CANDIDATING Chapter 224

Entrance to Canby from the West. We arrived from the east.

In Philosophy of Ministry class I was teaching a series about the candidating process when I got the second call from Daryl Dale about coming to Oregon to candidate as his replacement as the District Pastor of Christian Education. I turned him down flat the first time he called. There was no real discussion. 

Between the first and second call the school honored Rev. Murray Downey and Rev. Raymond Kincheloe for their years of service to Canadian Bible College. I thought it was a very nice thing to do, but I also caught some of the comments of students about those men.

Rev. Downey was no longer teaching at the school, but Rev. Kincheloe was. I repeatedly heard comments about how out of touch these men were with reality. It hurt, but at the same time I wondered how long I could continue to teach before I was named in that group. I knew I was teaching in a very practical ministry and I had been teaching six years already. I didn’t consider that very long and was sure I have at least three or four more years. What made me decide to make the visit was that I had not candidated since 1966 at my very first church and felt like I had done it wrong. That was fourteen years ago.

I talked it over with Della (I learned from an earlier mistake) and agreed to go if they would bring her with me. After accepting that invitation I got a call from Ellensburg, WA asking if I would consider candidating there at the same time. Why not! All I wanted was the experience and that was a real church. More like I expected my students would face.

In February we flew into Seattle and were met my Pastor Tim and his wife. Seattle had very nice weather. We then got in the car and drove over Snoqualmie Pass to the eastern side of Washington State. That reminded us of Regina. It was cold and windy. By the time we got to Ellensburg we both knew this was not a reason to leave Regina.

We met with the board and went through the process and treated it like it was important. One board member asked one question of Della that ticked me off. Then she responded in a way I loved, but was more like me than her. She was asked if she played an instrument. What! Were they trying to get to employees for one price? I was the one candidating. She said, “Only the radio/” I was the only one who laughed. I didn’t really care what they thought, we were not coming and they were not going to ask.

The next day Pastor Tim drove us to Canby, OR for an afternoon meeting with DEXCOM. We met Ralph and Marion Shellrude, the District Superintendent. Della stayed at their place while I went with Ralph to the meeting at the district office. I knew this would not be a real test for a candidate because I didn’t care if they called me or not. I still only wanted the experience.

We got into it and it was a great give and take through the typical part of the process. Who am I? What is my work experience? What is faith experience? That went well. Then we got down to the nitty gritty. They laid out a six-point job description and I told them there were two I would not do. They requested I be on the road most weekends visiting the churches and I told them I had I had young children and would only go half the time as I believed I should be an example to my children and be in church with them. They wanted someone who would promote Simpson College. I told them that would be hard from someone who graduated from CBC and was currently teaching there. I said I would just keep my mouth shut. They suggested a salary and I told them wasn’t enough to get me to move. They immediately raise it, twice.

Canby Ferry

I left the office and went back to the Shellrude’s. Della immediately asked how it went and I told her,  “They were going to call us.” Then the phone rang. It was that fast and the Shellrude's lived only about six minutes away.

They extended a unanimous call to come at the end of the school year. Della couldn’t believe it. As I told her the details of the meeting, I explained that I was confident and knew they liked me. It was my confidence. Generally I had hoped they would not extend a call. But on the drive to meet Della, it felt like God told me they would. Della said, “What are we going to do?”

REHEARSAL BEGINS chapter 223

John Dueck and team had the raft ready early into rehearsals. As much as I loved the raft, it posed new problems. The raft was so crowded, as it should have been, that we struggled with staging so the audience could see the actors. It didn’t take long to realize they could not all be sitting down at the same time. It did not look interesting at all. There had to be some stair stepping from front to back. Movement was going to be limited, but we could not leave the cast in one place the entire play. They had to change positions. Even knowing that, some people moved very little. We would have to let a few carry the weight of physical action.

The Bell family always had their place, They were usually stuck in the front stage right corner, the Bo’sen and George moved around at the back with George standing on one of the benches probably more than he should have. He anchored the visual height. We had a dying sailor for part of the play and needed him lying down but struggled with how get him high enough to be seen. We ultimately seated the captain on the bench with the sailor’s head in his lap.

Then there was the movement on the raft. Basically it moved very little. I had suspected that just the team on the raft would cause it to rock. No! Rocking it would have to be intentional. So the team had to learn lines and remember to keep the raft rocking. That did not always happen. I would get so wrapped up in working the lines with them that I did not notice how little rocking there was. It ultimately changed.

One of the few photos that shows most of the raft. Some one was always
high and the Bell family always near the front.

The raft it’s self was too low to the ground. It needed height. I looked at some raft photos and noticed some had a makeshift mast made out of a pole of some kind and a piece of canvus. That helped. It also made sense as a way to collect rainwater. The actual  raft came with a limited water supply, but with nineteen days floating in the Atlantic they needed more.

The only time we really got that raft to really move was a storm scene. The movement always led to the raft smacking the stage at the carious corners. The sound effects and the noise of the action usually covered that noise. You could only hear it on wooden stages. It looked cool.

Just staging the play was very time consuming. The actors had input as we tried one thing and then another. The script keep changing as well. I loved the process of refining the play and putting it together as a group.

Another example of trying to
get the staging so the audience
could easily see..

When the play was mostly together, it was time to sell my idea. I should say ideas! I wanted to fly Bob and Ruth Bell in from New York and Mary and Elmer Wittbeck in from Lincoln, Nebraska. Also, I wanted to put them up in a hotel and feed them for two days. I wanted the premiere to include them and be huge. I was convinced it would be a big deal for the school and the city.

Then if we did that, I wanted the tour to extend to both their cities and end at LIFE ‘80. I knew I was pushing my luck but it was time to get it all out in the open and begin the planning. The College Board made the final decision and everything was a go. I was walking on air.

Mel Bowker had written the score for No Time for Tombstones and I needed one for Adrift. We use music for all the scene changes. Dale Dirksen had writing some music and one piece in particular resonated with me. It was very plaintive. So I approached him to begin coming to the rehearsals, get to know the moods and feel, watch the transitions occur and see what he could do. He did a beautiful job. I wanted to give the audience the feel of long days and nights and the enormous solitude of drifting with no direction and wondering if they would ever be rescued. His music was perfect and gave of a long section with no words, just sitting and looking with longing and wondering about their future. We combined a verbal description over some musical transitions. Mrs. Anna Rose recorded it for us. The voice was perfect. The music was perfect.

CASTING chapter 222

I don’t recall how many auditioned for Portrait Player for the 1980 tour. I announced how many men and women I needed so that reduced some of women. I had expected to only cast three women, but in rethinking housing and other needs I upped it to four. I had not yet established the tour, but knew I was hoping to get to Nyack and Simpson Memorial Church and then on out to Long Island, NY. That would be a very long tour. We had never been to any churches in the Maritimes so I also had that dream in the back of my head.

Since I had a some small connection with the LIFE ’80 committee I knew a tour group would be sent from each Alliance College to The YMCA Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado in the first week of July. I wanted to be that group. I knew we would be different than any of the other schools and believed we could make a significant impact. If all that came together, it would be the longest tour any school group had ever made (and ever did make).

I don’t recall if I explained the possible tour or not, but most likely did. I guess it would be easier to tell them the tour was shorter than expected than try and stretch it out later. I knew I would have to sell it early, but I felt like I needed the play completed before I tried.

When I saw the girls at auditions I knew I had to ask if they were willing to cut their hair. I explained that it would be necessary for two of them to play a young boy. Rhonda Mix hair was already the shortest so I suspected it would not be a problem for it to be a little shorter. Lori Buck was the shortest girl to come. Her hair was long. I wanted her to play Robert. We talked privately. I told her she could leave it as long as she wanted right up to the premiere. She had to think about that for a while, but agreed.

I was going to need people to play: Mrs. Ethel Bell, 14-year old Mary Bell, and eleven-year old Robert Bell. I had already decided to drop the two Shaw children. It was purely a space issue. Mrs. Bell took care of all four kids on the raft when the Shaw children’s parents could not be found after the ship sank. If could have been a hugely dramatic moment, but again, space was an issue. By this time I had decided that the girl rotating out of the performance would run the lights. And sound.

The primary male character was to be the Bo’sen. I wanted Garry Tollefson. I can’t help it. I knew what he could do and that he would be a key leader on the team. Let’s just say, I trusted him. I also trusted Terry Dyck and David Thompson. I had not predetermined the roles they would have, as the script was not finished. The rest of the guys would partially play composites. That is, a combination of personalities of several sailors, with one exception. One would be the captain. Several sailors died while on the raft and I would have one die. He would represent the three (I believe that was the number) that died.

More was said in the book and my correspondence about a guy name George. As it turned out, Bob Bell and George had made contact years later and so Bob fed me more information about him. The other interesting character was the cook. I didn’t know much but I liked what I knew. He would give me someone worried about the food and maybe fishing, I only assumed they fished but that made sense. That really only left two characters to be the “everyman” (a combination of the other twelve sailors) and one of them would die.

I am sure I told them what I was planning to do, but I know I did not cast the play at that time. I wanted to give time to discern what their talents were, and I wanted a completed script. That was done by late fall. There would be changes as the actors got into their roles and we would develop the final play together. But I had my cast and could begin work on skits. There would be plenty to work on and time to get to know them.

The final team was: Carolyn Magnus, Rhonda Mix, Betty Wolfe, Lori Buck, Garry Tollefson, Terry Dyck, David Thompson, Duncan McDonald, Gary Strangway, and Grant McDowell. Con Hild would represent the college and rotate in and out with me on the actual tour. That decision followed casting after the tour was established.

THE FINAL SEASON chapter 221

I didn’t know it was going to be my last year teaching. It was just another school year and I was excited to get started. One thing I loved about teaching was that each year was a fresh start. The sins of the past were removed and one started fresh. I n ever really knew what sins needed repentance, but there had to be some. Teachers don’t like all students and students definitely don’t like all teachers. But I would get a new crop of freshman and I always looked forward to that.

I was excited about a new script and a new team. I had decided on the exact number I needed to cast, who the characters would be and I would write a few pages before auditions. I was going to take three women seven men. I knew Terry Dyck and Dave Thompson were coming back to school and I hoped they would both return to Portrait player, but expected the rest to all be new. I received a great big wonderful surprise. Garry Tollefson returned to attend CTC and wanted back in. Absolutely. I was thrilled to have him. Three possible returning guys on a brand new project! How exciting. If they all wanted to be part of the team again they were all in. Con Hild was also still at CBC but he was working on the college staff. I was sure he would be a big support.

When I held auditions I explained the plan and told them a new script is a lot of hard work. They would be required to memorize some pages that might b-completely thrown out the next rehearsal, but they would also be in on the group floor of helping to create and shape something new. I had the largest turnout for auditions ever with way more men and women. God was definitely in it as I did not have to reject too many. I hated that part of the process. It always made me nervous that I would make a mistake and regret on choice I rejected.

My research continued and expanded. I was still serving on the LIFE committee so there were trips to Nyack for meetings and the opportunity to hang out with historian John Sawin to get his input. He had been a valuable asset on two other pieces and got me started on this one. I valued his knowledge and desire to make this work. He had a couple of opportunities to see Tombstones and I promised he would see this one as well. Since Bob Bell lived on Long Island I told him I would try to bring it to his school and on the way stop at the John’s church in Nyack. He told me he would make sure that happened.

The first order of business that fall was to convince our president, Dave Rambo, that this would be a very good thing for the school and therefore it would be worth the money necessary to find the development. He was 100% on board.

I had several requests for information and research in the mail when school began. I had the first of several calls completed to Bob Bell and his sister Mary. Mrs. Bell was alive and living near her daughter in Lincoln, but regretfully she had Alzheimer’s and had not memory of the ship being sunk, the raft or even having been a missionary. Bob and Mary ultimately began to feed me some important clues. I wanted to know some of things that talked about while on the raft. Initially all they said was  “Just the ordinary things of daily life.” But when asking them about what they ate and drank it got better. The raft has a storage compartment with survival items such as: fishing line, containers for collecting rain water, canned rations like the military had. The problem was that there was clearly not enough for nineteen people and nineteen days. They fished and dream of real meals. One of the sailors was the cook. I let him start the food conversations.

I tried to find some of the sailors for their input but never connected with any of them. I was left with history, the book and thoughts of the Bell children. All the conversation was going to come from my head. I had no idea what they talked about.

The play came together slowly. The raft was going to be a staging problem. I had to have one that would fit in the trailer we pulled. I wanted it to rock. I sat down with John Dueck the head of maintenance and his crew to talk about the problems. We drew up several ideas before the photo of the raft arrived. Then John knew what do to right away. For economy we made it 8x8 and built it mostly out of 2x4’s eight feet long. It was built in two sections so it would split in half for transport and give it more ability to rock. That problem was solved by strapping tractor tire inner tubes to the bottom of each section so that the natural movement of the actors would make it shake. It worked great.

THE FAMILY chapter 220

Rhonda had entered second grade and Rod fourth grade. They were well settled into the Regina culture. Both were taking French (if your are a Canadian in is helpful to know your countries second language.). Rhonda’s best friend was Gigi, the daughter of French Canadian good friends and neighbors. She got a little practice with her French. Rod’s best bud were brothers from down the street and were full-blooded North American Indians. We loved having them at Connaught where the tremendous mix of cultures. In addition to Indians, there were Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and East Indians. It was a melting pot.

Della taught both the kids how to skate on the pond created each winter in Leslie Park across Victoria Street. She tried to teach me. I could never skate on ice, inline skates or any single blade boot. My left ankle turned sideways every time I tried and then I had a hard time walking on it for more than a week. I blame it all on the basketball “field” at Webster, my elementary school. The canyon caused by rain created a hazard that tripped me up more times than I can remember. Felt like my left ankle was swollen most of my youth. I did better on roller skates (four wheels), but put me on a single blade I was doomed.

Rhonda helped her mother with Avon deliveries in the neighborhood. My favorite story is when Della asked her to run a delivery down to the corner to Mrs. Hamm. No problem! She took it down, knocked on the door and handed it to her saying, “This is for you, Mrs. Bacon.” She was on the right track. She remembered that name had something to do with pork.

Rod was also getting terrific encouragement with geography from Charlie Cook. Charlie was an MK from South America who, with his family, attended West Side church and took an interest in Rod. It was obvious that Rod was very bright and responded well to intellectual stimulation. Charlie promised Rod a world map for his wall if he memorized all the countries of the world and their capitals. He accomplished that in third grade. He did it and was very proud of his world map. We had to put it in his wall immediately.

Charlie was also one of my more regular racquetball partners. It was so nice to have two teenage boys at our small church that interacted so well with all the children and adults. He and Tim were amazing young men.

Summers were wonderful times for our family. You had to be there in the summer to appreciate how beautiful Regain was at that time of year. We were a big biking family. There was a bike trail we could take two blocks from our house down to Wascana at the Parliament grounds. We took that ride often.

Rod went through a hockey stage when he was six-seven. We gathered that massive amount of equipment (all used, of course) and hustled him off to the rink at the fairgrounds and sat in the freezing cold building while he attempted to play. It was very clear we started him way to late in the program. So many of the midgets could skate very well and Rod was never allowed in a game. He lost interest before the season was over. We were just glad we bought to little equipment. We returned it all and closed the door to that phase of life.

Della took Rhonda to Lawson Aquatic Center for swimming lessons and often took the kids there just to swim and play. It helped that the pool was only about six blocks away. I believe that was the beginning of their great interest in swimming that really took hold when we got to Oregon. They both held swim records in their club for a time.

I tried to get Della to go to Saskatchewan Roughrider games with me, but never hooked her on football. I held season tickets. Man it was cold. I never could figure out why that was an outdoor stadium. I see by the satellite of Taylor Flied that they built a new stadium and it is still not closed in. That’s crazy to me. I often missed the last game of two of the season because I could not take the cold.

SUMMER OF ‘79 chapter 219

It was time to get serious. I needed (wanted) a new play for the coming school year. I re-read both One Shall Chase a Thousand, the story of Mable Francis and Adrift, the story of missionaries on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic for nineteen days.

I liked the Mable Francis story better: more topical, a recognized individual, a feisty woman and the possibility of a cast with more women. I played around with a plot and outline. While she was under house arrest in Japan during World War II, the conflict was weak. I needed some tension and looked for every potential conflict in the story. I did not believe there was enough to hold interest for a play. It might have worked as a skit, but I could not find an hour’s worth of material so finally turned to Adrift.

Adrift certainly had drama. It was a life and death struggle. I struggled with what to do with the cast of characters. There were 19 sailors, one woman and four children. I was bothered by both the size and lack of female parts. Did I dare do another play with one woman?

The book had more problems than just the potential size of the cast. I figured I could whittle the cast down to van size, but there were many holes in the book. The book was written during the war and way too many things were censored out or just eluded too. There were few real descriptive passages so it was hard to get a clear picture of the people. The most intriguing part of the story was the raft. I loved the idea of nearly the entire cast being on stage for the entire play and that there could be no scene changes.

I decided early that I would begin with the people getting on the raft after the Merchant Marine ship they were traveling home on had been torpedoed. That would keep the play to a single scene. Then I had to whittle down the cast. What was the minimum cast needed to still fit in the van for travel and still make the raft appear crowded? Then I wanted to know what the raft was like? There was one photo in the book of people being rescued from the raft but little was shown and there was only a limited description in the book.

All of that slowed me down. I knew the story had to focus on Mrs. Bell and her two children, one boy and one girl. The sailors were more essential to the story. I dropped the two Shaw children. Mary was 14. I could surely find a girl to play 14. Robert was a bigger problem. He was ten. Because of voice and size he would have to be played by a girl. It helped that while young, he was nearly as tall as his sister Mary.

Mrs. Bells story was already one of tragedy before being on the raft. While on their last furlough, Mr. Bell was hit and killed in a tragic bus accident. She decided to return to the Ivory Coast with her children. Their ship was torpedoed while returning home for the following furlough.

Copy of telegram notification of ship sinking.

I did not write any of the script that summer. I did all that after school began in the fall. I did, however, write several letters to try and get more information. I wrote to the now adult children of Mrs. Bell to explain what I intended to do. Bob Bell was a school principle at Stony Brook on Long Island, New York, and Mary had married Elmer Whitbeck, a pastor on the Back to the Bible radio broadcast out of Lincoln, Nebraska. I wanted more details about life on the raft, what they and others were like, what they wore, what they felt, what they saw, what they experienced. I wanted to know about the raft, food, going to the bathroom. I heard from them and had obviously not convinced them I could rise to the challenge so got very little help. Later phone calls were much more helpful.

I was looking for any descriptions I could get. I contacted the US Navy about the names of ships and what the raft looked like and they sent me photos. This material set my mind racing. I knew the play would work.

Now what sailors would I need? I began whittling away and combining personalities. I had the characters clearly in mind at the beginning of school, at least enough to begin casting. This was going to be a big sales job to the administration. What I wanted to do was going to cost more than Tombstones and at that point I had no idea how big it would get. I just knew I needed support. I love 

Dave Rambo.

Both pictures are of the West Lashaway ship before it was sunk.

I received this photo of a raft like the one in the story. I cannot remember
the size, but there were nineteen people on board.

I have all the photos and historical  documentation in photo files on my Facebook page, You can fine them there if you want to see everything. You will also find notes, articles and related photos. If you are no my friend on Facebook and are interested, send a request to Clyde Walker, Silverton, OR and if I do not now know you note you are a friend through my blog. I do not accept people I do not know. You will find every photo I have of all the years with Portrait plays and several comments made by team members.

YOUTH CONFERENCE AND TOUR chapter 218

An attempt to make
Super Missionary
Larger than life

Youth Conference was always a great weekend. The theme was Sonsurround and this year we created a character called “Super Missionary” with a Superman like costume of orange and yellow. We didn’t know it at the time, but it did not hurt that the first of the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeves was coming out that same year. We had a mild mannered student considering the possibility of God’s call to missions (played by Ron Freeman, a little guy) who would go into a phone booth, then poof, change into Super Missionary. I cannot for the life of me remember who that actor was. He was not a Portrait Player, but he had the height and built to be the man of spiritual steel. That was such a fun theme to play with. We had a skit on that every at every gathering. The hardest part was getting SaskTel to loan us a phone booth.

Super Missionary Logo

Super Missionary helping a native. Students looking on.

We went west that summer. We had performed in all sizes of churches and frankly, setup was easier in small churches. First we knew most people could see. Second, we knew they could hear without amplification. Hearing and seeing was often a problem in large churches. This was a situation where small intimate locations beat out large venues. But none was worse than the stage at North Seattle Alliance.

The church could seat 500-600 and had an 8” rise for a front portion platform and then another two steps up for the back which was smaller and much to narrow. The back portion was about 20’-25’ from the first pew. Way to far for a stage production. We did the show, but people really struggled to see and hear. It may have been the worst place we preformed any of our shows. I got weary of the people telling me how hard it was to see and hear. I knew it would be a problem before we ever started.

The old sanctuary had been turned into a gym and I wanted to hold the show there. They did not have a stage, but they had platforms that could be set up as a stage. The church leadership felt it would be too small to hold the crowd. I’m sure it would have been, but had I known what the stage was like I would have pushed for two shows in the gym. The acoustics would also have been better in our situation.

They set up mics for us, but that didn’t help much. Several people stood at the back for the whole show while others stretched their necks and cupped their ears.

Typical casting schedule

We got over to Victoria Island for two shows but had little time to look around. We also preformed at Tenth Avenue in Vancouver. That was my first time back since leaving eight years earlier. There were very few the remembered me and I never made a comment about having worked there. Things had changed. We hooked up with several students from the area. That was good.

Typical drivel I wrote to inform and/or collect info from the team.

As part of the US tour I got into many church I would eventually visit as a district pastor. One was Moses Lake where anther of Della’s long time friend and her family lived. Anna “Jean” (Gifford) McDaniels and Mike were fun to visit.

THE YEAR 1979 chapter 217

We had always had the various Portrait Player groups in our home, but this year’s group just popped in from time to time. That sort of thing never bothered either Della or I. We loved it. It saved us the trouble of planning and inviting. Our kids were getting older now and enjoyed any of the college kids dropping by.

The group was at our house in February to help celebrate Della’s birthday. I don’t know what all activities were planned (probably nothing special since we tended to just let things develop) but for some reason they were all over our house — and they had evil intentions. They also took photos of their nasty activities.

They short sheeted our bed. My kids did not participate, but they watched and loved being in on the secret trick on mom and dad. They rearranged the kitchen cupboards, They turns books upside down on shelves, items were moved to various places, framed photos were upside down or backwards and most likely others things I can no longer remember. Some of these I only remember because of the pictures. It was all-harmless and the group was always so much fun it was impossible to be angry. I don’t really know how they did this without us ever seeing them in action.

Top left: hanging closet strangely. Dave Fowler, Ron Friesen, Top: Short
sheeting bed -  Ruth Mitchell and ???. Second down: More help short sheeting
bed - Dave Thompson, Garth Frose, Ron Freeman. Third down: Kitchen
 destruction - Terry Dyck, Ron Friesen, Garth Frose.

There was one night most were gathered in our tiny little TV area after a soccer game and it was so crowded (the space really only sat two) we were literally on top of one another. Naturally Rodney and Rhonda loved being able to climb all over them playing king of the people mountain.

Rhonda felt special around the group. All the teams paid attention to my children and I thank them for that. I was often so involved in the rehearsals and productions that it was a bonus to have my kids love the group and enjoy being with them.

Each year we had a premiere of sorts to introduce the new team to that years main production Four years in a row it was No Time For Tombstones. I am sure there are students who had seen “Tombstones” two or three times each year. Since we always had rotating casts the play was always done twice on opening night, one with each cast. I loved it, but wondered how one could see it so often as just a member of the audience. But then, they often wanted to see both casts and compare how they were different. Well, my family was always ones who had seen every school performance. They usually were in the make up room before the show watching what was going on and enjoying the pre performance joking and fun of getting ready. It was always a hoot watch the guys just learning to put on their makeup. Most of the newer team members were always bit nervous about their first big show, but by the fourth year, I knew and so did my family know that it was going to be great.

Portrait Players 1979 chapter 216

Cheryl Olfert

Ruth Mitchell

David Thompson

Garth Frose

Dave Fowler

Terry Dyck

Ron Freeman

Ross Douglas

NO TIME FOR TOMBSTONES — THE FINAL YEAR chapter 215

I was confident there would be no more performances of “Tombstones” after the 1979 summer tour. Interests were waning. We had been within a short drive driving distance of every Alliance church from Ontario to British Columbia and many US churches Pennsylvania to Oregon. Few requests were trickling in and neither the school nor the Canadian districts wanted further performances. That suited me well. There would be a change. I was excited.

This was the first and only year I had asked a person to leave the team and I did it early in the year. I was regularly having my leadership and direction challenged. I felt like we never had a practice that I was not dealing with dissension. The team member had acting experience from high school and seemed to know better how to do things and how to run the team. I could not continue in that leadership struggle and asked them to step down. While not thrilled, they did leave and strangely we remained cordial, maybe even friendly, something I was not expecting. I had rejected a young man in a previous year while still in the selection process and he harbored bitterness about my decision for several years. I was working in Salem, OR when he came and apologize for his feelings toward me. I really didn’t know he hated me.

That was a strange part of teaching. There were several students throughout the years that at a future point felt compelled to share their hatred of me while a student and wanted to ask forgiveness. That was weird. In each case I had no idea what they felt about me and wished they had kept their past feeling to themselves. If they had dealt with that issue with God, that was good enough for me. I never understood bringing me into the picture personally. I guess they thought I knew and needed to forgive them. I guess I was just dense. I never knew — not from any of them. I naturally assumed that some students would not particularly like me. I also assumed they would get over it. I considered it the nature of student teacher relations. I forgave them and life went on.

USS Missouri when in Bremerton

The tour of ’79 went west and dropped into the northwestern United States. It wasn’t until I got settled in the Bremerton area that I remembered we had been here on tour and visited the USS Missouri, then stationed in the Bremerton harbor. It was in Seattle that I visited a Christian Science reading room with a couple of the curious guys. It was a lark. I took their personality test that was extremely familiar Similar to the TJTA) so I tweaked the answers so the results would read as I wanted, When the monitor went over it with me he was absolutely convinced that I would greatly benefit from the teaching of L. Ron Hubbard.

Surprise, surprise! Of course he did. I asked plenty of questions about how much each level would cost and the total outlay I would have to reach the top level. He would not share any of the costs until I signed on the dotted line. We went round and round about his attempt to get me to purchase something without knowing the actual costs. His argument was that it was my spiritual life we were taking about and my ultimate position in heaven. I told him I thought it sounded like I was able to buy my way into heaven and since I have very little money I doubted I would ever be able to make it. He back peddled until I took the two guys with me and just walked out. We went for coffee and laughed about the whole experience. The guys could hardly wait to share the experience with the rest of the team.

We got as far south as Canby and Salem, both places I would ultimately work. I didn’t know those places lay in my future at the time. 

OUR COUPLE FRIENDS chapter 214

Many of the couples with whom deep friendships developed were initiated through Della’s work with Married student wives, or with couples from Westside Alliance Church. I never understood fully what Della’s role was in that ministry, but it was certainly deeper than the typical advisor. I believe that was the beginning of a life long ministry of encouragement in particular to younger women.

Della knew the struggles of being a wife to a ministerial workaholic. It meant being a support and encouragement to a husband who kept long hours and put others ahead of their own family at times. It meant feeling like a single mother rearing children. It meant being home when her husband was out working with and seeing the hand of God at work up close and personal. It often meant staying home with the children. It meant experiencing different blessings and the most important to Della, it meant never putting your husband down with parishioners a problem she had seen and hear to often.

I have little doubt that those qualities were part of her attraction as was her skill as to a gracious hostess. Della loved what God was doing through her, but she also made very little of it. It was just what she loved doing and not a responsibility.

We had important connections with Bob and Carol Rose. Of course Della knew Bob through his family back in the Red Deer days. We were also attending the same church. For a brief time Della had a part time job with Bill Russell at his graphic art studio. We had attended CBC as students together and now the same church. Della was his bookkeeper.

We loved Ken and Joann Badley. Both were brighter than I would ever be, and they stimulated our thinking. Ken taught an adult Sunday school class on CS Lewis that few people wanted to miss. He hooked Rodney into the Narnia series, a set we read together several times. I loved Ken’s ability to write creatively with which he challenged cultural issues. I well remember a short piece on the inflation of language where he laughed at the “new” naming of soda cups without changing anything but the names: Large became extra large, medium became large, and small became medium. Small no longer existed. I wonder what he would say about sizing these days. When I began buying pop in bottles they were 6 ounces.

We loved out connection with Doug and Ann Snowsell, Collin and Brandon. Our children were close in age and got along which allowed us longer periods to visit and laugh. Their life change was always an amazement to me. Doug had been in banking and left all of that to come to Bible College to begin an entirely new career. They were passionate and committed to Jesus Christ. We loved their dreams and what was clearly their already giftedness. Della and Ann went on to be with Jesus way too early, as did Della’s childhood friend Merla.

We always maintained our relationship with Rev. and Mrs. Rose. They were mentors. They were surrogate grandparents to our kids. Occasionally I would hear students complain about the rules and the dispensing of justice. I always wanted to push theses kids up against the wall and jam into their heads the dramatic changes that occurred as a result to these people becoming the deans of the college. But they were students. Students complain and always want fewer rules than there are. That did not change me thinking that they had no idea how lucky they were or how different life at the college was in only these few short years.

They were many more relationships we cherished and thank God for each one. Those with whom we associate influence us all.

AMWAY AS FRIENDSHIPS chapter 213

     Della had a gift of hospitality and we always had a trainload of people pass through our home. I couldn’t begin to remember all the interesting and wonderful people we connected with during our Regina years. I brought guests from one group or another with whom I worked. They were also the ones who would just show up at the door from time to time. None of this ever bothered her and she seemed to always have something to serve. You could not come to our house without there being food.

When couples or families came it was at Della’s invitation and we had many couples with whom we enjoyed friendships while there were in Regina and some with whom that relationship extended beyond those years. Della was a master at maintaining relationships and keeping those connections. I’m convinced that women are just better at it than men. I love deep old friendships, but am pathetic at the work necessary to keep those relationships together. I am way better picking up where we left off when we do reconnect. I tend to be much more invested in where I am at the moment. Admittedly that is changing a bit as I age. I now long more for old relationships. I guess because I am old those friends seem secure.

Early in each year we would get a call from a young couple that just wanted to come by just to get to know us better. We both thought it unusual to get a call like that. One or the other of us knew who the couple was, but the connection always seemed rather casual. If I knew them, I had one of the pair in class. If Della knew them it was the wife she had met through student wives. The evening began pleasant enough, but then took a sharp left turn into an unwanted and unexpected sales pitch for Amway. We were both always surprised at the number of couples trying to supplement their income through Amway. They were either selling or recruiting sales people and most often both. Yikes!

The first call was from a very friendly couple that was admittedly fun to be with. We did get to know them and were disappointed at their attempt to turn the evening into a sales pitch. They were dissuaded fairly easy and the evening ended well.

The next couple where not so easily dismissed. Once in our home they had no intention of leaving until we made a purchase or joined the team. I despised Amway’s trained sales approach. It was manipulative, annoying and intrusive. I was called the set up deceitful and disgusting. There was nothing in me supportive of that annoying little pyramid scheme. These people we all more concerned about recruiting us to sell than buy. This extremely annoying couple had an answer for any attempt we made to be polite and kind about our refusal. Della actually excused herself and went to the bedroom not to return. I practically threw them out of the house. But they taught us something.

Any phone call we received in the first semester from a couple we barely knew or with whom we had a limited connection got a standard response when asking about a visit to get to know us better. “We would love to have you over on that basis, but if this is going to turn into an Amway sales pitch we have no interest in the product or your visit.” We never had another Amway pitch in our living room.

On the super annoying side, that first year I was approached by that man on more occasions than one and asked if we had reconsidered. He brought me close to swearing.

Amway of a large collection of environmentally safe cleaning products, I guess. We never even tried the stuff because of how annoying the salesmen were. If you are unaware of the Amway pitch from the 70’s, be thankful. The dealers were rampant in the college.

MERLA chapter 212

One of Della’s best friends was Merla McKee. They had known each other since second grade. Merla lived across the street from Red Deer’s South Elementary while Della lived on top of South Hill. They did many things together and hung out after school — usually at Della’s. They even went to Bible College together although Merla came a year after Della. She began as a student at CBC my first full year. They were also in each other’s wedding party.

Merla married Frank Heck, a young man from the Red Deer Alliance youth group. So Della, Merla and Frank had a long history together. They were married two years after Della and I.

Della and I were both shocked when our friends purchased a farm in Olds, Alberta. We were not so surprised about Frank. He always seems to do well at anything he put his mind to. The man is very bright. But Merla, on the other hand, I could never picture as a farmers wife.

Merla's CBC yearbook photo

Since Olds could be on the way from Saskatchewan to Red Deer when one cut across coountry, we often, no always, stopped to see them on any trips we made from Regina out to visit Della’s family. That was often. It was often easier going west in as straight a route as possible in the winter as the worse of the winter snowstorms usually came out of the north. Every stop with these friends was an overnight stay.

We often arrived early evenings, enjoyed supper, caught up with one another’s current lives and then the reminiscing would begin. Since the three of them all knew the same people I would try to stay involved in the conversation until I got so bored I could no longer keep my eyes open. That meant I was always the first to lose interest in the conversation and head to sleep. The three of them could and would go on for hours. I really was not trying to be rude, but I had no idea who they were talking about and would reach a point when I felt like they might as well be speaking Greek. I had no idea what they were talking about. I had spent two summers in Red Deer working for Alpha Dairy and got to know some of the people, but since they could all got back to their childhood and talk about people I had never heard of or only knew the name — I was lost.

There were times they would tell me, “You met so-and-so at…” Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. In may cases I probably had met the person, but the meeting was so short or I stood by while one or more of the three of them connected on such a deep level that I may as well have been wallpaper.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t mind those “catching up on the old times,” I just wasn’t part of those old times and could not stay engaged. I had tried to stay on track for many of our earliest visits and was content to sit on the side like a bump on a log for a while. They had so much fun and all tried to draw me in. I never felt neglected, just out of place. That was fine. Since it was always an eight hour drive just to get to their place I was tired so in time they all accepted that it would be agreeable that I go to sleep and gets lots of rest and get out of their hair.

Merla was actually a very good farmers wife and Frank was a very hard worker. He had a few animals but mostly grew wheat. I always laughed thinking of city girl Merla taking care of the chicken, gathering their eggs and sloping pigs. Frank always took care of the few head of cattle they had.

Besides being a farmer, Frank worked at the nearby prison as a counselor. He carried both jobs for many years. That is until they moved to Oregon near where we lived. That story will come later.

DELLA’S MINISTRY chapter 211

Della came into her own and found her place in ministry during our years in Regina. She left working with me in youth ministry when we had children. The preschoolers just took too much time. Two decisions came into play of open these doors.

First, she became an Avon purposely to meet the lady to meet the ladies in the neighborhood. She got to know most of them. Those were still the days that a great number of women were home during the day. She made two significant relationships.

 One was our immediate next-door neighbor who had a son the same age as Rod. The boy was hyperactive and often out of control. His mother was exhausted by the boy and often depressed and lethargic. We were convinced she was just plain worn out. She could stay closed up in her house for days at a time. It seemed she would just forget to give her son his medication to keep him calm. To her, life was often unbearable. Della reached out to her beyond the call of duty.

Joan did not like to cook and when depressed would let her house go until it was unsanitary. Her husband did nothing to help her. On many an occasion, Della was at her house cleaning her kitchen. Every dish and pan was dirty and the sink, table, some chairs and spots on the floor were covered with dirty dishes and old hardened food.

While the rest of the house was dusty and piled with clothes and toys, it was never the unlivable mess of her kitchen. Della was concerned about the family’s health. Della was excellent at not laying guilt or accusing Joan. Her compassion abounded.

Her best neighborhood friend was Geniène, a French Canadian Catholic lady who lived down our alley a block away. They were real good friends and did a great deal together. Geniène was a woman of faith who talked about God all the time and how she prayed and what she believed. Roger, her husband, became my friend. He built a box for the top of his station wagon so he and his family of five girls could take a vacation. He asked me to paint snoopy characters for him, which I did. In turn her helped me insulate an extension of our living room (and old porch that was now part of the house proper) and replace the single pane picture window with a double pane sealed window. That really helped our heating bill. Besides, Roger was a glass man.

We wanted a separate area for our TV and set it in that tiny ex-porch space. We went and bought a very narrow love seat that just fit the space for our seating. Without knowing it, the furniture company had a drawing among their customers and we ended up getting our money back in a monthly drawing. How cool was that. We wished we had bought a better quality.

Geniène would come down to visit with Della every school day about 3:15 and stay till 5:00. We were both often trying to figure out why she came at that time. Out of the blue she told Della she came because that was the time of day her five girls all came home from school and she just didn’t fight with them if she was out of the house. Made has laugh.

Della developed a significant women’s ministry in the neighborhood and also with the Student Wives program. I don’t know how she really did it, but many women passed through her kitchen and dining room table for tea. I didn’t really know how many until we moved to Oregon and I would come home for lunch at times and find her listening to one woman or another. After she passed away I received letters from dozens of young women she had been writing to encourage them in ministry. She took a special interest in younger women whose husbands were in the ministry.  Most we never trained for that “job.”

She also reached out to several of the Portrait Player girls. Some came just to hang out with Della and talk. She was an expert had giving comfort and encouragement.

CLASS ARGUMENTS chapter 210

I admit there were times when I attempted to set classes up for arguments. If I could get them to defend a certain position I knew I was getting them to think. Admittedly, it was always harder to get them to change their minds once they dug their heels in, especially in the freshman class.

I could stimulate them to argue in my philosophy class and my freshman Intro to CE class. The freshmen class was always the most volatile. When students are freshman, they still know everything.

They would argue over the value of camping – specifically over the best age for kids to begin camping. They would argue over ratio of camp leaders to campers or Sunday school teachers to students, or the value of Sunday School. But my all time favorite and always the most volatile discussion was over children’s church.

The question was, “Which ministry approach is best for children: To remain in the sanctuary with their parents or to be in children’s church?” After posing the question and writing it on the chalkboard I sent them into group of 4-5 to discuss the issue and come to a conclusion. Later we could come together as class to make a determination.

It was always fun to walk around the class and listen to the discussion. There were normally three positions. 1) If they went to a children’s church and liked it, it was good. 2) If they went to children’s church and didn’t like it, it was bad. 3) If they never had a Children’s Church it was always best if children remained in the worship service with their parents. Those who did not grow up in a church asked the right question and attempted to stay on point, but were usually argued into silence. This was normally the only group that even attempted to figure out what was best for the children.

It wasn’t unusual for the discussion to never address the issue of the ages appropriate for the program. It was a very black and white issue to the freshmen. I’m sure there were many in the class confused over the issue and had no idea what might be best, but they were often drowned out by the pros and cons of the dogmatic students.

It may have been a bit sadistic for me to let them get so carried away, but they focused right in during the last five minutes I turned it back to the focus of the question. “Which ministry approach is best for children: To remain in the sanctuary with their parents or to be in children’s church?” The key word is BEST. What does the word best mean? The question never was which was best for you, nor was it what you liked or not like. I then asked that they write a one-page paper due the next class on the value, if any, of a children’s church program. That was an attempt to get them to focus on the needs and characteristics of children. The following class was always very profitable. We began a serious discussion of how one meets the needs of children beginning with what they are like. Most had forgotten what children were really like and what they needed. By 19 or 20 they knew little kids wiggled, but thought they should learn to sit still. Good luck.

"The Bible says..." It really didn't.

It was always amazing to see how many came to a solid decision and for very specific reasons. They then wrote a later paper on meeting the needs of children and by far the majority came to support having a children’s church. I was unconcerned about their conclusion if they demonstrated thought. Not emotion.

I believe it was my second year teaching that was the most explosive. The discussion was hot, loud and dogmatic. It reached a high point when Bill Finamore stood on his chair with his Bible open defending his position. It was so funny the entire class was roaring with laughter.

STUDENT CREATIVITY chapter 209

Obviously there would be no school without students although teachers at times which there weren’t any. I loved their energy, their enthusiasm and their creativity. That often extends beyond their studies. That is as it should be.

For a couple of years I followed Dr. Dennis Oliver, a missionology professor, with my own C.E. class in the freshman lecture hall. I loved Dennis. He and his family lived on Victoria Avenue only a couple of blocks from us. We often traded babysitting. But Dennis appeared to be the stereotypical absent-minded professor. Students would often set up some joke to mess with Dennis and since the gag was already set, they would try it again in my class. But one of the funniest had nothing to do with anyone playing a joke on him. It was purely Dennis.

Dennis always had an armful of books and papers when he arrived only moments before class began. On this day he arrived rather harried, not unusual. He spread out his books and papers on the table and was digging around for something when class was to begin. He was going through his pockets and briefcase as he looked everywhere for his glasses. After a few short minutes of frustration, he told the class what he would be right back, He excused himself while he went back to his office to find his very necessary glasses. It wasn’t long after he left when the whole class burst into laughter. His glasses were on top of his head. Naturally, no one told him.

There were two class jokes attempted on me. The first involved a puppet stage to the left of the podium. When I arrived I noticed students looking from the box to me and back at the box. Class had not started so I walked over beside the puppet box – looked and listened but heard nothing. I mouthed to the class “Is there someone in there.” Several nodded that there were.

A few minutes into class the puppeteer began is mime entertainment program. There were some snickers. I could not see the puppet from my angle but I motioned to the class not to respond. The puppeteer began to talk and then sing. Then he asked the class to sing. I motioned to them not to sing. He was getting nervous and realized his joke was falling flat. I finally asked him he wanted to come out or did he prefer to just sit there quietly until the class was over. He said, “I’ll just wait.” After class I went to met him and watched his face turn red from embarrassment. I told him it was a good try, but he could have joined the class. He was too embarrassed. I figured it out before class. He mentioned that Dr. Oliver never did get it.

My all time favorite was the player piano. As I walked into class, I happened to notice some hooks in the ceiling. I admit that even noticing something like that was rather unusual as the ceiling was quite high. I did notice some students looking in that area. That caught my attention.

As I got down by the piano I could see there were wires from those hooks down into the piano. I then followed the wires along the ceiling to another set of hooks and noticed they came down at one special desk. The student at that desk had his back turned to me and did not notice that I was looking.

About 20 minutes into class the piano began to play the first few notes of Mary Had A Little Lamb. I looked at the piano and it stopped. I continued as through nothing has happened. When it started up again I continued my lecture while walking up the aisle to where the pianist was playing and asked him to play the entire song. “I only have three keys rigged.” We all laughed and it was over. I understand he terrorized Dr. Oliver.

You just cannot beat the creative of students. There was something happening all the time. It was easier to pull off the great jokes on a professor who lectured. They never knew exactly what I had planned for my class from time to time.

There was another time when the puppet stage was planned for used, but I almost immediately put the class into small groups and the class got so loud nothing happened. This time I never knew anyone was in there until the end when I saw him coming out. I went over to tell him how sorry I was that I had put a kink into his plans.

The hard part for the student was that Dr. Oliver had a guest lecturer that same day so the boy was in the box for two hours and never had the opportunity to do whatever it was he had planned. 

END OF PHASE ONE chapter 207

     I had completed four years at the end of 1978, a full four-year cycle. The freshmen I had begun with were now graduating. The good part was that I had survived. The bad part was that I was losing some students to whom I had become attached. Ones I had begun with. I know teachers are to unbiased and love them all equally but I didn’t know them equally. And realistically, you cannot know them all equally. Some like to remain anonymous others want to be noticed. Then there are those in the middle. I remembered the ones who were trouble, talkative, entertaining, noisy. That is actually only a very small percentage of the students. I was unbiased in class, but on a personal level I was losing some I knew I would miss and some I felt like I needed.

Garry as the "Gunfighter"

I had started with Garry Tollefson in his freshman year and he was the only one with me for all four years. He and I have talked and written in recent years and I am aware of what Portrait Players did for him and he knows some of what he did for me. He became an exceptionally dependable guy who not only always came with his lines memorized and ready to go, once we got lights, he handled the set up and break down and trained the rest of the team how we functioned as we traveled. His senior photo made a statement about how he felt about being a Portrait Player.

Con as CBC Student Body President

Conrad Hild had been with me for three years and he left in his fourth year to be student body president. I also missed him. He was a terrific actor and another one I could always depend on. He always had great suggestions and could pull off any role. Con stayed around Regina so we continued to have some contact. He began dating my gratis worker so I still saw him round my office from time to time. Gratis was the term used for students who worked around the campus in exchange for lower tuition. Barb was my secretary.

Both Garry and Con have continued in theater being very involved in community projects, Garry in Regina and Con in Calgary. I only wish I could see them in their local productions. That would be a thrill.

I my thinking this was going to be the last year for No Time For Tombstones. It was a good run and I loved doing it, but creatively it was pinching some nerves. I had let my superiors know I wanted to try something else and was given permission. But over the summer things changed. We had missed several important churches that still wanted to see the play. I didn’t know how I would do it without Garry and Con, but on the positive side I had returning actors and picked up and carried on beautifully.

We had some creative soul design and sew a camel costume for Youth Conference. This was a two-person deal but it was a lot of full. I don’t remember the fill title was it was something about “Oasis.” I remember great skits and great music. I never took photos at youth conference. I was always way too busy.

Youth conference musical group

The camel from Youth Conference

I also remember this year making the biggest mistake of my married life. I was scheduled to be part of a Christian Education conference in Kindersley, Saskatchewan and was scheduled to travel with two others from Regina. One was Rev. Orthner, whom I considered the reason I was even in ministry. At home I had a wife and two kids now feeling very well and wanting me to cancel and stay home with them. I was torn, I knew I should stay, but I was seriously confused on my priorities and didn’t want to disappoint my mentor. I made the trip, returning home to three very sick people. I am still not over the guilt from that stupidity.