A Little Background Information

My father had a massive heart attack when he was 43. I was 15 and was with him. He had another in 1956. I was on an aircraft carrier in the East China Sea. Bessie and I had been married four years. She was in Yokohama with the boys. Doug was almost three, Evan was 1 1/2, and we were expecting Heather. I flew home to Nebraska. I think his next heart attack was in ’63. All six of us boys made it home to see him. He died in his sleep from a stroke at the age of 67 in 1967. We, this family, arrived in Nebraska 1 ½ days before he died. The last thing he said to Mom before he went to sleep that night was, “Doesn’t Jim have great kids?” He quit smoking after his first heart attack. He received Christ in June of 1950.

In those days there was no such thing as open heart surgery or other advances in medicine. He still lived 24 years after his first heart attack. I am eleven years older now than he was when he died. I am otherwise in good health and the surgeon is one of the best in the United States. However, with all of those things in my favor it is in vain to trust in man.

We, Bessie and I, have been blessed in many ways.

First, in being drawn to the Father, Bessie in 1935 and I in 1947. Second, in being drawn to each other. Third, in our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Fourth, in our children (and greater descendants) in the Lord.

Fifth, in our anticipation of being in God’s presence in the not too distant future.

If you think that you have not been blessed by God and would like to be, maybe I can help.

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