当三胞胎艾弗里, 卡什和艾迪森·卡斯泰尔正在物色要上的大学, they came to the same conclusion: they wanted to attend 欧文康考迪亚大学 together.
“我们很激动，因为, 如果我们能选一个, 我们会选择CUI,加里·卡斯泰尔说, 孩子们的爷爷爷爷. “When we toured the campus, I talked with students and was like, ‘Wow.“我们聊得很开心. I looked at [my wife] Claudia and said, ‘Do you believe these kids?“当你见到学生时，一切都说明了.”
Claudia Casteel agrees th在欧文的康考迪亚大学 “has proven itself out” in the two-plus years since their triplets enrolled.
“It validates to us what a wonderful education they’re getting at Concordia,” Claudia says. “学校很好地引导了他们的人才. 他们正在取得巨大的成果.”
Gary and Claudia raised and legally adopted their triplet grandchildren after the kids’ mother, 阿莱恩, 他们年轻时就去世了. Gary says they were blessed to have the privilege of raising the children.
“It’s been a miracle to be parents of two families like we have,” Gary says. “我们和所有的孩子一起旅行, 我一直都很注重家庭, 和他们一起玩, 一起享受假期，一起旅行. 我们玩得很开心.”
Gary and Claudia own and operate The Shops at Heavenly Village at the popular ski resort in Lake Tahoe, 离他们住了50年的地方很近. Their personal relationship goes back to the coastal city of Ukiah where the pair met in high school.
“我在储物柜那里碰到了克劳迪娅. 我们都上课迟到了，”加里回忆道. “我想，‘哇，真漂亮!“从那以后，我再也没有让她离开过我的视线.”
It validates to us what a wonderful education they’re getting at Concordia,” Claudia says. “学校很好地引导了他们的人才.
They married after graduating and went to work in the San Francisco Bay Area. 在那里, 加里学会了评估独栋住宅, 小型公寓楼和建筑前期工程, 这成为了他事业的关键.
“我以为, 天啊, 我喜欢房地产,他说, so he quit as manager of a savings and loan branch and went into the construction business in Lake Tahoe, 他和克劳迪娅都很喜欢的地方. 当时, Tahoe had just a few hundred year-round residents and “didn’t even plow the streets,加里回忆道.
“我以为 I’d gone to the ends of the earth,克劳迪娅补充道 with a laugh. The Casteels considered it a great adventure and started building cabins and homes on speculation in Incline Village. Then they got into commercial real estate and bought a shopping center they operated for 35 years.
In 1988 they built California’s second factory outlet, in Lake Tahoe. All that time their home has been in Minden, twelve miles from Tahoe on the Nevada side. 他们有两个孩子，小加里.还有三胞胎的母亲阿莱恩.
“阿莱恩 was an amazing woman, just astounding,加里说。 of his late daughter.
卡斯泰尔家族
阿莱恩从事教育工作, teaching professionals to present themselves effectively through multiple types of communication. It was 阿莱恩 who got her parents involved in Lutheran education. 三胞胎两岁的时候, 阿莱恩给他们安排了镇上最好的幼儿园, 在明登的路德教会. 在她与主同在之后, the Casteel family became involved in the church and the kids were baptized there.
“The loss of our daughter and having these babies brought it all home,” Gary says. “我们试过其他教堂，但它们不适合我们. We walked into this Lutheran church, met the pastor and it all made total sense. 太棒了.”
“刚刚好，”克劳迪娅补充道. “这是我们注定要去的地方. 我们想在教堂里抚养我们的孩子, and we felt like the Lutheran church met all of our needs and had an absolutely fantastic pastor.”
从那时起, the family has strongly supported Lutheran education and ministry in and around Lake Tahoe, including Bethlehem Lutheran middle school in Carson City and Sierra Lutheran High School in Minden, 三胞胎就读的学校. (The triplets have been in Lutheran education from preschool through college.在过去的两年里, the Casteels have also engaged with 欧文康考迪亚大学 as part of their broader goal of supporting Lutheran education.
Gary and Claudia’s main business now is The Shops at Heavenly Village, 有溜冰场的零售中心, 一家电影院和几十家商店. 卡斯蒂尔夫妇开发并拥有这个中心，他们的儿子小加里(Gary, Jr .).他放弃了自己的事业，和他们一起管理.
“这是我们皇冠上的宝石，”加里说. “每年有几百万人经过奥运村.”
这家人也很喜欢热杆汽车, and at a young age the triplets also got involved in the family hobby. Gary bought a custom car from renowned hot-rodder Boyd Coddington in Anaheim. The connection led the triplets to appear on multiple episodes of the Discovery Channel’s “American Hot Rod” series. 他们帮助制造了一辆1936年的福特和一辆1959年的克尔维特.
“而加里和我可以聊好几天肌肉车, the passion the Casteels have for our mission is an awesome thing to see. They have been supportive of multiple projects across campus and they truly understand what it means to be a part of the Concordia family,1994年的埃隆·雅各布森说, 大学晋升执行主任.
在亚洲体育博彩平台，艾德森与Rev. 昆顿·安德森 abbeywest，校园部. 艾弗里在 工商经济学院 乔治·赖特院长. Cash started his own deejay business at age 15 and now deejays numerous campus events, 以及太浩湖的重大活动.
We love it when parents engage with the University and want to get connected,” Jaeger says. “I so admire the Casteels’ quiet and humble support of our mission. 他们相信我们所做的.
最近, the triplets brought home six friends from 欧文康考迪亚大学 to celebrate their twenty-first birthday.
“每个见过这些孩子的人都很惊讶，”克劳迪娅惊呼道. “他们一直在说，‘多棒的孩子啊!’ I attribute it to Concordia and the wonderful students they are turning out. 这是奇妙的.”
“One person said, ‘It restores my faith in this generation,’” Gary says. “The quality of the professors at Concordia Irvine means a lot to us. In the business school, most of the professors have jobs in the real world.”
Tim Jaeger calls it a win-win when students and parents become part of the Concordia Irvine family.
“We love it when parents engage with the University and want to get connected,” Jaeger says. “I so admire the Casteels’ quiet and humble support of our mission. 他们相信我们所做的.”
The Casteels like knowing that their triplets are learning to “spread the word of the Lord and share their success as they grow — being good church folks, 在他们的社区工作, 为雇佣他们的人好好工作,加里说。.
“I feel like Concordia has taught them to go out into the world and be able to express their values about their God,克劳迪娅补充道.