One privilege of living 86 years is experiencing the hand of God directing my life and decisions in a variety of ways. There is not enough space here to describe each significant event but I’ve selected a few in hope that you will be encouraged to remember how God has intervened in your life.

I was born in Roswell, N.M. ,on Nov. 14, 1927. I was an only child. My parents left their home in Kansas as my father had accepted a teaching job in Roswell because the economy had begun to change just before the Great Depression of 1929-39. Then the Dust Bowl began in 1930. For almost two years it was not unusual to see the streetlights on during the day.

My mother developed crippling rheumatoid arthritis six months after I was born. Nine-and-one-half years later, in 1937, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was time for us to get back to Kansas and family. Since my father and mother had both attended Sterling College and since it was located about midway ...