplehave that with their parents still.

And I think the fact that I talked to my dad a lot,we still see him a lot.

I think from my end,just our ongoing friendship is something that I justI love one of my favorite things aboutmy dad is his sense of humor.

He is profoundly funny.

I know his in his work.

I'm sure he is forced to maintain a serious side,but he's very hilarious and our family is full of insidejokes and playful teasing.

growing up in the Stiver household was fantastic.

You know, being so close to my grandmother,we saw her quite a bit, my parents just added to towardslife was fantastic.

Family came first.

So we were always were doingthings together as a family.

We still do it to this day.

Feel very fortunate for that,that we still have health and are able to traveland be together a lot, there's such a devotion.

I, I love them both.

I love their family and their two children, Katieand Kevin and grandchildren.

his children and grandchildrenare everything to him.

so proud to be a grandfather.

Talks about them everysingle time we get together.

I get the updateI think Kurts legacy will be.

his love for his familyfor sure.

Top Having grandchildren is the icing on the cake.

my parents relationshipwith my kids is fantastic.

I think, he is always willingand wanting to do something with the kids, be it attend one of thosesporting events, be it let's go to a park,let's go for a walk, let's do a puzzle.Let's do a board game.

He just wants to do thingswith them.

We like to go to the park a lot,and we like to just, like,sometimes sit on the couch together and watch, like,whatever sports on T.V.. My dad lovesbeing a grandfather.

The kids call him pops,and he is so invested in their interests,and he's just delighted by every funny thingthat they say.

My favorite thing aboutmy grandpa is when we were, we baked togetherhis poppy seed cakes.

my younger daughter,when she was about six years old, said, pops is just a little kid trappedinside an old man's body.

And honestly, no truer wordshave ever been spoken about him.

my grandfather taught meto don't poke the bear with other people,especially when they're angry.

So I just kind of carrythat around with me.

my grandfatherhas taught me to be kinder and have more like faithin myself, I think my dad would say thathe's most proud of his family.

My mom and my brotherand me and the grandkids.

The lessons children remember aren'tusually taught with words.

They're learned by watchinghow someone treats other people.

My dad worked very hardat his job when he came home.

He was absolutely the fun dad.

He would frequently load up ourminivan with me and my brother and as many friendsas could fit, and he would drive us to CedarPoint for the day, or to the Cass County Fair,or to Six Flags Great America.

The life lessons my dad hastaught me, you know, are many.

I think number oneis just to be a kind individual.

I think from how you interact with people, people you knowand people you don't know just representthe best person of yourself.

And so he lives thatto this day like he is just even when we take himto our kids sporting events, he's always going upand being kind to people.

He was very expressivewith his emotion.

We always knew how deeply we were lovedand how proud he was of us.

He always believed in us 100%and still does.

he absolutely loves Fig Newtons.

That might surprise some people.

He always,no matter where we go, even if he's coming here,he'll have a box of Fig Newtons in his suitcasethat he just eats randomly.

He lovespeeps in the same vein, like when it'sround Valentine's Day.

He just has only personI know that eats peeps, which I think is funny,But I think a side of him that people maybe didn't see it when he was at work is thathe has a profoundly fun person.

He has a sense of humorthat's unmatched.

And he when he was home, he was all inas a dad and made life very Service wasn't somethingKurt discovered later in life.

It was part of the example setfor him growing up, and one he has triedto pass on ever since.

My mom and dadtaught me to volunteer.

My mom was a big volunteerwoman.

President of the Park boardfor 17 years.

Was in charge of the South BendCentennial.

Service in volunteerism was very mucha part of our lives growing up.

My dad's mother, my grandma GwenStever, was a powerhouse in the South Bend communityin the 60s and 70s.

I think how I figured out my dad was suchan impactful person in the community actually startwith my grandmother.

I think that really paved the waysaid, it's not about just money.

It's about time and expertiseand experience and ideas.

Hannah's house.

Rosie plays Ronald McDonald.

I fall in love with the zoo.

It's such a difference now.

It's he has always been thatperson who has seen the need to give back to his communityin whatever way he can.

Kurt alone.

Serving, giving of his time,his heart, his resourcesto all these places.

I think it's changedour community for the better.

I'm totally blessed, sir.

I just have the bestof everything.

Whether in the hospitalor around the community.

People describethe same qualities kindness, humility, and the ability to makeevery person feel important.

Well, first of all, Kurt is a Christian, and in his faith, he believesthat part of his responsibility is to continue to give of whathe has been given, and he feels very stronglyabout that.

Secondly, he's he's a good man.

He's a good family man.

And as I said,every person that he comes across,he treats like his own family.

One of the first wordsthat come to my mind when I think of Kurtis compassion, caring, integrity, kindness.

from Kurt, I've learned thatwhat's so important is to use your energyand give of your time, and that is the most sincerething that a person can do.

something I love about him is just he is so down to earthwith the opportunities that he's his career has provided and just the peoplethat he knows in the community.

But yet he is still so funand so down to earth.

when you had a conversationwith him, you knew thathe listened to you.

Some peopledon't listen.

They will seem like they'relistening, but they don't.

But every time you talk to him,you thought that you were the only person in the roomwith them.

Even on a table of 5or 6 doctors that were trying to discussan issue that we needed to discuss, he made sure that you felt that you were the most important person you were talking toat that time, But Stiver always made itpersonal.

He always made you feel special.

If you talk about children,he's he's inquiring.

He wants to know what it isbecause I think he is a legend for children.He is a champion for children.

And you see that in the servicethat he provides to all of those organizations,that that serve that population here in our community.

Kurt has delivered over10,000 babies, imagine just the impact that alone has on the community.

Some opportunities.

Simply ask for your support.

Others capture your heart.

For Kurt, A Rosie Place became much morethan another organization.

It became another familyto serve.

Rosie Place is this uniqueopportunity for families with medically complex,medically fragile children to be offered hope and rest.

he was connected with and sought outactually by doctor, Doctor and Teal when they were starting to envisiona place for children.

and knew that this was a spacethat was necessary for our community and got involved.

And so of course, I went back to Doctor Stiverand I said, Doctor Stiver, we are having these conversations about a place that will supportmedically fragile children and, you know, medically fragilechildren, don't you?

Because you helped bringsome of those into the world.

Kurt has this legacyat a Rosie Place for children one of our top fundraisers throughout the years, and his excitement transferringover to the people around him, which has been reallyinstrumental in keeping us going and growing, his passionfor these families and children carriesinto his own wallet and into the askof other people to do the same.

It's incredibleto have somebody like Kurt Stiver behind youin your corner.

This takes a lot of work,a lot of effort, a lot of advocacy, a lot of engagementwith the community.

And Kurt has donean absolutely remarkable job at spreading the joyand the love that we see here at a rosy placeevery single day.

There are a lot of sitting boardsthat just sit right, and Kurt is the epitome of what it isto be an active board member.

His passion, his interest,his availability is remarkable and inspiring.

And it's not not a misnomerto say we wouldn't be who we are as a rosy placewithout Kurt Stiver.

I think I could ask Kurt foranything and Kurt would show up.

Kurt cares and that'swhat makes his love for Rosie so remarkableis that it's it's really genuine and then all of a sudden, one day he'll pop inand he will come in.

He'll visit with the family, with the children that are staying with us,visit with the team, and it'll come out that he had beentalking about us, and he was able to find a new connection for us of someonewho had a heart for children.

not a matter of him coming inwith, look what I've done.

It's just from his beautiful heartand just the way that he exists and what he talks about,and we find out that it's a lotabout a rosy place for children.

Retirement may have markedthe end of one career, but it certainly didn'tslow Kurt down.

If anything, it gave himeven more time to invest in the people and organizationshe believes it is a significant career.

It isit is awesome that he has spent such a long time doing what he loves to do,but also making an impact in the communityjust by being known as that physicianwho cared deeply about you.

I think, you know, not only has compassion and empathyfor people, his love of people, his engagementand his commitment to this communitydoes make him a legend.

Just ask anybody.

They'll tell youhe always knew how to, to to engage each personas to what their interest was in the issuethat was being discussed.

And he was able to find a commonground.

High risk pregnancies are verynerve wracking for the family.

And to be able to be a voice ofcalm and a voice of experience when he was dealingwith high risk pregnancies, I think is a really terrific attributethat people don't necessarily knowall about him.

Kurt is one who has boundlessenergy, and his passion and commitment to our communityis not surpassed by anyone.

I think Kurt is a friend to all,and that's rare to to have somebodythat truly values friendship,that values relationships and and that really valuescommunity.

So that's that's what I wouldhope that they would understand is Kurt's a very special manand I'm proud to have him as a friend.

from the capacity that I've known him,that Kurt is very much already leaving a footprintof just care in the community and of love and of giving and soof his time, of his resources.

And he's already made suchan impact on tens of thousands of familiesand continues to do so even now.

Kurt might bea retired physician, but he's not retired from lifeand volunteering and giving back to his communityto say I love and care.

That's that's Kurt's legacy,I think.

we had a community open houselast year called Mrs.

Rosie's Neighborhood,and he was first and foremost at the front of the lineto volunteer to be a part of the dunk tank.

He wanted to be in the dunktank.

He wanted he invited his friendsso that they would come.

They could donate to Dunk him.

And so he was in that tankfor an hour or two hours, dunked repeatedly,and just kept getting back up.

Of course,there's another side to Kurt.

One, his patience didn'talways get to see the golfer, the traveler,the storyteller, the friend who somehow makes every adventurea little more memorable.

Played a lot of golfbecause I was way too short.

And back in high school I was like four eight andweighed less than 100 pounds.

And I didn't want to beon the wrestling team, which was the only sport thatI could have been on by myself.

So I played golfSo we went, like, to South Bend, and we played golf there.

And so me and him wereon a team, and my older brother and my dad were on a team.

And so like, he drove a really,really good, like, hit.

And then I chipped iton, I like chipped it on the green and we wanhe was super proud of me.

It's kind of interesting.

I played a lot of golf with Kurt and over the years,and he never gets upset.

He never gets excited.He's always even keeled.

He's always level in his thoughtprocess, never gets angry.

It's always level headed, He's very generous withgive me putts, but that's not a complaint.

It's it's really hard to three.

But with Kurt And we never want the other personto have a bad shot.

We don't play for money, which is always helpful,and we just enjoy being with each other.

Kurt was a great golfer, but he had to sort ofput it aside during his career.

You know, he he couldn't play on a weekly basisor multiple times a week.

But he was an exceptionalgolfer and he probably still is.

Or though when I play with him,it's usually just out for fun and giggles, I'mbetter than him now.

He was I think I started golf at a later ageand he was a really good golfer as a kid.

But I was a really good soccer playerin the track and the runner, and so I had that on himfor sure.

we've had many great adventures.

We've been to London and Spainand Hawaii and all over the place.

So with them, New York, great trips.

Kurt and Joey are hugedog lovers.

So one of our favorite tripswas going to the Westminster Dog Showand enjoying that together.

when we travel with the Stivers, you never knowwhat's going to happen.

Although you can always predictthat there will be an art galleryor a art glass gallery somewhere in in the future,much to his wife chagrin.

we have traveled with them numerous places and thatis a very telling thing.

When you were with people,if you can travel together, there's an ease that transcendsany experience.

Kurt ishas a long list of things to do.

He never tires,and it's exhausting sometimes.

For those of uswho liked a quiet morning, he is ready to go.

Kurt is ready to go.

But he'll also say,oh, okay, okay, well, we'll stand back here.

For Kurt's Diver.

The future starts with communityinvesting in people, creating opportunity and building a place wherethe next generation can thrive.

I think it starts offwith a love of your community.

You have to love your community.

And I know I, I do born and raised here.

I've had all the opportunitiesprovided here.

to be able to reach outto families who need our help, I would employ anybodywho's watching this video, reflect on yourselfand give as much as you can to help make this a bettercommunity, his impact also, I think, is reallyjust his generosity and his love forfor the people in our community.

If you talk about children,he's he's inquiring.

He wants to know what it isbecause I think he is a legend for children.He is a champion for children.

And you see that in the servicethat he provides to all of those organizations,that that serve that population herein our community.

And again,everybody just admired and respectedand frankly loved Kurt.

He's just such an honorable guythat people wanted to not only do the right thingby themselves and others, but also for the communityand for Kurt.

He's always thinkingabout giving back because he's been so lucky.

His life has been lucky.

He's earned everythingthat he's ever gotten.

And he feels that it's importantto pass that down, pass it forward But he and his wifehave been very benevolent to many organizations, andthey just feel it's important.

so for him, it's a no brainerto give back to a community that's given so much to you over the course of,you know, nearly 80 years.

And he gives so easily of himselfin both big and small ways.

I believe there's a lot of children in our community herebecause of Kurt, and I know I'mnot the only patient of his and now friendthat he gave that care to.

He gave itto every one of his patients.

He was there.

He was present.

Because he cared.

I thinkthat when someone is able to look back on their career.

Professional or volunteer careerand realize that they've given the best that they can givein their time and their energy and their talentand in their philanthropy, then they canlook at the community and say, I was part of this,and I think that's a good thing.

Kurt is one who has boundlessenergy, and his passion and commitment to our communityis not surpassed by anyone.

think that he really is leading by example.

I mean, Kurt does nothide his light under a bushel.

He doesn't brag about it,but he talks about it enough that other people can say, gee, I would like to bethat kind of person.

And I think that's notjust for his friends, but for the rest of the community who sees what he doesand would think, gee, I think maybe I should be doingthat too.

He's a model of whata civic minded individual can.

The impact that that personcan have on a community.

And if you spend enough timewith Kurt.

Chances are you've collecteda story you'll never forget.

And I rememberone moment we were, I think, in the YellowstoneLodge, and a woman came up to him and said,I know who you are.

And my dad said, okay.

Who do you think that I am?

And she said,well, you're Steve Martin.

And my dad said, okay,if you say so.

And she immediately whipped outa pen and paper from her purse, and he graciously signed SteveMartin's autograph for her.

And so sorry if you're outthere, that Steve Martin autograph you've been holding onto for 35 years is a fraud.

Well, Kurt's mother always had a police radionext to her.

She'dlisten to all the police calls.

She would monitor themevery night.

And the Christmas Eve.

Obviously, there was somethinggoing on in off of Wayne Street and the policewere talking about, well,there's somebody walking around in Wayne Street and I'd tryingto get into houses or whatever.

So unbeknownst to me,I get out of my car and I go to knock on the doorin my, in my Santa outfit.

And Mrs.

Stiver thought I was that guyand called 911.

And all of a sudden I'm waiting at the doorbecause I know somebody home.

Because the lights are all onand it's Christmas Eve, you know?

And all of a sudden 3or 4 police cars show up, guns blaze out.

Get on the ground, spread eagle.

I'm going.What the hell's going on?

And and II'm a Jewish Santa Claus.

Don't you don't you know.

And they.

I said just knock on the door.

The Stivers know me.

I'm here to deliver a Christmaspresent to them.

Sure, buddy.

But they knocked on the door,and Mrs.

Stiver came to the door,and I lifted my mask.

Mrs.

Stiver,it's me, Ed Levy.

Oh.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, we know him.

And it was the.

Everybody laughed, When we lived in this initial placewhere we met Kurt and Joey, I was making Thanksgivingdressing and I needed some sageand I didn't have any sage.

And so I called.

Kurt goes, yeah,I think we have some.

And I sent Ted overwith a coffee cup for what I needed, which wasabout two teaspoons of sage.

Well, leave it to two guys who've never made Thanksgivingdressing, because tech came back with an entire cupfull of sage.

So our whole life,we've called him sage.

That's our nicknamefor Kurt, called the sage.

I don't know whether you the chewing gum, the.

You do remember it.

The McDonald'sparking lot in Beach Grove, Indiana.

We were coming out.

No, we were going in.

He spit his gumand threw it on the ground, and I got all over him for it.

Bad form.

And and what if a squirrelate it?

He clearly was chastised.

I'm guessing he has never throwna piece of gum since in his up to this point in his life, and probably won'tfor the rest of it.

It was a long day.We were traveling.

I forget exactly where we weretraveling from or to, but we were exhausted and I was justwith my dad, I can't remember.

I don't think we werewith anybody else.

I think we were travelingto meet all the rest of our family,and our flight got delayed, and we were at the airport,and we were going to miss our connecting flightto some capacity.

And we went up and talkedto the person behind the desk.

And again,everyone was upset and I, I could tellmy dad was getting upset with thethe woman behind the counter.

And after like 30s, I justtapped him on the shoulder and said, dad, this woman two things like, you know, it's not her fault andshe can't solve our problems.

And he just completely resetin that moment, recognizedhad the emotional intelligence to recognize what was happening.

And he looked at meand and this like, stuck in my memory forever.

He just like, you knowwhat?

You're exactly right.

And he turned back to the woman, and he just profuselyapologized to her.

And he didn't sayanything wrong, like he wasn't using belligerent.

He was just you could tellhe was just upset.

And why I remember that storyso vividly is just because.

You know, it was it wasit was interesting to see him really applywhat he's always believed.

But just the factthat he could do it so quickly and do it honestly, like he wasn't putting on a show,he wasn't trying to just save, you know, service, recoveryfrom what he just had said.

But he truly felt embarrassedand humbled by the fact that he wasn'twho he is at his core.

And I and I saw that.

And so for me, that was justsuch a fantastic thing because he was so genuinein his apology to that woman.

And then he also thanked mefor recognizing the fact that he was upsetand exhausted and tired.

And the woman said,thank you right back to him and said, like, you're the first personthat has, you know, todayhas actually been nice to me.

And I was like, wow,that was like a really cool moment to witness.

A life isn't measuredonly by what we accomplish.

It's measured by what continuesafter we're gone.

Every family helped.

Every physician mentored.

Every child encouraged.

Every act of kindnesshas a way of living on.

His legacy is all the families that he served asa physician and all the the babies that were born that came into our communityand made their own impact.

But his impact also,I think, is really just his generosity and his love for for the people in our community.

I do think within the communitythere's a lot of charities that he has helped.

His name won't be forgotten.

Therewithin the medical community.

I think Kurt needs to be remembered as a personwho was willing to step in wherever help was needed,and that is clinical, or even just as a mentoror as an advisor.

Oh, I think it's not goingto be too hard to remember Kurt, with all the 10,000 babieshe's delivered.

Most peopleremember who their doctors were that delivered their babies.

So that's a huge partof his legacy.

But the Allied physicians is an equally importantpart of his legacy.

That buildingwill be in existence for many, many years to come.

Right there at the cornerof Ironwood and Douglas.

So anytime you drive by thatvery popular intersection of iron wooden Douglas and you see thatAllied physician surgery center, you got to think of KurtStabber, because without him, that place wouldn't havesucceeded to the degree it did.

I found to be very compassionate, very caring,and he taught me a lot about being a better doctor.

And so for me,the legacy will be he was a genuine partner.

when Ithink about Kurt's legacy, I think of how Joey supported himand what they've been through, and all of the childrenthat he's delivered, and his commitmentto this community, to establishing a Rosie Placeand to helping people wherever he canwhat I really admire about Kurt and Joey is they wanted to live a legacy, and they wantedto make a difference, and they've done that for SouthBend, they've done thatfor their family.

They've done that certainlyfor their friends, I think my dad's legacywould be.

Will be of someone who givesvery easily of himself.

He loves to championother people's causes.

He believes in those around him, and he just is someonewho is so fun to be around.

And I think thathe will be remembered for Other people continuing to dogood works in life, and that that's that could be itat your job every day and certainly outsideof your job and just generally throughout life, good worksand treat other people well and make this world a betterplace, You could measure it.

And how many livesyou've saved or how many families he's touched.

But I don't think he woulddefine it that way.

I think he would define itin a much simpler way.

As a humble man that tries to do the besthe can every single day and tries to make people know that they are loved and caredabout every single day.

Well, you know Kurt to legendwhen you know you mentioned his nameand everybody goes, oh, I know who that is, right?

Delivering so many childrenthroughout Michiana, everybody knows Kurt's diver.

I think he getsa kick out of it actually.

Kurt is a legend in our community because of the thingsthat I've stated.

How he caresdeeply about important matters, how he problem solvesand sees problems through to the very end.

And he's caring and he's a man of integrityand his character.

Those things arewhat make him legendary.

He's a remarkable human being,remarkable man, accomplished doctor.

But I think he'll be even knownfor that, but also known for how he's just sharedand given so much of himself, his time, his resourceshe's one of those people who, when he looks at you, is onlythinking about you, favorite.

Probably my favorite thing aboutKurt is his giggle Kurt, cyber is really the represents the bestand the brightest of South Bend.

I consider him the local boywho does good or who makes good, but really, he's the local manwho does think if I had to some my dad up, I would say thathe is someone with a profound awarenessof how fortunate he has been and how privileged he has been,and he has a very strong sense of gratitudefor all of the people and places that have helped him achieveall that he has in his lifetime.

After hearing from friends,family, colleagues and patients, only one voice remains.

I'd like to be rememberedas a family man.

I have an amazing family, a wonderful wife of 48 years, I want to be rememberedas a loyal spouse.

I want to be rememberedas a decent parent and that her grandfather.

I just want people to thinkkindly of me.

At the end of the day,would like to be something like Kurt Stiver when I grow up.

Agreed, agreed.

Pops, if you ever watch this,I love you.

helpedbring new life into the world.

But perhaps his greatest giftwasn't the babies he delivered.

It was the hopehe gave their families, the examplehe set for his children, the friendships he nurtured,and the kindness he shared so freely.

That's a legacy no one can measure, butan entire community can feel.

This Wnit, local production has been made possible in partby viewers like you.

Thank you.

Legends of Michiana.

Kurt Stever.

A Life Delivered is brought to youby our platinum level sponsors.

Jamee Decio the Gurley Leepautomotive family.

Beep beep.

It's Gurley Leepand our gold level sponsors.

Our silver level sponsors.

Additional funding has been provided by.

And by.