Life Stories: Educator, Painter, Pilot, Stained-Glass Artist

The life I've lived has been an unexpected adventure. I would never have believed that a little boy, who grew up in an impoverished family in Hurley, New Mexico, and had a poor early education, would have traveled the paths I have. But I was skilled in art and played football. Schools like artists who play football so doors opened for me. Then came military service as a USAF military policeman. Eventually, I drew cartoons for the commandant's publications at Earnest Harmon Air Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland. The G.I Bill and more college studies followed. I never expected to become an actor looking for work and becoming a page at the new NBC Studios in Burbank. Behind the scenes, I enjoyed conversations with Hollywood's top actors -- some who were kind, helpful and humorous. Realizing I could be a broke actor or get a job, and at that point, being married with children, I completed my doctorate and began teaching. Being in the Air Force had stirred my ambition to fly. My pilot's license gave me wings. One day as I flew home from a conference in Toronto, I landed my Cessna at the Mifflin County Airport during a violent storm in Pennsylvania and offered a prayer of thanks to God for my safe landing. He answered, and so did I, beginning a ministry to create and give stained-glass windows to fourteen churches.