Aces of Trades: Through The Gospel Shop, Freeman and Rhonda Mullet carry on family legacy
SUGARCREEK – For Freeman and Rhoda Mullet, The Gospel Shop is a family legacy.
“As a child my family lived in several different country homes,” recalled Rhoda. “When I was 13, we moved to Sugarcreek. Of course, there was work to do but one of my favorite things to do was, and still is, reading a book.”
“I grew up on a farm,” added Freeman. “When I was 13 years old, we moved off the farm, then I worked for my brother on a farm until I was 15 years old. Then I worked at a cheese factory for about three years.”
Freeman didn’t graduate from high school but did earn a GED certificate. He was a carpenter for many years, and an EMT for 19 years. He’s now owner and president of the company that owns The Gospel Shop, and he does the office work.
“The bookstore was never in my sight,” he noted. “My father-in-law started The Gospel Shop and Rhoda worked for him. In 1987 the couple bought three-fourths of the shop shares and purchased the last quarter in 1998. "I was still doing some carpentry worker a few years and then I was at the store full time,” Freeman said.
Rhoda graduated from Garaway High School in 1966 and worked at a local print shop for several years.
“My parents,” Rhoda said, “David and Erma Stutzman, started The Gospel Shop in 1967 in a small cleaned up former bakery shop. This was two years before Freeman and I were married.
“In 1974,” she continued, “Freeman and I moved to Northwestern Ontario where we volunteered at a residential high school for three years. We moved back to Sugarcreek so I could help my parents at The Gospel Shop. As years passed it seemed evident that we were the ones to buy The Gospel Shop.”
Rhoda is now vice president of the company and store manager.
“As a side note,” she added, “my father was a pastor in the Mennonite church for many years and had a huge library of books. In the last years of his life, he had macular degeneration and could no longer read. My sister and I spent many evenings at his house reading to him. He always said he had new eyes on order but didn’t know when they were coming. He died on Christmas Day of 2020 and got his new eyes. He was 100 years old.
“As the years have passed, we realized this is where God wants us,” said Rhoda. “There are many challenges, but also many rewards. We have become friends with many of our customers and have been able to help customers find what they want and need.”
March 10 marked the 57 anniversary of The Gospel Shop. “We operate the store as a business, but it’s also a ministry,” Freeman said.
The Gospel Shop is located at 112 East Main St. in Sugarcreek. For more information, call 330-852-4223 or look on Facebook.
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at ctnews@coshoctontribune.com.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Freeman and Rhoda Mullet carrying on a family legacy and store
