- Bay View - Milwaukee
A great place to worship and grow

Dean and Susan Peck were married at St. Lukes Episcopal Church on August 6, 1977. Dean and his parents, Fred and Esther, joined St. Lukes when he was approximately 8 years old shortly after attending the wedding of George and Jean Makref who were married by Pop Harding. Previously the Pecks attended St. James Episcopal on Wisconsin Ave, where Fred and Esther were married on November 3, 1951. Dean was baptized at St James. Dean recalls getting in trouble at St James at approximately age 5 by singing "Popeye the Sailor Man" during one Sunday service.

Dean is a licensed clinical social worker, with a Masters’ in Social Work and recently celebrated his 26th anniversary with Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin. His primary focus has been Child Welfare, and Treatment Foster Care. He is also heavily involved with continuing education for staff at CSSW as well as assisting with policy development. He ‘teaches part time in the Helen Bader School of Social Work at UW-Milwaukee in the graduate school. He used to be a skinny basketball player playing 2 years in college and has enjoyed coaching Spencer & Nolan in both basketball and baseball through AAU and assisting with the Whitnall H.S. programs in the off season.

Susan is a Family nurse practitioner in an internal medicine clinic with Aurora St. Lukes. She has been a registered nurse for 32 years and worked in a variety of areas. She has a master’s degree from UW-Milwaukee and is currently completing a teaching certificate program. When not nursing or being a mom, she likes to experiment in the kitchen as Mr. Peck’s gourmet assistant (clean up).

Spencer is a junior at Cardinal Stritch University. He plays on the men’s basketball team and continues to make the dean’s list. His major is business and he is considering law school in the future. He sometimes considers the family home as his hotel with personal valet service like most adolescents.

Nolan is a senior at Whitnall high school and plays on the baseball team. He is a developing young artist who has had his work on display at the Wisconsin State Fair for the last five years. He plans on attending UWM in the fall and wants to be accepted in to the Peck School of Arts (no relation). He also enjoys cooking and has been known to offer advice and opinions on his father’s cooking which is always greatly appreciated.

The Pecks feel very blessed and honored to be members of the St. Lukes family. Serving as acolytes, chalice bearers and Susan on the vestry has enriched our love for this parish. The Pecks have benefited considerably with the prayers, comfort and support from our St. Lukes family as they have had multiple medical challenges with Esther and Dean over the years. Dean is convinced that St. Lukes has a special connection to heaven as the faithfulness of the congregation, spirituality of the parishioners is abundantly demonstrated through the many answered prayers and blessings that this congregation always seems to be blessed with. St Luke’s and its people are gifts from God as far as the Peck family is concerned.