MORE TRAVEL chapter 238

Taking the district office job increased my travel schedule. We knew it would. I had a deal with my wife to keep from being away for long periods of time. If I were within three hours from home, I would come back that night no matter when my meeting ended. I ended up returning many nights at 1,2 even 3:00 in the morning. I became friends with a power talk radio station out of San Francisco as it keep me company on many a late night return trip. I couldn’t listen to music – it made me tired, but talk radio got me riled up and it was the only station I could get anywhere in the district. At that time of night the loonies are on line.

As a district leader I traveled more nationally. I returned to attending General Council each May. I believe Canada separated from the USA organizationally the year I moved to Oregon. We missed our Canadian friends. It felt lonely. We knew some of the missionaries, and people from our own district and that was it. I began to spend some time with Betty Pugh for a meal each year.

Betty was the mother of my good friend Al with whom I first attended CBC. She had been one of our youth leaders in Omaha. She sent me $5 every Christmas from the year I went to CBC until her death many years later, just a token of her love. She was a dear friend I looked forward to seeing. She would introduce me to some of the Omaha people each year and tell them, “Now you remember Clyde, don’t you!” They pretended they did, but I was only a kid and my family did not attend the Omaha Gospel Tabernacle. No one knew me. I would always laugh. She so wanted others to remember me.

Christian Education leaders got together nationally once a year. Youth Specialties was doing national and regional conference once a year and I was going with some of our youth leaders. Daryl Dale put me fulltime on the CE/LIFE Committee and he had plans to move the conference from Estes Park to Colorado State University for the next event. Add to that visiting local church, training programs and Bible quiz meets. Quizzing also meant a return to the national scene. I had missed quizzing. Quizzers were always fun to be with. In the first few years I also tried to visit each of our camps while in session. It was all about making connections.

I was hopping around more than I wanted. Della went with me on the national trips whenever possible. She rarely traveled with me around the district. Unless I was asked to speak in a district church, I was home Sundays. I was very selective in how often I accepted Sunday invitations. I managed to be home many weekends to my wife and kids delight. I did not take work home with me. That was a big change from my teaching days,

Rodney and Rhonda got involved in the local swim club and I was trying to make all their meets. That was tough to do because I was booking my schedule out six months and they would announce a meet only a week or two ahead.

Pastor Russell was developed in 1982. Russ Olseon was pastor at Canby Alliance and I admit to getting distracted on Sunday morning and began doodling. I came up with three head sketches that reminded me of him and the random cartoons I had been doing in the Newsletter came to an end. I had a character. Creating him was easy. Coming up with cartoons on a regular basis was hard work. Russ often said or did some funny things and every time he did, I used it. At first I called him Pastor Tim Russell using the names of our two pastors. I thought I might be able to get a good cartoon of Tim and do them together. That never worked.

The western part of the Pacific Northwest is a rain forest. That is why the area is so green. Invitations to return to Canada came regularly the first two years and then stopped forever. Della never wanted to consider a return to snow, and she was the true Canadian. Our motto was “At least you don’t have to shovel it.” The transition was good for the family. The kids biked the whole small town and loved their sense of freedom. Della made wonderful friends quickly and established a small circle of women praying together for their families, the church and the district. Fairly early she began organizing an annual garage sale to support the youth ministry at the church or our missionaries. It was always big and always successful. She used the McDonalds principle: Sell it cheap and sell a lot.

PS: If anyone from the district is reading this blog and happens to have any District Newsletters from 1983-1992, I would love to borrow them and would pay the postage. About two years ago I was cleaning out things to make more room in  my small apartment and dumped all of mine. The newsletters are my memory.