: About Me

I am a 78 year old retired Chaplain, happily married, with two grown sons. I am delighted to be writing on Helium and I spend most of my time in the Creative Writing Channel. I also enjoy working in my Zone that features my novel,  A Message For All Time, and I invite you to join me there by clicking my "Zones" above.

Although I was a minister for 14 years and a Chaplain for 21 years, I do not consider that what I have to offer through my writing is primarily of a religious nature. My 77 years have been filled with experiences that have given me a mellow view of all of life and what it offers - of humanity and animals and flowers and vegetable gardens and planes that go "swoosh" and toilets that don't flush.

I find my greatest joy in putting my pen to paper and sharing what I know and what I feel and what I hope. I know how to fix leaking faucets and I know something of broken hearts and my goal is to share what I know about fixing both - and much more. I do not mean that I know all things but I do know a great deal and I am looking forward to sharing this with Helium and any other folks who pass my way. I have written four books of short stories and poems (lest I boast immodestly, they are still waiting patiently to be published) and numerous essays and articles. I am a volunteer Chaplain with a local Hospice and my wife and I teach ESL and Toefl (Teaching of English as Foreign Language) class to students from all over the world. I play trombone in my church orchestra and in a community concert band. I enjoy my computer and I really enjoy Helium!

My passion is ...

To live my life so that when I die folks will say he was a gentle, loving man - and he was a lot of fun too.

I know too much about ...

Can't think of a thing!

My parents always told me ...

Don't eat fish with milk, and don't eat the tip of a bananna, the last bottom bite of an ice cream cone - and always tell the barber to leave the sideburns. But even more important, they taught me love.

My childhood ambition ...

To be a marine pilot like John Wayne in the movie, "Flying Leathernecks"

My favorite memory ...

All of High School, especially the Band.

Why I write ...

Because it's the most happy thing I do..well, almost.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

E. Tolle ("Now" and "The New Earth")and Jill Bolte Taylor ("My Stroke of Insight"), XM radio and Halllmark, Larry King, PBS, and Andy Griffin.

My first job ...

Working in a grocery store at 12 years of age for 25 cents an hour and my social security card began there.

My best moment ...

When I married my wife, of course!

My inspiration ...

My inner guidance, which I call My Guardian Angel.

Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Christian

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A Memorial Day Fish Story I call this a Memorial Day Fish Story but actually it is a good story for any day! You might say that it is a “fantasy”, not because fish do not talk – they certainly communicate among themselves or they could not function as they do. It might be called a fantasy because we are not usually able to hear and understand them as we will today. I conceived  the idea for this story several Sundays ago when my Pastor preached a sermon about what happened one day when Jesus' disciples were fishing. In the Gospel of John, chapter 21, we read how, aft...

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Rating:

• Channel Manager Religion & Spirituality
• Creative Writing Silver
• Editorial Advisory Board
• Mental Health Specialist
• Helium Charter Member