Carl Kube was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1941. His family and maternal grandparents moved to California in 1944 in order to see Carl’s dad if his Navy ship would come into San Francisco during WWII. Unfortunately Carl’s father died in action in WWII in Leyte Gulf, Philippines but the family remained in California.
Carl grew up in San Jose, CA in St. Leo’s Parish where he attended grammar school and served as an altar boy. He then went on to Bellarmine High School (run by Jesuits) where he graduated in 1959. He then continued on to Santa Clara University where he earned a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering in 1963. He then went on to the University of Arizona where he earned a Master Of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1965.
His first full time job was at IBM in San Jose where he worked as an Electrical Engineer. In 1967 he transferred to IBM in Sacramento where he worked as a System Engineer (computer technical work) from 1967 to 1969. Carl met his wife-to-be, Carmela, when they were members of a Catholic Youth Group in Sacramento.
In 1969 he transferred to the Washington DC Area where he worked on a proposal and benchmark for an IBM Computer System for McClellan and other Air Force Bases. He worked for IBM for 27 years until his retirement in 1992. He worked 8 more years for them doing contract work.
Carl and Carmela married in Silver Spring, MD on Nov. 6, 1970. They have one adopted son, Loc, a Vietnamese orphan, whom they adopted in 1975. Loc is still working in MD. They have one grandchild.
They were very active at St. Bernadette’s Parish in Silver Spring where they lead an Ecumenical Prayer Group from 1976 to 1991. They also taught CCD and organized spiritual events there.
Carl entered the diaconate for the Archdiocese of Washington in Sept., 1988. After 3 years of classes which were attended by both Carl and Carmela, Carl was ordained a Deacon in Sept. 1991. He was assigned to Christ the King Parish in Silver Spring, MD where he served until 1997 when they moved to California. They have fond memories of Christ the King Parish which was a true catholic (universal) parish which was composed of African-Americans, Hispanics, Filipinos and Caucasians. They still return for occasional visits.
In Oct. of 1997 Carl and Carmela joined St. Clare Parish, which was meeting at Woodcreek High School in Roseville and North Country Elementary School in Antelope. Our church was dedicated in Jan., 2002. Deacon Carl has greatly enjoyed serving with Father Colin Macdonald, Father Liam macCarthy, Father Steven Foppiano and Father George as well as the other priests who have served our Parish. He serves as a deacon by assisting and preaching at weekend Masses, coordinating Marriage preparation, assisting with annulments, and performing Marriages as well as a variety of other pastoral ministries and responsibilities.
Carl says, “What a joy it is to serve at St. Clare Parish. For the first 16 years as a deacon I was the only deacon in the Parish; now I enjoy sharing the responsibilities with other deacons. I am so grateful to our Pastors who have given me great freedom to exercise my spiritual gifts. I love the parishioners and their generous volunteer spirit. They are truly living out the vision of Vatican II. My wife, Carmela, is very supportive of all that I do and has great ministries of her own, including a Grief Support Group.”