Ya Gotta Be Kiddin'

This posting is going to be SOLELY about the beginning of Christian Radio Station WEEC, prior to actually going on the air in Springfield OH, on December 15, 1961. It will consist, mainly, of quotes from a book by the title listed above, written by the Rev. Dr. R. Glenn Greenwood, one of the Founders of WEEC.

Dr. Greenwood is in heaven now, but his family has graciously consented to my quoting from the book. The actual quotes will be in italics, while my comments are in regular print.

Many visitors to this blog will know of my later participation in the ministry of WEEC, beginning March 1, 1965. And, though I DID meet with the founders of the station in their homes PRIOR to the station going on the air, other than advice from my experience in Christian Radio, I had NOTHING to do with its beginning.

Those who should be honored for this “vision”, are Paul R. Pontis, R. Glenn Greenwood and Dwight Coffelt. Though others appeared to “cheer them on”, so to speak, THEY and their wives, were the ONLY ones to commit themselves, their reputations, and their funds.

Sadly, of the three, only Dwight Coffelt remains here on earth - along with Mrs. Coffelt and Mrs. Greenwood.

Quoting from the book:

This author was pastoring a Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio and enjoying a fruitful ministry. One of the ministries of the church was broadcasting the evening service live from the church over a local secular radio station. The response to this broadcast was positive, and the church soon learned radio was a great tool to spread the Gospel and reach a large segment of the local population.

The book goes on:

The first significant date in the station’s history was Novembet 1960. The board of deacons discussed various items of business at their monthly board meeting and reviewed the ministry of the church. One of the deacons suggested that the church pursue the possibility of broadcasting a daily fifteen-minute Bible study on one of the local secular stations. The live, evening broadcast was proving a very popular and fruitful ministry. The deacons were unanimous that such a possibility be pursued and adopted a plan that required sending some men to the local secular stations to see if such was possible.

Continuing:

It is uncertain who volunteered, or was chosen, but Paul Pontis was designated to pursue the possibility of a fifteen-minute, daily broadcast over one of the local stations. The deacons agreed to make this a specific matter of prayer before the next monthly board meeting.

Of course, Paul Pontis reported back to the board, but

both local stations were not interested in selling the church time for a fifteen-minute Bible study.

The reason: they had no time available on their program schedule.

It was obvious the men didn’t believe that, because Rev. Greenwood reports that they thought this was merely an excuse.

Here comes an important moment in this “project"

…..silence prevailed for a few seconds, which seemed like minutes, but was soon broken when one of the deacons said, “Why don’t we start our own radio station?”

WHOA! Where did that thought come from? (Where do YOU think it came from?)

Rev. Greenwood continues:

Silence was now replaced with laughter and chuckles. The person defended his suggestion by making reference to a Christian radio station, WFCJ, operated at Miamisburg, Ohio. (A southern suburb of Dayton.)

He goes on: What made this comment so humorous was that all the men in the room knew about radio was that it had an “off” and “on” knob and another knob to adjust the volume.

Question: Does God ONLY use trained and experienced folk in His Ministry? At the beginning of WEEC, apparently not.

The next sound the author (Rev. Greenwood) remembered was from one of the deacons who said, “You have got to be kidding!”

Oh Yeah? Read on:

Rev. Greenwood comments further: Noah did not have Course 101 in engineering and boat designing, yet God called him to build the ark.

(God) chose Abraham and Sarah who were childless and past the time to plan and produce a family.

The book continues to chronicle the events: The lack of radio experience was reason enough to refrain from undertaking such a monumental task of starting a radio station. However, these men rose to the occasion and accepted the challenge to study the procedures necessary to give birth to WEEC. God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.

Notice that, though they were “not qualified”, they stud(ied) the procedures necessary to give birth to WEEC.

We learn that after they called on their church to pray, there was a men’s group that met weekly at a local restaurant, and they mentioned the project to them. The answer: What if it fails? What do you men know about radio?

Glenn met with a group of area ministers and shared the burden. Some sounded interested, but no one spoke up with support.

The three valiant men got together, and considered Proverbs 4:26:

“Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.”

This raised questions:

1. Where are we now in our venture?
2. What type of station? AM? or FM?
3. How will it be financed? Commercial? Or Faith?
4. Where will the studio and tower be located?

Did the lack of “support” quell their enthusiasm? No Way!

The next step was to incorporate. The corporate name “World Evangelistic Enterprise Corporation” was available. They took it.

Part of that incorporation was a Constitution and By-laws, including a Statement of Faith. They wrote it.

What about a bank account? Well, how much money was needed to open an account? The three of them searched their pockets and came up with $10. They were “in business”.

Where to find the large amount of funds needed, to get started? After approval by the Ohio Securities Division, they started selling Debenture bonds, at an interest rate of 5%, up to the $50,000 authorized.

The license. What to do about that?

They contacted Charlie Shaw, the WFCJ engineer, and he filled them in.

The founders and Mr. Shaw drove overnight to Washington DC to meet with a Communications Attorney. They made a frequency search, and found 100.7 FM as the ideal spot for a 77,000 watt station. They made application, and were told to go home and wait. They did.

Listen to Rev. Greenwood:

June 15 they learned that a station near the Springfield area filed a request for a station on top of the 100.7 FM frequency. Immediately, the men knew this would require a lengthy and costly hearing unless the problem could be resolved peacefully.

Negotiations between the two groups were unfruitful. The other group wanted to be paid to drop out of the situation. They insisted that WEEC should move its frequency choice. (If they moved, they would have to operate on lower power!)

Though Glenn’s group had formally filed with the FCC, the other one planned on doing so before the deadline. The principal of that group, rather than mailing in the application, kept it in his pocket while driving in Indiana. He was seriously injured in an auto accident there, and never filed!

Upshot: WEEC’s application was granted - in the unheard of month of August when the FCC was on vacation. The staff was authorized to grant the license, since there was such a backlog.

Let’s let Glenn Greenwood describe the following:

The date was December 15, 1961, and the excitement was high at the studio and transmitter site. The time was 6PM. The switch would soon be thrown, and the announcer would put WEEC on the air. It was only appropriate that the hymn “To God Be The Glory” should be the first message to sound forth when the station went on the air.

December 15, 2008 was the 47th anniversary of that first broadcast, and God STILL keeps it going.

Praise the Lord!

Rev. Greenwood’s final verse in this book is: “And let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Our Progenitors

I suppose I don't have to describe what "progenitors" are. I won't, unless later I think maybe I should have. Pictured here first are Jean's parents: Wilbur and Ida Anderson. They were natives of Champaign County Ohio - one of them living to be over 90 (Dad), the other over 80.

He was a farmer and later, butcher, generally. Though shortly after moving to "town", he became the City Night Watchman, basically a Night Policeman. They owned a Cities Service gas station, that included what we laughingly call "A Jot-em-down Store" (shades of Lum and Abner on the radio.)

They were parents of 4 adult children, and one infant who lived only for a short while.

Jean's mother, of course, worked in the home, as well as the farm yard when they lived in the country. In her later years, she was a "Binder Supervisor" for the Crowell-Collier Company, in Springfield, Ohio.





My dad, Walter O. Maddex, after farming for a few years before I was born, worked for many years in a Hardware Store, for the vast sum of $25 per week. After retiring from that, he was a bookkeeper for the Pure Oil Company Distributor in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. He walked over a mile every day to work, up in his eighties. He lived to be over 90 as well, his death possibly caused by a fall and broken hip in our garage.

My mother, Mae Maddex, lived to be over 80, the last several years in poor health. Her final days (as were Jean's) were spent in a Nursing Home. I had one sister, Miriam, who was 11 years older than I.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Jean and I announced that we were going to marry, there was more to it than that. Jean was 19 1/2 years old, I was not yet 19. Parental consent, of course, was required, in both cases.

I had been drafted in the Army, though, and since we had been dating for a couple years, we felt that we should marry before I left for overseas.

Our arguments for marrying finally prevailed, and many people in Mechanicsburg said, "It'll never last!" - and they meant it. Our parents didn't quite see it that way, or they would not have consented. One lady in our town was CONVINCED that we would remain married "for the duration", as she said. Her name was Edna Hunt. She said, "You just wait and see. This will last!" Oh........I didn't mention that Edna was the Head Clerk in the County Court House that issued Marriage Licenses.

In those days, blood tests were required before a marriage license would be issued. (Interestingly, with today's "promiscuity", and STD, a blood test is NOT required.) Anyway, our blood test had to be done in Columbus, for some reason. And, getting back to the County Seat of Urbana took some time.

Edna knew we were coming, however, so she kept the doors open until we arrived. (I dearly wish, and hope, that Edna somehow knows that we were married 65 years.)

Previouly, I've described our wedding and subsequent events, and they can be seen in an earlier posting on this blog.

Proverbs 31 speaks of a virtuous woman. I don't know why men/fathers could not be included in that paean of praise thus - "her children arise up and call her blessed."

Praise the Lord!

Family Photos

The family has to start somewhere, and our wedding picture from March of 1943 is the one I'm using. This was taken in Springfield OH. Mike and Jean. Before Jean passed away in October 2008, we had been married 65 WONDERFUL years.













Then, our family, including Mike's parents. Children, ages 8, 5 and 1.














Thirdly, my all-time FAVORITE of Jean, that she didn't like very much, but I kept it in my date book every day for 15 to 20 years!









Finally, after 65 years of Wedded Bliss!










Ephesians 5:31 "....a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."

Mystery Words

WARNING: This posting will be absolutely boring to you, UNLESS, of course, you are one of those like I, who am fascinated by new words, and the definitions thereof. In some cases, you may KNOW the words, but are interested in the various different definitions. If THAT’S the case, read on!

These are unusual words that I have copied from some of the books I have read in recent months - mostly mysteries - written by British authors:

Definitions are copied from:

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

irascible - adj - quick tempered
ebullient - adj - lively, enthusiastic
lugubrious - adj - gloomy, sad, mournful
opulent - adj - lavish or ample
serried- n - close together
febrile - adj - relating to fear
prodigious - adj - sizable or marvelous
eponymous - adj - giving a name to something
perspicacity - n - acute perception
mendacious - adj - false, telling lies
abjuration - n - formally denouncing or denying yourself
insipidity - n - being dull or flavorless
verdant - n - green, or naïve
reticule - n - woman’s purse
sanguine - adj - confident, cheerfully optimistic, ruddy
deportment - n - conduct or behavior
prolixity - adj - tiresomely wordy
pusillanimous - adj - weak spirited, lack of boldness and resolve
stupefaction - n - amazement, astonishment, unable to think
trepidation - n - apprehension, trembling
caparison - n - decorative covering for a horse, elaborate clothing
profligate - adj - wasteful, with low morals
depredation - n - attack involving plunder and pillage
declivity - n - sloping, downward inclination
verisimilitude - n - appearing to be true, but no evidence
garrulous - adj - talking too much, wordy
perfunctory - adj - routinely done, but hastily by duty
termangant - n - offensive term against a woman - argumentative
captious - adj - overly critical, entrapping
maladroit - adj - lack of skill or tact, clumsy, insensitive
assiduous - adj - very careful, hard working
serendipitous - adj - a natural gift for discovery
plenitude - n - abundance, full or complete supply
predilection - n - special liking or preference for
ancillary - adj - subordinate in importance, providing support
synoptical - adj - general view of the whole
proscenium - n - front of a stage
precocious - adj - mentally advanced at an early age
prodigious - adj - sizable, marvelous and amazing
castellated - adj - indented or serrated
sardonic - adj - disdainfully and cynically mocking
harridan - n - woman pretending to be advanced in age
truculence - n - defiance, or “don’t tell me”
capacious - adj - able to hold a lot or a large quantity
reticule - n - small woman’s purse
raglan - adj - sleeves that run to the collar
eremitical - n - like a hermit who lives alone
detritus - n - debris, rock fragments
prolixity - n - a habit of being wordy
abstruse - adj - obscure, difficult to understand
loquacious - adj - very talkative
adamantine - adj - unyielding, hard and brilliant
convivial - adj - pleasant, enjoyable, sociable
cerulean - adj - deep blue, like the sky
factotum - n - someone who does many jobs
in situ - adv adj - situated normally in its original place
marmoreal - adj - made of marble, or someone aloof/impressive
circumlocution - n - indirect way of speaking, more quite wordy
contumely - n - contemptuous, insulting, scornful, derisive
comestibles - n - food, something edible, usually cooked
erudition - n - scholarship
midges - n - tiny, swarming flies
belvedere - n - building with a fine view
machair - n - Scottish - pasture on a beach
insouciance - n - carefree attitude, lack of anxiety or concern
diffidence - n - a lack of self confidence. reserved or restrained
nouveau riche - n - one who shows off newly acquired wealth
ha-ha - n - a ditch serving as a garden boundary
anodyne - n - a comforting thing that soothes, comforts or relaxes
modus operandi - n - method or way of doing something
preternaturally - adj - going beyond nature, supernatural, uncanny
argot - n - special language used by a particular group
aphorism - n - succinct comment stating or expressing an opinion
parvenu - n - person with newly gained wealth or social status
crenellate - v - to build with battlements
ineluctable - adj - inescapable
condyle - n - rounded end of a bone - ball and socket area
coup doeil - n - a quick look, that gives an impression
sedulous - adj - working persistently with great zeal
auroch - n - extinct wild ox
supercilious - adj - contemptuously indifferent, arrogant
recreant - adj - disloyal, cowardly
conurbation - n - urban sprawl, suburbs merging
porcine - adj - related to or resembling pigs
avatar - n - image of someone in virtual reality

For those of you (are there any?) who have stuck with me through these 85 words, I say, "BRAVO". Did you learn anything? I surely did, but, at my age, my memory sometimes doesn't retain stuff I want it to. Though I've often said, "MEMORY is not my problem - it's RECALL that bothers me."

Now that you've read this far (all 3 of you), I want to confess why I posted such a boring set of words: I have one complete posting ready but waiting for a photo, and another half-done that needs an official statement. Want to know the subjects?

Naaahh!

Are you sure?

Well, if it's OK, here goes.

The one that's finished is called "Ya Gotta Be Kiddin'", based on the book with that title, written by the late R. Glenn Greenwood, one of the founders of the 47 year old Christian Radio Station WEEC. The book chronicles the beginnings of that station.

The other is just waiting for some historical information from an official of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation Department(NICTD), about the South Shore Commuter Train, that runs from Chicago to South Bend and back.

Excited? Can't wait? (I'll bet!)

Closing thought: Words are very important, since they are what are used to convey thoughts to another. In the Bible, the Word is JESUS. He took on human flesh, was humanly born as a baby, then grew up and gave his Life on the Cross for our sins.

Word? Words? Very important, don't you think?

Words, Grammar and Redundancies III

NOTICE: The first and second parts of this title have already been posted, and may be seen by “scrolling down” the “elevator” on the right side of your screen, using your “mouse” and “left-clicking/holding” on the elevator.

Please read them first, in order, so to properly understand this one. Thanks.

I REALLY didn't think there would be a third iteration on this theme, but these thoughts keep swirling around in my head. I think maybe what triggered it was the new/large words I’ve noticed in the British mysteries I’ve been reading.

Such as: “nouveau riche”; “diffidence”; “insouciance”; “erudition”; “contumely”; “circumlocution”; “in situ”; “prolixity”; ad infinitum. (The last one was NOT on that list. It’s MY word. Means “goes on and on”.)

What do these words mean? I sometimes don’t know, so I look them up.

More: “loquacious”; “abstruse”; “ha-ha” “convivial”; “factotum”; “eremitical”; “capacious”; “truculence”; on and on.

I wrote these down in just the last couple of months of reading. Did I mention that I’m retired; my wife passed away last October; and I sometimes find it hard to “amuse” myself - so, since I enjoy reading, I go to the local library, and take out books - especially mysteries? I read some non-fiction too, as well as the Bible.

The non-fiction has included: “Lincoln and His Admirals”, a Civil War account; “The King and the Cowboy”, about Theodore Roosevelt and Edward VII of England; “Intrepid”, about the nation’s “most legendary warship”; “The Design Revolution”, about Intelligent Design; “The Language of God”, a treatise supporting “evolutionary creation”; “Christ in the Psalms”, by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon; “Julius Caesar”, his life; the Yalta Agreement, with Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill; accounts of General Washington and the Revolutionary War; et al.

Back to the words: Seems like a lot of new ones, right? Except that the list is nowhere near complete.

Look at these: “sardonic”; “castellated”; “modus operandi”; “prodigious”; “precocious”; “predilection”; “maladroit”; “assiduously”; and, as I say, ad infinitum. Remember - I have to look up most of these.

So far, there are 71 of them in my notebook - ALL from those mysteries.

And now, in between a few “spasms” of writing, I’ve read a little more, and have found 9 more “curious” words, including: “argot”; “aphorism”; “parvenu”; “crenellate”; “ineluctable”; “anodyne”; “condyle”; “coup d’oeil”; and “excarnation”. (not an American word, by the way.)

Hello!!!

I’ve just had an epiphany (not in a religious sense) about WHY these British mystery writers use all these outlandish words! I think they KNOW that we Yankees read their books, and they just want to show us how much we DON’T know. What do you think? It’s a “nationalistic” sort of thing, don’t you know.

Going on -

Thinking about these words, and the related thoughts about them, I think I’ve concluded that I might be “nouveau riche with words”. “compris?” Or, “comprendez vous?” or Do you “ken”?

Let me help you: “nouveau riche” is described as a person who “likes to display newly acquired wealth”. then, “nouveau riche with words”, MIGHT mean that I like to “display” new words. Or, in Mechanicsburg slang, “Show off!”

Do you dig that?

If you know me very well, or, have read most of these “blog postings”, I’m sure you’ve discovered that.

But………wait a minute! Is that bad? One of my faithful “blog” readers says, “But Mike, that’s what makes you, you.”

Well, at least it does reveal some things about me. (I hope there are no psychologists reading this.) Some may feel it’s bad, and some may even be disgusted with me for doing this.

But, I have to re-state what I said in the first iteration of this subject:

“a ‘gabby’ person like me doesn’t have to make sense, or impress anyone with ‘material’ or ‘pertinent’ stuff. He just has to get something off his (or her) mind. If someone is interested enough to read it, it’s a ‘plus‘, but not a requirement for the ‘gabby’ person to feel fulfilled. Got it?”

So… flawed that I am, I will probably still write these postings to the “Grandpa Mike” blog, in order to “get something off my mind”.

By the way, no one has told me yet how my blog site came to be called “Grandpa Mike”. Understand……..I don’t object to it, since it fits me, but I REALLY don’t know how it got named that. Any thoughts?

I am again reminded of: “Do nothing through strife or vain glory, but let each esteem others better than himself.” Philippians 2:3

Oh boy!

Radio Ministry III

NOTICE: The first and second parts of this title have already been posted, and may be seen by “scrolling down” the “elevator” on the right side of your screen, using your “mouse” and “left-clicking/holding” on the elevator.

Please read them first, in order, so to properly understand this one. Thanks.

Though this post could properly be called, simply, WEEC, it IS a continuation of my ministry - the THIRD part of this title iteration, actually. Ya gotta be real brave, or something, to have followed this far! Thanks.

Arriving in Springfield OH in March of 1965, Jean, Jim, John, Martha and I had the following participation:

We bought a house on Keene Avenue.
Jean was the Matron of the home.
Jim was to be graduated from Lane Technical High School in Chicago the following June.
John was a Sophomore in Northeastern High School, to be graduated in 1967.
Martha was a Seventh Grader at Northridge Schools, to be graduated from Northeastern High School in 1972.
I started the first day of a 34 year ministry in charge of WEEC.

At an early Board Meeting after my arrival, my position of General Manager was confirmed, and I was elected Secretary of the Board as well.

The early days of the station were, as are most radio stations in the US, commercially underwritten. They sold “commercials”. They charged broadcasters. They had a Sales Staff.

A year or so before I arrived, the Board saw that sales were not sufficient to keep the station “afloat”. They concluded that advertisers were not sure that there would be enough listeners to a solely Christian station to warrant their support. So, by an act of “faith” - one of many - they decided to go entirely commercial free, and then depend on listeners, prompted by God, for the station’s support. That’s where they were when I arrived.

Sometime in the summer of 1965 our financial situation became rather untenable - not totally so, but we didn’t know where we would get the money to pay the staff the next pay day. They were already several weeks behind in their pay when I arrived, and I worked on that by paying them one day earlier each week, than we did the previous one.

But this time, we were REALLY broke! Couldn’t pay the staff.

As usual, Paul Pontis and I went to lunch together. We came back to his office (where the WEEC offices were, temporarily), and sitting in his 1965 Chrysler in the parking lot of his business, we frankly decided that WEEC could not go on, and that we must, certainly, “close the doors”.

We had a prayer meeting right there in the car, and we both said, independently, that we WOULD shut the doors, unless God miraculously intervened. We felt that the station was God’s - not ours - and that we had no right to “keep it afloat” on our own, without His approval. The “approval” being, provision for our needs.

I wish I could say that some rich listener/donor suddenly called to say he would give us thousands of dollars, but that didn’t happen. We saw no evidence of a SUDDEN influx of funds, BUT, we did meet that week’s payroll, and the next, and the next - one day earlier each week, until we were “caught up”. God DID provide, and we saw no need to “embarrass” Him by “closing shop”.

Praise the Lord!

The contributions to the ministry continued, and, gradually increased. However, expenses increased also, and we were always just barely “breaking even” - sometimes short of that.

Later that summer, retired IRS Agent Lou Holder, himself a relatively new “believer”, indicated an interest in WEEC. The Auditor we had got too busy to continue, so Lou volunteered to take over that responsibility.

I first met Mel Johnson in Springfield, prior to our moving to Chicago. He had been the roommate of our pastor while at Moody, and the pastor invited him to a series of meetings at our church.

Then, in Chicago, I got to know him better, while he was Director of Chicagoland Youth for Christ. While I was Minister of Christian Education at our church there, Mel came for youth meetings. (I just remembered the title of one of Mel’s workshops - “The Care and Feeding of Parents”) In addition, he was also a regular speaker at our Denomination’s summer camp - Camp Hickory, in Round Lake, IL.

Prior to my leaving Moody to join WEEC, Mel had moved to Minneapolis MN to take over that YFC Program. At the same time, Mel was the host of the national program TIPS FOR TEENS, starting at WMBI, then moving to KTIS in Minneapolis - the anchor station of Northwestern College and Radio - for him, now home base.

My knowledge of Mel’s experience in the ministry, and in broadcasting on several Christian stations in the nation, prompted me to recommend him and Lou Holder - as members of our Board.

In our discussions on the Board about the WEEC finances, Mel suggested that we hold an annual SHARATHON, to raise “Faith Promises” for our annual budget.

For some reason, pride maybe, I just couldn’t agree to that. I preferred letting the listeners decide on their own how to contribute to WEEC, rather than as a suggestion by us.

Then, in the fall of 1973, I believe, I reported that our finances were in a $40,000 deficit. What to do?

Mel Johnson - “Have a one day SHARATHON, to ask the listeners on the air, to provide Faith Promises for the $40,000, in the month of December.”

I acquiesced.

Without months of preparation required in subsequent years, we told the listeners about it. We set aside one whole day’s broadcasts, for appeals to the listeners to give $40,000 above what they would normally do.

By the end of that day in December, I had to hang my head in shame for “opposing” the concept of using a SHARATHON, since the listeners had promised MORE than the needed $40,000. In fact, by the end of December, we had received $69,000!

I was then convinced that the concept was sound, and it has been used every year since.

PTL!

“But my God shall supply all of your need, according to His Riches in Glory, by Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19

KYB Club

“Saaaayyyy! It’s two o’clock Sunday Afternoon, and you know what that means!” “Sure……KYB Club, with your Aunt Theresa!”

“Hello boys and girls!” (Arpeggio)

Song - “KYB Club Time, this is our KYB Club Time. With joy we greet it, we run to meet it, dear KYB Club Time. Happy Hearts have we, using our talents all for Thee. We come not sadly, but singing gladly, dear KYB Club Time.”

Confession: I had to get help from my son Jim (Jimmy in the picture), and from the perennial Producer of the program, Chuck Christensen, for some of the words.)

That’s how the KYB Club opened each Sunday, in at least 1954 to maybe 1960 in our experience, over WMBI in Chicago. I know it started earlier than 1954.

“Aunt Theresa” was Theresa Worman, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, and children’s story writer/reader “par excellence”.

KYB? Know Your Bible, of course.




In the picture above, my memory can only list: Aunt Theresa in the chair; Martha Maddex on her lap; Johnny Maddex left front leaning on the table; and Jimmy Maddex, extreme upper right. Most of the other faces are familiar, but I can only name some. Chuck and I remember Irene Pugsley, leaning forward behind Aunt T, and her sister Sue next to her. The girl second from left, we think was named Beverly Calm. Jim tells me the tall boy in the back was Terry Erickson.

If alive, they would ALL be in their 50’s and 60’s now. Our Martha went to be with the Lord in 2001, at age 47. She was 2 years old in this picture.

The KYB Club was one of our necessary family projects in those years. Others included: riding the “EL” from Diversey, North to Evanston; back south past Diversey to Jackson Park; then back north to Diversey. All for 10 cents each. (1956, you know.)

We came to Chicago from a town of 1,800 people, and Chicago - especially the “EL” and Subway - was fascinating. We even ran to the front door when we heard a “fire or police siren” go by. Sirens were a big thing in Mechanicsburg! (Not in Chicago.)

Though KYB Club was aired every Sunday, we went in only every other week - for a “live” broadcast at 2PM, and a recording for next week at 3PM, or thereabouts.

Features I remember on the program include: Story Time, Singing Lady, Three Preachers, and “At the Bangles”, a story dramatized with a Daddy and Mother, along with “Billy and Patty Bangle”. Occasionally, she would feature one of the “tiny tots” singing a solo. One time, at age 5, Johnny sang one of the “ditties” that I wrote:

“Here’s little 5 year old Johnny Maddex to sing a song written by his very own daddy. Go right ahead, Johnny.,” (We have a recording of that somewhere.)

The Three Preachers - one of which was our son Jimmy - read what Aunt Theresa had written for them. “Here are the Three Preachers. What is your sermon today, preachers?” “Three things about…….”

There was also a “choir”, consisting of maybe 15 of the boys and girls, who sang at least one Gospel Song every Sunday. They stood on a “riser” on the west wall of Studio A. After attending awhile with our “kids”, I was asked to lead the “choir”. They sang well.

The Producer of the program was Chuck Christensen, a Staff Producer at WMBI, who produced such other programs as: Ranger Bill; Sailor Sam (Chuck was Sam); Something To Sing About, with Bill Pearce; and sometimes, alternating with Joyce Blackburn, Stories of Great Christians - et al.

Oh.......I just now remember the pianist: Lucille Becker Ingebretsen!

Aunt Theresa’s devotion to Christ was evident in her demeanor at all times. In addition to KYB Club, she hosted a daily “Story Time” for boys and girls, near the noon hour every day.

And, though a single lady, she was devoted to children - as expected. And, she had an eye out for some of our families, who might need a little “financial encouragement”. Occasionally, I (and others I’m sure), would find a small envelope in our mail boxes, with cash in them. Never identified. I think she would be surprised that I knew. I never approached her about it since she was secretive (not letting the left hand know about the right), but one time, I just said, in another context, “Thanks, Aunt Theresa!” Moody has always paid staff monthly, rather than weekly. Once you get used to it, it really works. (Like Social Security today.)

But in the days before the Institute Trustees took a BOLD step with salaries, we sometimes ran out on the “25th of the month”, or thereabouts. They seem to be competitive in salaries today.

Thank the Lord for His Provision, and His using us humans to carry out the Gospel Message.

I Timothy 5:18 “….the laborer is worthy of his reward.”

Praise the Lord.

Words, Grammar and Redundancies II

NOTICE: The first part of this title has already been posted, and may be seen by “scrolling down” the “elevator” on the right part of your screen, using your mouse and “left-clicking/holding” on the elevator.

Please read THAT one first, in order to properly understand THIS one. Thanks.

In the first one, I indicated that this subject will be “weird”, since it consists of, basically, definitions or grammar rules.

While in the first one, I awoke at 5AM thinking about the subject, then getting up to start it, this is a couple of days later, and I’m wide awake!

(For now, at least. I AM retired, and sometimes, even tired.)

Though I mentioned one case of "redundancy" last time, I want to pursue that further.

A long time friend in Springfield named Raymond Currie has been almost “obsessed” with redundancies. He printed a list of these errors (maybe 100 of them), entitled, “Baby Puppies I Have Known”. I hate it like everything that I can no longer “put my hands on it”, but, I just now talked to him, and he has agreed to send me a copy of the list.

Ray, like me, is almost “superannuated” at 86 (I’m 84). By the way, Ray tells me that he teaches a Senior Citizens Sunday School Class at his church, consisting of students older than he! (Is it the water there, or what?) Regular readers of my “Blog” will like it that he remarked about my “perspicacity” in remembering part of his street address. (Perspicacity - “acute perception”).

(Break for more info) Got it!

I have now received from Ray the “Baby Puppies” he talks about - over a hundred on this list.

Re-reading these, I’m rather embarrassed at how I almost regularly violate some of these “redundancies”.

Here are some readily used phrases that are, really, “redundancies”, or “tautologies”, as a newspaper writer called them:

“Brief glimpse. Crimson red. Fatal slaying. Most immediate. Common vernacular. Fair and equitable. False pretenses. Clear transparency. Over and above. Basic fundamentals.”

On and on. In EVERY case, the second word is not needed! Redundancy! Whew!

There are more: “Wet and soggy. Merge together. Self conceit. Mechanical robot. Unexpected surprise. Armed gunman.”

Enough of that. I’m embarrassed.

In “Barbies Time”, I mentioned children and grandchildren, as well as “the love they garner, and offer.”

I wondered about using “garner”, but in looking it up, I felt secure. One of the descriptions mentions: “to earn or acquire something by effort.” That seemed to fit, though I suppose that word is not often used in talking of the love children receive. They probably don’t make an effort to be loved. Maybe a mistake.

One of the problems I have in these postings, is knowing when to use quotation marks, parentheses, italics, capitals, etc. I haven’t mastered it yet, I think. Back in the post “Blabbermouth, Confession and Quotations”, I used A LOT of quotations (thus part of the title).

In that post, I used a set of parentheses 13 times! Then, I used Capital Letters another 13 times for emphasis! And, I used 30 (count ’em), 30 sets of quotation marks. (I have to admit that I PURPOSELY used several sets of quotations, to fit the title, I guess. Though, actually, I changed the title to include all these uses.) I wondered if anyone would notice so many. (Why am I revealing all of this?)

But, when are these emphases proper? I don’t know. I use them to separate one phrase from the text, I guess.

Such is the life of a “blogger”. (I didn’t HAVE to become one, you know!)

In “New Guinea II”, I fell back on a “trick”, or “practice” that I like to use - familiar quotations out of context. I said, for example, “Since this location was close to the sea, we had plenty of water - but ‘not a drop to drink’” You know - “Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink”? You’ll find me, if you haven’t already, using familiar quotations “out of context”, for effect.

In “Toledo Fiasco”, I listed something I like to do - tease. And before A LOT of people. ("Are all of you folks going to New York?") I think I’d best not do these things when any family members are around. They’d be embarrassed. How many people have an 84 year old parent/grandparent who “makes a fool of himself” before a lot of people? I try to do these things when I’m by myself, or, maybe when Bobby is with me. He’s my 37 year old grandson. I think he appreciates these things. He laughs with his grandpa. But, I guess I’m just a “show-off”. As well as “being gabby” on my blog.

Also, I like to “poke fun at myself” - as evidenced by my reporting how I talked, impertinently (brash, bold or lack of respect) to my future father-in-law, and how he teased me about being short. I did that in “New Guinea and Manila”. And, in “Nicknames”, I joked about the “crazy” nicknames I’ve gotten.

Another thing I don’t know about, is where to put a quotation mark or period, when a quotation and sentence end together. Which goes first? The “period/question mark”, or the “quotation?”. What is the rule? Beats me! I just do what “seems” to be proper at the time. I was corrected on this one time by a retired school teacher, but I neither remember who she was, nor what she said. (I almost broke another rule right there. I ALMOST used “neither” and “or” together. Typo, actually. But I had to add “nor”.

In “Cell Phones”, did you notice I used the words - “ubiquitous and omnipresent”? I was showing off! They essentially mean the same thing, so wouldn’t that be a “redundancy”? I think so.

OUCH! I just looked them up, and they DO mean the SAME THING! “found everywhere”. (Tautology!) (Redundancy!)

I just thought of something else. I wonder if I’m trying to be “honest” like Bobby’s sister, Molly? She’s so honest on her blog “Close to Home”, that it’s almost embarrassing. She’s a “gem”.

And, to finally end this “self-flagellation” (strong self criticism), I’m so “proud” of my BlackBerry 8330 Smart Phone, that I listed ALL of its “attributes”(quality, property or characteristic) in “Cell Phones”. Bragging, actually.

Whoa……….that’s taking “confession” a little too far.

Really!

“Do nothing through strife of vain-glory, but let each esteem other(s) better than himself.” Philippians 2:3

Have mercy!

(Wait a minute! Should I be revealing all my “trade secrets”? Will there no longer be a “mystery” about me? Hmmm! Too late now!)

Words, Grammar and Redundancies

At the outset, I think I should tell you that this is going to be one of the weirdest postings I’ve ever done on this “blog”.

You might say, “Why do something weird that no one will want to read?”

Good thought.

However, “getting down to basics”, a “gabby” person like me
------------------------------------------------
(gab·by [gábbee]
(comparative gab·bi·er, superlative gab·bi·est)
adj
talking incessantly: talking or inclined to talk to an excessive and irritating degree (informal)

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)
------------------------------------------------

doesn’t have to make sense, or impress anyone with “material” or “pertinent” stuff. He just has to get something off his (or her) mind. If someone is interested enough to read it, it’s a “plus”, but not a requirement for the “gabby” person to feel fulfilled. Got it?

(By the way, ALL of the definitions of words that I print here in this posting, are from the Encarta World English Dictionary quoted above. I mention this so I won’t have to list all of the copyright data after each word.)

I say, this is going to be weird because it will consist, mainly, of definitions or grammar rules.

Forgive me, but I woke up this morning at 5 AM, and here at 6:11 AM, I’m STILL awake, thinking about this subject and posting. I’ll be here (stopping for breakfast. “Gabby persons eat also.”), off and on, until I get this subject off my mind.

An interesting thing is, though other persons have always known I was a “gabber”, I never thought much about it, until this “blog” kinda revealed it to me. You know, like the alcoholic finally realizes that he is “hooked”. Although, I should have picked up on it, after Mr. Little suggested that I should concentrate more on getting something into the minds of others, rather than just “getting something off my own mind.”

Oh, well!

Back to “Words, Grammar and Redundancies”.

(Excuse me - my BlackBerry alarm just sounded, at 6:30. I have to turn it off.)

I’m going to try to look through these postings (there are 24 in just a little more than 2 months), looking for some of the unusual words, or grammar rules I’ve listed, and try to explain. Remember, this is a “hobby” with me. In other words, I’m NOT an expert or authority on these subjects.

I had intended to start with the first posting, and then follow them back to this one, trying to explain my usage of a word, phrase or “grammar rule”. But I think it would be helpful to describe the word that “kicked off” these explanations: it’s the word posit.

I used this word in my posting about “Ham Radio”. I said, “I don’t mean to imply that Ken thereby now endorses all the facts I posit.” Unusual word, right? Right. I don’t even know where I got it. It just “came into my mind”, while thinking about what I had written. It means, “to put something forward”.

(Oh………it’s 7:15, and Tonya just called John and me to breakfast.)

(Break)

I should explain what I DO when I come up with these words, phrases or grammatical expressions, that are unusual. I go ahead and use the word or phrase in my original writing on the Word Processor. (I write it down so I won’t forget it.) Then, I save the writing, and go to the Encarta English Dictionary on my computer to check out the meaning. If the proper meaning coincides with my usage of it, I leave it in the post. If not, I drop it, and choose another word. (What’s weird is that I STILL make mistakes.)

Here's how “posit” triggered THIS posting. Some thought that it was just a “typo”. Makes sense, right? Maybe I meant to say “post”, rather than “posit”. ( I should add that I DO make typos - on these postings. In fact, I’ve corrected some “typos” on previous postings that I had missed before.) But, this WASN’T a typo. I MEANT to use that word.

Thus, the explanation just given.

In going back to the first posting, right off, I see that I’m going to have to admit to, what I NOW feel is a “redundancy”. (“Superfluous, or no longer needed.”)

In my first posting, entitled “Introduction”, I see that I said, “This is my FIRST introduction to blogs.”

What?

I ask myself now, “Isn’t an ‘introduction’ a ‘first’? Why USE the word 'FIRST' at all?" See what I mean?

On the second one, I quoted Phil. 2:3, “Let each esteem other better than themselves.” Esteem - “Value something or somebody highly.” And, I have to add, the King James Version I just quoted is, in this present day, grammatically incorrect, in that “each” implies “one”, so it should be “better than himself”, today.

In my next posting, I used the word “Excellence”. (“Superiority, or an outstanding feature.”) I used it as a term for “perfection”.

I said I thought we should strive for excellence. “Try hard.”

In several of these postings, I refer to my grand-children. Or, grandchildren. Or, great-grandchildren. Or, great-grand-children. Obviously, I don’t know what is right.

Dummy me! I just now looked up this phrase, and the Dictionary says, “ grandchildren” and “great-grandchildren”. Why didn’t I look up this phrase long ago? Dummy! (I heard a Christian Psychologist one time say that we shouldn’t “put ourselves down”, by calling ourselves “dumb” or some such. (Actually, it helps to keep me humble.)

“Humble? Mike?” Really!

Other difficult grammatical terms are: nouns; adjectives; verbs; and adverbs. I gotta tell ya, in spite of my “hobby” concerning these things, I often err - as do MANY authors of books I read (many of them Mysteries).

For example, right off, in my posting entitled “Toledo Fiasco”, I used the word “intrepid” - meaning, “fearless - courageous and bold”. I said, “So, intrepid Senior Citizen that I am,….”. Though there is a serious question about me being “courageous and bold”, I am certainly “fearless”. The word “intrepid” is an adjective, (modifying a noun - “Senior Citizen”). So, the grammar was correct.

However, later in the same posting, (Notice I said “posting”, rather than “blog”. There is only one “blog”. It is this whole “Grandpa Mike” thing. I “post” on the “blog“. Got it?), after mentioning my GPS, I initially said, “After all, I AM intrepid”. Wrong! “Intrepid” is an adjective, not a noun. I am actually, “an intrepid kind of guy”. I left out the whole last sentence. Seemed rather “grandiose”. (“Oh, what does that mean?”) “Pretentious and pompous”. Right! But, what do those two words mean? “Grandiose!”

Gotcha!

(If I still have readers now, it would be a miracle!)

But, moving along - In referring to a lay minister who came to Jean’s Nursing Home for Church services, I called him “gregarious” - means “friendly”. “Well, Mike. Why didn’t you just use the word ‘friendly’ instead?” I suppose, because “gregarious” seemed more “pompous”.

“Superannuated”. In “Home For A Week-End”, I defined that term. It means, “Retired, worn out or out-of-date”.

In “Blabbermouth, Confession and Quotations” I used the word “embellish”, describing a telephone call-in guy telling of one of his experiences. I also added, “I STILL have a tendency to ‘embellish’ what I’m saying, supposedly for effect.” I later looked up the word “embellish”, and I’m not sure I like what it implies that I do. The definition: “1. Beautify something. 2. Add false details to something.” Wow! I sure hope I don’t “add false details” to anything. Maybe a bad choice of words.

Well, I’ve overstayed my welcome again. I’ll have to finish this in a future “blog” -er “posting”.

What verse may I use for this post? How about, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” I Cor. 14:40

Radio Ministry II

NOTICE: The first part of this title has already been posted, and may be seen by “scrolling down” the “elevator” on the right part of your screen, using your mouse and “left-clicking/holding” on the elevator.

Please read it first, in order to properly understand this one. Thanks.

Previously, I’ve described my early “religious” home life, followed by finally “receiving Christ”, and being “Born Again”, or “getting saved”.

The narrative ended by my relating how, when we returned home from Stanley and Miriam’s, I stayed up and read the Bible that Miriam had given me 9 years earlier.

The beginning purpose of this title was to relate my experiences prior to, and following my introduction to a “Radio Ministry”. What has preceded has been preparatory to that.

After leaving the Army in 1946, I joined R.W. Schetter Jewelry and Radio as a radio repairman. When the radios were repaired, I was trained as a “clock repairman”, starting with large wall clocks.

By 1949, Television had reached our “shores”, as we say. And, I took some training in their repair. Radios still broke, so I fixed some of them as well. But, TV took up more and more of my time.

Right now, I can’t quite come up with the reason, but I offered to buy the radio/TV section of the store, then opened up my own Maddex Radio and TV business. (This was BEFORE I received Christ.)

While repairing mostly television sets, I had a radio on to listen to.

Though I started my business in January of 1951, it was in December of that year that we had our “Salvation Experience”.

After that, I listened to as many Christian radio ministries as I could find. Of course, "Back To The Bible" from Lincoln, Nebraska was a daily favorite. Sidney and Helen Correll’s "Wings Over Dayton" ministry from the Christian Tabernacle in Dayton likewise. I found others from across the nation, and, while listening, I was repairing Television sets.

One local area program I began listening to was “From The Bible”, featuring Pastor Alvin G. Ross, of the Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Springfield. I listened 6 days a week.

One Saturday, early in 1953, Pastor Ross announced that that day would be the last time the program would be aired.

I was dumbfounded! Why would that be? Why couldn’t it continue?

Outgoing guy that I was, I couldn’t “take that lying down”. I called the station right away.

Fortunately, the Pastor had not left the station yet, so he got on the phone to talk to me. I asked him the reason he was no longer to be on, and he said the Church just felt they couldn’t afford to continue.

“I’m in business in Mechanicsburg. Why can’t I sponsor it? And if so, would you continue?” He said, “Let me come up to talk to you.”

He did, and I signed up to sponsor it right away.

The next day, Sunday, Jean and the boys and I drove to Springfield to attend the Pastor’s Church.

I’d better say this: We had not been very happy with our former church (in whose parsonage we had been married), ever since we “got saved”. I took my Bible to Church there, and I was the only one to do so.

Our minister “left out” what I felt was an important part of the Bible passage he was expounding, so I called him to talk the next day. Turns out that the Salvation message of Christ was not on his agenda.

We left.

For the past several months, we had been driving to Columbus on Sunday nights to the non-denominational evangelistic outreach across the street from the State House. It was named Souls Harbor. During that time, Jean and I were immersed as believers there.

Also at that time, we attended a once-a-week Cottage Prayer Meeting and Bible Study, led by George Woodburn from Urbana.

Now, with the Church in Springfield, and the weekly Bible Class, we didn’t have to drive all the way to Columbus to be “fed”, spiritually. We got it 3 times a week right there in Springfield. And, I continued to sponsor “From The Bible”.

Since all my family had always sung in Church, I kinda gravitated to the Music Ministry of the Church. I sang in the choir, and the Pastor had me lead the Evening Song Service. Then, the Pastor took me with him for a week of Evangelistic Services in a mission church in Kentucky.

Pastor Ross was a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. He told me about WMBI, the pioneer christian radio station there, and wondered if I would feel called to a Radio ministry. Whether it was helpful or not, several of the Church members assured me that I would be “called” into the ministry - in some fashion.

In the Spring of 1953, a local Mechanicsburg man named Joe Hinton, came into the Shop one day and asked me if I would be willing to sell out the business. Shocking!

I sold - he bought - and I was not only out of a job, I was now free to see if I should get into the ministry.

Of course, Moody Bible Institute loomed large before me, due to the influence of Pastor Ross.

In about July of that year, I wrote to Dr. William Culbertson, (who else?), President of MBI, about the possibility of my employment at WMBI, the Institute’s radio station.

I heard nothing.

Well, maybe a Music Ministry was what I should do.

With financial support from Stanley and Miriam, and leaving the boys with Grandma Anderson again, Jean and I drove to Chicago to see about enrolling in Day School at Moody. I HAD to be in the Ministry.

We arrived at Moody, and after relating our desire, we were shepherded to the office of the Assistant Dean of Men, Ralph Snow.

He wondered what I would do to support my family, if I entered Day School. I indicated that Radio was the only experience I had, but since that was my “old life”, I wasn’t very interested. However, it was what I knew, so I was willing.

Dean Snow then called the Personnel Office, to see if there would be any possibility of an incoming student teaching radio to the Missionary Radio students. (After being at Moody for some time in 1954, I learned that Dean Snow shouldn’t have called Personnel, it should have been the Student Placement Office.)

The Personnel secretary, Virginia Robinson, asked the Dean my name. He responded, “Maddex”. She apparently left the phone for a minute or so, then came back on and said, “MYRON” Maddex? Dean Snow - “As a matter of fact it is. Do you know him?” “No”, Viginia said, “but I know the name. We just sent him a letter and application for an engineer’s job at WMBI.”

Dean Snow said to us, “This is out of my hands. Go see Miss Robinson.”

We did, and she confirmed what she had told him, and then introduced me to Leigh Robinson (no relation), head of the Studio Engineers.

We went home, to find that the application had arrived. I filled it out, and returned it. The most difficult question to answer was: “Would you feel employment at Moody Bible Institute would fulfill your desire to be in the full-time ministry?” I finally was able to answer affirmatively.

Thus, on January 4, 1954, I joined the WMBI engineering staff, and stayed for 11 years. It didn’t take me long to “feel called” to a Radio Ministry. That call remained for 45 years, until Retirement, at the end of 1998.

“For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36.

Thank God, for HIS Patience!

Drafted

Once in awhile, I run across someone who appears to be “more patriotic” than I.

You know, he spent the entire World War II as an infantryman, fighting hand-to-hand with the enemy, got wounded and received a “purple heart” medal.

He volunteered for a dangerous assignment to “infiltrate” the enemy to find out certain strategic information, was successful, and received a “bravery medal” for his efforts.

He was so dedicated, that he received a “field promotion” to Second Lieutenant - without attending OCS (Officer Candidate School). His men could, would and did capture an enemy position so successfully that he was again promoted - to Captain.

A real hero. All of us were proud to have known him - back home as a quiet, unassuming young boy.

What was his name? It is “Legion”, that is, many individuals could fit in here.

I can’t name this individual, because he doesn’t exist, exactly as I have portrayed him. What I’ve described is an amalgamation of MANY young men, barely out of high school, during World War II. Hundreds could honestly fit in with the previous description.

True patriots - and heroes.

But, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, I was a Senior in High School. I was graduated the following May. I went to an Electrical and Radio Technical School in Chicago, to learn radio repairing. This was to be my vocation.

This guy, (we’re talking generically here) was graduated at the same time as I. He didn’t go to Trade School. He didn’t enroll in College. He didn’t even take the summer off.

He enlisted in the Army, to “fight the Japs”.

Why did the two of us choose different paths? Did he “love his country” more than I? Was I more interested in a career to make money, than trying to help my country?

I don’t actually know the answer to these questions - but they need to be asked - by me, as well as others.

After three months, I was graduated, and was finished at Coyne Electrical and Radio trade school in Chicago. I returned home to Mechanicsburg, awaiting word from the Army that I was to be drafted.

After arriving home, I applied at Patterson Field near Dayton (now WPAFB) for a job in the Aircraft Radio Repair division. I was hired.

I then spent 40 hours weekly at the Radio Shop, fixing radios to be put back in airplanes.

A couple months after that, I received my Draft Notice - “GREETINGS” - from “Uncle Sam”. I was to report March 1 for induction.

I was DRAFTED!

In the Radio Shop, we were told that if we received notice of induction, we should ask the Signal Officer at Patterson for a letter asking to be returned to Patterson Field, as official Radio Personnel.

I did that, and carried the letter from the Signal Officer with me to the Induction Center - in Indiana.

After the initial “hurry up and wait in line”, and the health physical, I was given special orders - along with 2 other men - to return to Patterson Field.

We traveled by bus, and arrived at Patterson late in the evening. It was March, with snow on the ground. We were directed to a Tent outside the building, and we slept the night.

I was given a furlough, while waiting for orders, then went to Mechanicsburg, and later that month, Jean and I were married in the Parsonage of our Church. My friend Bob Holman stood with me, and my sister Miriam with Jean. Both of them worked at Patterson, and were roommates in Springfield.

The next day after our wedding, I reported at Patterson, and Jean returned to work there. Jean’s cousin and her husband let us use their apartment in Springfield for a short time.

For about a month, we both commuted from Springfield to Patterson Field.

Then, I got my orders. I reported to the Base, then was sent to New Orleans, to join the 897th Signal Company Depot Aviation, to begin preparing for the journey that eventually took us to New Guinea, and Manila, Philippines. (Jean didn’t go with me. Smile!)

On October 6, 1943, we sailed from Newport News, Virginia, down the east coast, through the Panama Canal, briefly to Australia, then to New Guinea.

Previous “posts” on this blog describe those activities.

Now………..after having said all of that, was the “amalgamation person” described earlier more of a patriot than I?

Was he braver than I?

Did he serve his country better than I?

I should not be the one to answer that question, but I had better be “comfortable in my own skin” about my service to my country, as I saw it, and as it was laid out for me.

Radio Ministry

Since I’ve made more than one reference on this blog, to the two main radio ministries I’ve been associated with, maybe a look farther back to the beginning might be in order.

Thinking of doing that, I can’t help but recall “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and the self-important newsman, Ted Baxter, when he’d say, “It all started at a little 5 watt station………..”, etc. Maybe it wasn’t a “5 watter” - seems to not even be legal - but the start of the narration is what always made me laugh.

Or Bill Cosby’s interminable comment, “I started out as a child.”

So………..“I started out in a Christian home”. My Mom and Dad, followed by my sister Miriam, were the epitome of the Christian family. I came along “riding on a wave”. I sang “Jesus Loves Me” - and others - at church, and went every Sunday.

At about age 10, my family and I drove to the city of Bellefontaine, Ohio, to attend a rally led by the ebullient preacher from Indianapolis, E. Howard Cadle. We used to listen to him on WLW every morning.

I don’t remember his message that night, nor his emphasis, but he was loud, and flowery. As is the norm for Protestant/Evangelical preachers, he never failed to give folks an opportunity to “decide for Christ”. This meeting was no different.

I need to say right here, that my sister Miriam came to Christ (got saved, as we always say) at an early age. I don’t recall how that came about, if I ever knew. But, like many things on this blog, when I can’t think of a fact or two, OFTEN, they become clear before I’ve finished the posting for the blog. (Not here yet.)

Anyway, at this meeting in Bellefontaine, when the invitation was given, Miriam INSISTED that I respond, by standing up. Remember, I was about 10, and Miriam 21. This age gap many times led her to “assist” in my upbringing - such as the time when I REFUSED to drink tomato juice that Mother gave me - as well as other such things good for me. I guess I finally relented, and drank the juice. I don’t rightly remember whether it was Mother - or Miriam - who finally got me to “surrender”.

Well……….the insistence, cajoling, pleading, and I suppose some other actions, prevailed, and I stood up. That meant, of course, that I was saved!

Not so fast!

I was TOLD that I was saved - but I didn’t FEEL saved, nor did I really BELIEVE that I was saved. It didn’t appear to me that ANYTHING happened.

But.....what was I to do?

I just went along - not really trying to deceive, but just “going along.” I was “saved”, surely, everyone thought - including me, after a time, I guess.

Fast forward to my High School Graduation. Guess what my sister’s gift to me was. A BIBLE - of course!

I opened it and read it, occasionally.

I had begun dating my future wife, Jean, while still in High School. We also went to church together. And, after graduation, I bought my Grandpa’s 1927 Model T Ford automobile for $25, and took Jean to church in it. Well…… we got as far as a block away, like downtown, then we walked the rest of the way. Jean never understood why we didn’t drive all the way. "In a Model T? Really", I thought.

As I’ve related here before, I drove a truck for Bud Perry, and then went to Coyne Electrical and Radio School, at 501 South Paulina Street in Chicago.

Finally, our old friend, Uncle Sam, wrote me a nice letter, that started out, “Greetings”. I was drafted.

A month later, Jean and I were married, in a Church Parsonage, by the Rev. Paul Wachs, with his wife Helen, Bob Holman and Miriam with us.

When I went into the Army, I took along the Bible Miriam had given me at graduation - hardly cracking it open the whole time. I did attend church services in the Army - occasionally. Hadn’t I always before? At home, Jean attended church also.

Again, “fast forward” - to 1951 - with two boys being added to our family, along the way - Jimmy and Johnny.

We had settled in our home on Pleasant Street in Mechanicsburg, OH - while I repaired radios - then televisions at the R.W. Schetter Jewelry Store - that also sold radios and TV’s. (I don’t think the apostrophe after “TV” is proper since it is not “possessive“, but It doesn’t look right without it.)

Sometime in the fall of that year, our oldest son, Jimmy (age 4), developed a sore lump on one of his lower arms. It seemed to be not a big deal, at first, but as time went on, it didn’t get any smaller. In fact, it seemed to enlarge. I don’t recall what the doctor said, but we, and Jean, especially, were worried.

Up to this point, Miriam, and her husband Stanley, regularly “witnessed” to us about Christ. But, neither of us was very interested. We had gotten a little “tired” of it, I think.

But………when trouble came - guess whom we called?

Miriam, of course!

She invited us down to Springfield, where they lived on Kramer Road. We left Jimmy and Johnny with Grandma Anderson.

Since it was December, it was dark by the time we arrived. We just sat around in their living room - and talked. That is, Miriam and Stanley talked. We listened. Thinking about Jimmy, Jean was a little “teary”, I guess.

They began telling us about Christ, and how He gave up His Life on Calvary’s Cross, to pay for our sins.

Right. I knew that. Nothing new.

What Was new, was that they began making His death on the Cross personal to US. How it affected US. How His death meant eternal life for US.

In spite of my “growing up in church”, I hadn’t a clue as to what that had to do with me - much less what I could do to benefit from it. I used to sing “Into my Heart. Into my Heart. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus”, but I didn’t “connect”.

Finally, while Stanley was trying to describe our “receiving Christ”, he handed Jean his Bible, and she reached up to take it. “That’s how you receive Christ. Will you receive Him?”, he said.

I was “flabbergasted” (A good old fashioned Mechanicsburg word.), because Jean started bawling and said, “Yes!”. She liked to never stopped crying.

I looked around, kind of in a daze, and thought, “Right. Jean did that. What about me?”

After that, we talked for maybe 3 hours more, before I was willing to let my sister hear me admit that I was a sinner. She KNEW it - and so did I. But, Oh, it was hard!

Finally, I said, “You mean that if I admit my need of Christ, and accept the Gift of Eternal Life from Him, that I will be saved?”

Yes…….DUMMY! (Not Stanley’s words, but mine right now.)

So, I did.

John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name.”

When we FINALLY got home and gathered up the boys, before I went to bed, I got out the Bible Miriam had given to me 9 years earlier, and read until I nearly went to sleep.

Oh….Jimmy’s “lump” on his arm seemed to go down, with no apparent ill effect, sometime after that.

(You know, this is getting REAL long, so I think I should end here, and pick up the story in a later posting. OK?)

Ham Radio

You’ll have to bear with me on this subject. I’m not sure I remember enough to write about it. This goes back over 50 years, to my first contact with Amateur Radio, more commonly called, “Ham Radio”. And, it’s been thirty years since I’ve had an Amateur Radio License. That means that I cannot comment on the current status of the “hobby”, as I was able to do with Cell Phones.

And, since I’m relying solely on my memory, I might be mistaken in some of the facts I write. My former associate at WEEC, Missionary Ken Anderson, now living in Florida, is going to be asked to confirm/deny some of my facts. He is STILL a Ham operator. By the time you read this on my “Blog”, Ken will have already read it.

My first contact was from John Burger, a fellow classmate of mine in High School in Mechanicsburg, OH. My guess is that he got me interested in it about 1946 or ‘47. In addition, my previously mentioned “New Guinea Tent Mate” Glen Grewell also encouraged me. Glen was a Ham for 66 years when he died at age 83, according to his daughter Marty Stover.

John got his Ham license right after the war, and he then “worked on” me, Bob Schetter and Ron Phillips there in town. Eventually, all three of us got licenses. They all lasted longer than I. Later, I’ll explain why I quit. I now remember some call signs: John Burger - W8CVM. Bob Schetter - W8HOW. Ron Phillips - W8HNY. They’re all three deceased now, sadly. I officiated at Bob’s funeral, and had prayer with Ron just before he died. John died in Florida. (Of course, someone else now has all of these call letters, including mine - two in Ohio, and one in Illinois.)

In order to get a “license”, you had to study the test material - and, learn Morse Code. (Though I would now be slow to “copy” the Code, I can still recite each letter pretty quickly.) The exam was given in Detroit, and I finally got my “ticket”, with the call letters: W8EOW.

Well, now that I have a license, what do I do? I “could” go out and buy a commercial ham radio set. Dollars!!! Right! No way.

In those days, a “true” Ham built his own set, using a Morse Code key. Voice communication came later - with the commercial sets.

So, from someplace, I got a “schematic diagram” of a Low Power transmitter. It had ONE tube, and a “key”. I built it.

One of the big costs was for a power supply. Besides AC filament voltage for the tube(s), you had to have from 50 to 500 volts of DC. Where to get these two power sources? Hmmm.

We had a “Hi FI” (so to speak) console radio in our house, that also played 78RPM records. Why not use that power? Sure. It only took maybe 4 or 5 wires to run from the HI FI to the “bread board” transmitter I built from some schematic I found in a Ham magazine.

The little “bread board”, maybe 12 inches square, had the wiring I needed for the “Tube socket” which would create the power.

I got the “board”, wires, and “tube socket”, and wired them up. What to use for a tube? Why not the 6L6 audio power amplifier tube in the HI FI? Sure! (Oh,,,,I now remember - the tube in the HI FI was a 6V6, not quite as powerful as the other. I BOUGHT a 6L6 and used it.)

I got an old base of an “octal” tube, wired it up to fit the tube base in the HI FI, took the tube from the HI FI and inserted it into the bread board, and I was in business. I got maybe 10 or 12 watts of power.

Oops!

Had to have an antenna.

Since I was going to operate on the “80 Meter band” I had to have a wire nearly 135 feet long, to get the tube to “load up” on those frequencies. Ken reminds me that this was a “half wave length”.

My fellow Ham friends joined me in stringing a long wire from our upstairs unused bedroom, all the way to the back of our lot. (Using insulators at both ends, of course.) I connected a feeder wire from the “transmitter” out the window, to the “antenna”. I was in business!

Then, I had to have a receiver to listen to any answers I might get from my transmissions. I found a “second hand” short wave radio, that would cover 80 meters. I can ALMOST remember the make and model of that used receiver, but not yet. The terms “RCA” and “125” stick in my memory. I don’t know.

As excited as I could be, I hooked up the antenna; pulled the tube out of the radio and put it in the “transmitter“; plugged in the “socket” for power; turned on the radio, and then the Short Wave Receiver.

Scanning the 80 meter band, I heard some weak signals in Morse Code. When I heard someone call, in code: “CQ, This is (call letters)” (CQ - dah-di-dah-dit, dah dah di dah) (Are you impressed?) (CQ means: “Hey guys. Contact me. I want to gab.") I then tapped out that set of call letters, followed by mine, and waited. Not right away, but after some time (coupla hours?), I finally got an answer from a ham station in Canada. (To be expected - my antenna ran east and west. Canada was on the broad side.) Didn’t converse too long. Too excited.

Ya know what? I WAS A HAM!

I just now talked to Ken Anderson, and he made some suggestions which I adopted. I don’t mean to imply that Ken thereby now endorses all the facts I posit. Both of us wondered, though, how I generated the 80 meter frequency for the transmitter, since I distinctly remember only one tube. Maybe there was a crystal in the kit. Really, I didn’t know what I was doing, other than following the schematic instructions. Wonder of wonders, it DID work!

I may think of some of the experiences later, but I should say that when we moved to Chicago in 1954, I received the call W9KAX. Had some activity there, but not much.

Then, in 1965, we moved to Springfield, and I got the call W8GQJ. By that time, my activities at church and WEEC, along with family activities, kept me from much action on the Ham front.

In those days, you got a license for 5 years, and then had to apply for renewal, while confirming that you had been actively operating. I hadn’t been, so I asked a friend at a Radio Shop in Springfield what I should do. “Simple”, he said. “Just lie, and say that you HAVE been operating. No problem. They won’t check your log.”

Right!

Now, I’m not particularly a “paragon of virtue”, but I thought and prayed about that for weeks - and I just could NOT do it.

So, my Ham experience has ended, and other activities have taken its place.

Psalms 51:6 “…Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.”

Gulp!

Truck Driving

I mentioned in a couple of my “postings” that during World War II, I drove a Jeep and Weapons Carrier in New Guinea and Manila, because I had a truck driving experience just out of High School.

I’ll never tell you how I got connected with Bud Perry and his trucking firm at such a young age, but as a Senior, and then graduate of High School, Bud invited me to try out as a driver.

In those days, Bud had two trucks - both Chevrolets, I believe. The one he drove was the newest, and heaviest and the most difficult to drive. The second one was older, smaller and more to my abilities.

In my experience with Bud, I only remember 3 different things we hauled: Coal, grain and limestone fertilizer.

We got chunk coal in those days, from Southern Ohio. Down below Chillicothe, I believe. The first time down there, Bud and I both rode together in the second truck - with me driving. IT WAS A TRAINING EXPERIENCE!

The empty truck going down was no problem. Hardly any more difficult than driving my dad’s 1937 V-8. But………on the way back - dangerous! There were hills up and down, don’t you know. To make the next hill, you had to drive wide open down this one, then start up the next one, “shifting down” as you climbed.

Bud was sitting next to me, gritting his teeth, I am sure. He guided me down the hill, then up the next - sweating profusely. (It was summer).

“Down shifting” wasn’t too difficult - after you got on to it. You pushed the clutch, sped up the motor, shifted down to “third”, then popped the clutch - smoothly, hopefully. Then, you had to “down shift” again, to second gear - push the clutch, rev the motor, shift down. The first couple were NOT so smooth. And, on one of them, we hit a pot hole, and got a large bump. Bud said, “Oh boy!”, and smacked his right hand on his left palm.

We made it up the hill all right, and the next one was a little easier. I was now “experienced” (after ONE hill?).

We made it home ok - though I think Bud “aged” a little (would you believe “a lot”?)

Back in Mechanicsburg, we drove over on West Race Street to Bill Westfall’s house - then to the back and the coal bin. Did I say we hauled “chunk coal”? BIG chunks, some of them.

Backing up to the bin, we got out our shovels and “pitched” the coal into the bin. I was a little guy (I still am), and though Bud used a size 12 scoop, I could only handle a 10. I think maybe I slept right through the next night.

The next time, we took two trucks - Bud in one, and I in the other. Same experience, but I was by myself - several truck lengths behind Bud. We made it OK, and dropped off the coal at two different places.

Then, the next thing (not necessarily in this order) was wheat or oats hauling. Combines were just arriving in our area, and Bud’s father-in-law, Harold Venrick, operated one of them, on contract for several farmers. For them, it beat using a binder to cut, sheaf, “shock” the wheat, then invite all the neighbor farmers in for a “thrashing“, we called it. It was now all done in one operation, and one day.

We just pulled the trucks up to the combine when his bin got full, and the operator moved the “spout”(I can’t remember what they called them), and loaded our trucks.

That was easy - as was the dumping of the grain at the “elevator”. We just drove the loaded truck up to the elevator, John Wiant came out with an accurate “peck measure” to find the moisture content of the grain, then we drove into the elevator with the front wheels on to a “lift”. We got out of the truck, and the front wheels were lifted up, so the grain could “slide out”, into the elevator’s “innards”.

Easy. Right.

UNLESS, we had to put the grain in the farmer’s barn. No lift, just Bud and I with our shovels. It wasn’t just sliding the grain out the back onto the ground. Oh no! It was LIFTING the shovel-ful of grain UP AND OVER the sideboards of the truck, into a “granary”. (Bud and I used to argue over whether it was a “grainery”, or “granary”.)

Of course, I used the number 10 shovel - Bud the 12. I had to rest more frequently than Bud - after all, he was “experienced” and “strong”. I was just an 18 year old kid.

We got it shoveled in, though, and I REALLY slept that night.

The third thing I rememer hauling for Bud was Limestone Fertilizer.

Getting it in the truck was not a problem. The elevator just dumped it in. Getting it out, however, was another matter. It was fine, chalky stuff, and the wind just loved to “swish it around”.

It had to be “spread out” over a farmer’s field - evenly distributed, not in “clumps”.

How to do that?

With a “spreader”, of course. Easy, right?

WRONG!

How do you suppose the fertilizer got into the spreader? I SHOVELED it in, that’s how! From the back of the truck, with my number 10 scoop shovel.

Who drove the truck? BUD.

We pulled the “spreader” behind the truck, while I shoveled in the fertilizer - raising enough dust to cloud the sun! I had to wear a mask. It still got in my mouth. Another guy, I don’t remember who, said, “Mike, you need a good chaw of tobacco to keep down the dust in your mouth”. Right! I was willing to try almost anything to help. I tried it. AWFUL tasting stuff - but it did cut down the dust in my mouth. Never tried it again - the “chaw” that is.

I started each day with Bud rather early. My house was down on Sandusky street, and Bud’s home and garage were up on Pleasant Street - maybe 3 blocks away. I walked.

On the way, I passed Jean’s house (we had just begun dating). When I got in front of her house, I gave my “whipporwill” whistle for her. She heard it every time. Kind of a “poor man’s flirting”.

I’m glad I didn’t choose “truck driving” for a living. I couldn’t handle one of those “18 wheelers”.

The CB talk might have been interesting, though.