Nate Nolting has been the Custodian at Trinity since November, 2014. Recently, Tim Morton, of the Personnel Committee, had the chance to sit down with Nate and hear a little of his story. Here are his thoughts.
Last week I had the opportunity to meet with Nate Nolting, the Trinity Custodian, over a cup of coffee. Nate thoroughly enjoys his work at Trinity, having a history of cleaning churches and church camps.
Nate grew up in Pullman, Washington. His father was a Lutheran pastor and his mother was a public school teacher. A sports fanatic, Nate enjoyed living in a university town and attending the many sporting events at Washington State University. Additionally, WSU provided him with a number of mentors who invested in his life.
When it came time to pick his own college, Nate left Washington for Valparaiso University in Indiana, where he studied Youth, Family, and Educational Ministry. There, Nate met his wife Kia, a nurse practitioner working in urgent care.
In his early career, Nate spent time in the church as a youth ministry intern, youth director, and camp director. A lot of his time went to cleaning camps and churches, just as he cleans Trinity now. But he enjoys the solitude of the task, listening to podcasts while giving the church sparkle and shine.
When he isn't attending to his custodial duties, Nate works as a substitute teacher in the Tacoma Public School district. He and Kia attend St. Mark's Lutheran Church of the Narrows, and enjoy exploring all that Tacoma has to offer.
We finished the last of our coffee and Nate left to work at the church, insisting the caffeine would cut cleaning time in half. I left content, happy to have had the pleasure to meet and get to know this wonderful person.