CONTENTS
| 1. My Background 2. My Musical Background 3. 4. Where is the Love in and for America 5. A Letter to the Grandview Saints 6. Gratitude Releases Me from Bondage 7. Shutruk-Nahhunte 8. Barbara Brown Taylor Quote 9. Byrneville BBQ 10. Chicken Fukiennese |
1. MY BACKGROUND
I had a simple birth in the very small Irish Village of Byrneville, Indiana and grew up in touch with the earth and the woodlands, the soil, farm animals, chickens, and making mud pies. There is nothing as grounding and wonderful as walking barefoot on newly plowed ground as it puts you in oneness with Nature and close to God. The smells and sights of the seasons are each distinct and delightful. I love long walks in the country, laying in piles of leaves in the fall, and seeing new shoots of life reborn in spring. I adore drives down tree canopied back roads, finding unique bridges and rippling brooks and enjoying their laughing sounds. I am a poet and have used poetry to express my sense of life's ebb and flow and those heartfelt things that characterize us as homo sapiens: men and women of wisdom. I compose music and sing not only the hymns of the church but folk and spiritual music that I have written. I love to eat, relax and meditate by candlelight and feel the flickering lights embrace and sooth my senses as it calms the soul, causes introspection and centers me in ways that nothing else will. I grew up as a chicken farmer and love large gardens, fresh strawberries, corn on the cob and fresh lettuce. Dad always kept flowers growing around the house to add to the natural beauty around us. I believe in very traditional values - God and country, church and family and we believed in the Golden Rule and helping others. I am thankful and grateful for God's many blessings and I love to be active and live as fully as I can. I have a diversity of interests and talents that I am happy to share with others. I know I have helped many people in my life. I duplicated myself 3 times as a math teacher with students who say I inspired them to teach mathematics themselves. I had one student find me again after 40 years just to Thank Me for changing her life and giving her a joy for learning. She had gone on with her education and had graduated as a doctor ftom the Indiana University School of Medicine. I have reached for the stars and have fallen flat on my face at times but I have always reached again. I left teaching after 15 yrs and worked for two different grocery companies in Kansas City for a total of 16 years. My areas of expertise were deli, seafood and meat as a customer service specialist and supervisor. I live near my daughter and 3 of my 4 grandchildren and enjoy a host of friends and experiences that I treasure.
- Harrison County Indiana native born of Irish heritage in Byrneville, Indiana; graduate of North Central High School in Ramsey, Indiana; Earned B.S. in Education Physics and Mathematics Major and Minor in General Science and some graduate work at Indiana University Bloomington. Additional study at Indiana State,Ball State Universities as well as Central Missouri State University. Certified in Adult Basic Education (ABE) specializing in basic mathematics skills and fundamental operations: help can be given in 54 basic computational skills of Arithmetic, including whole numbers, decimals, fractions, ratios and proportions, percent as well as basic algebra and geometry skills.
- Work Careers included15 years teaching 7-12 math and science classes in public, private, country-day, military and parochial schools, coaching junior high and freshman basketball, was scoutmaster Troup 113 Howe military School; 10 years teaching basic math skills at night in Adult and Community Education at Truman High School; customer service and management of grocery superstore deli and seafood departments; 3 years experience as a Meat Cutter.
- Grounded in music early in life from listening to my father Aldon, lead singer of the Bow-Tie Southern Gospel Quartet and his solos in the Byrneville Branch. My mother trained me to sing bass and tenor in her choir and provided for my instrumental training on the soprano saxophone, baritone ukelele, tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet; I participated with my 3 younger sisters in instrumental and gospel quartets. I played in the Graceland College Band and toured with the Graceland Orchestra in 1961.
- Active Poet since 1960 and Composer since 1970 focused on traditional and religious lyrics and melodies including psalms, folk hymns and spiritual songs. My “Life’s Ebb & Flow: A Poetic Journey” was published in 2012. This is a volume of 148 original poems drawn from over 50 years of my life. I have written on my greatest needs and have arranged this work into the 7 areas noted below, each area enhanced by the beautiful artistic creations of my very gifted granddaughter, Julia: ON FRIENDSHIP, ON LOVE, ON FIBONACCI AND HAIKU, ON MELANCHOLY AND RECOVERY, ON REFLECTION, ON SPIRITUALITY, ON SINGING NEW SONGS, which includes new lyrics for 8 common traditional music tunes.
- Ordained to office of Priest in 1963 and Elder in 1970 in the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ, continuous service with ministry and experience as a Pastor, Counselor, Scripture Teacher, Christian Education Director, Music Ministries, Youth Ministries, Financial Officer, Scoutmaster and Coach.
- Currently play the guitar, some pennywhistle and harmonica, kazoo, and the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer; I have played with the Lake Eustis Florida Area Dulcimer Players, the Mount Dora Florida Mtn. Dulcimer Players, the Corydon Indiana Dulcimer Society, and the Prairie Dulcimer Club in Independence, Missouri.
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2. MY MUSICAL BACKGROUND
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"to talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
- Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
- And whether pigs have wings."
~Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." As much as I might like to write of Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, because his interests, mathematics, logic, photography, art, theater, religion, medicine, and science, are similar to mine I must be silent on all those things. I can however speak on the object of this blog about the "Sweet Sounds" made by the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer and related acoustic instruments. I invite you to do the same. This Blog also offers us an opportunity to share our personal history in music: our gifts, talents, studies, insights, experiences and growth into the musicians we are today.
I was born at early age, June 30, 1941, the first of 4 children born to Aldon & Alma Louise Byrn Utz in Byrneville, Indiana. My earliest recollections are of the music that filled our home and church. Mother played piano and led the choir at church as well as accompanied the Bow Tie Quartet. My father was the lead singer for the rich variety of southern gospel music they performed in hymn sings in local churches. I can't remember but am told that I often fell asleep on a pew of virtually all the churches they visited. I know I was also influenced by my Aunt Annis who played harp and tried to teach me piano early on (sadly it did not take) and my great grandfather Newton who played the fiddle and even won a fiddling contest when he was in his 80s. To say I was steeped in music would be an understatement. As I grew and my voice developed, mother encouraged me to sing both bass and tenor as my range expanded, in the choir, cantatas and other special presentations. When I reached the 6th grade I was given the special gift of a soprano saxophone which I learned to play and played until a freshman when my parents purchased a tenor sax for me. I was active in Mrs. Nance's Chorus and developed my voice for singing (when I wasn't talking) in school musicals and state music contests at Hanover College. I remember Mrs. Ivanna Conrad helping me prepare "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked" for my senior contest. My 3 younger sisters, Linda, Beverly and Judy and I also formed our own instrumental and gospel quartets following in our father's footsteps. The tenor sax was my instrument of choice in North Central High School and Graceland College bands but I soon learned the clarinet and bass clarinet in order to play in the college orchestra. I remember particularly that playing in the Indiana State FFA Band at Purdue University and touring with the Graceland Orchestra were a great joy. Junior High was a time for another special gift that helped shape my musical appreciation. That was mother's gift of a baritone ukelele, with an Arthur Godfrey chord changer. This device was attached to the neck with rubber bands and had buttons to push which pressed on the strings to form the common chords. Eventually the chord changer went the way of most all plastic devices, the springs broke, buttons fell out and the rubber bands broke and I learned to make the chords like everyone else from the Mel Bay chord book. I learned to accompany myself and sing Homer & Jethro songs while decked out in white shirt, red tie, red check Bermuda shorts, white knee socks, with a whole lot of ham thrown in. . .does that remind you of anyone today?
I was introduced to Lewis Carroll and other authors in a greater depth in Graceland's English Literature and fell in love with many of them, the language, the prose and particularly the verse and poetry. I vowed in 1960 to write at least a poem every month. In 1967 I found and purchased a tenor guitar, 4 strings, which I tuned like the baritone ukelele and used to lead songs in my ministry. I was ordained in 1963 in the church known today as the Community of Christ, specializing in youth and pastoral ministry.
In 1970, I bought my first guitar, a Yamaha, and began the decade by expanding my poetry into original psalms, folk hymns and spiritual songs. It was a creative time musically and personally with my marriage and eventual birth of a daughter 9-11-71. One of the important lessons I learned that year was to never, ever apologize for your creative work. I believe it stands on its own merit as a gift from God.
Fast forwarding through the next 30 eventful years brings me to the end of some things and the beginning of others. Broken health, at times life threatening and a divorce brought me full circle back from Kansas City to my birth place Byrneville in January 2000. In due time, I read in the Democrat that the Corydon Dulcimer Society was meeting in the Methodist Church on the square. I came with a Carl Wortham mountain dulcimer I had received as a gift for performing a marriage 20 years before and was met at the door by Sherrill Wolfe. No, I could not believe it either. You see Sherrill was in my science class at North Central 37 years before. . .I was his teacher then but became his pupil at that reunion meeting.
I owe so much musically and personally to these CDS members Sherrill, Nina, Nancy, Carletta, Jackie, Denise, Marilyn, Mamie, Susan, Vince, Rick, John and many others who welcomed me, encouraged me and accepted me with all my flaws and frailties. Learning from each of you on guitar and dulcimer and vocals has made my life richer and it played a significant part in my recovery, blessing my road to better health and well being. I thank you each from the bottom of my heart for being there for me and caring. With your encouragement I have been able to create again the things I have loved all my life: writing poetry and lyrics to some of our popular tunes as well as composing original music written for the mountain dulcimer. . .and to sing and perform with you the sweet sounds we are trying to preserve. . . and I know that the best is yet to be!
Since this post was first created I have played with the Lake Eustis (FL) Area Dulcimer Players, Mount Dora (FL) Mtn. Dulcimer Players and the Prairie Dulcimer Club in Independence, Missouri.
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4. WHERE IS THE LOVE IN AND FOR AMERICA?
Somewhere, always, the sun shines. . .
and here also if I would perceive it . . .
even if I must look within!
In this writing "the sun shines" corresponds directly to evidences that love exists in and for America. It gets harder and harder to perceive that love and most times we see it only through a glass darkly where it should be, as testified to by the failings and shortcomings of men. Those things get our attention, they are what are regarded as newsworthy. Man's inhumanity to man simply sells papers and captures the attention of a numbed populace who seek their next reality "fix". But where is the love? The rush of life today with its perplexities, incomprehensibilities and perversions of values that "once upon a time" defined America, is mind-boggling for most of us. We are easily beset with pain and panic as the next immoral tsunami seeks to wash us completely away from our roots and all that we held as true and precious in the Land of the Free and the home of the Brave. We dream of Audie Murphy, John Wayne and Randolph Scott, one real and two movie heroes, riding courageously to meet the foe knowing that they stood for something that we believed in. We languish looking at the leaders we have elected as they have forgotten and broken their promises, yielded themselves to the gods of avarice and greed and are assimilated into the ravenous pack of doing business as usual - taking care of #1. Where are the men who inspire us to be better than we are? Where are the impossible dreamers and Can Do statesmen who will not sacrifice their dreams, values and visions of America for personal gain? We the People will rise up and believe in them once again and support them for a better revitalized America which pays it debts and honors its citizens.
Where is the love in and for America? I believe with every fiber of my being that it still exists but requires willing seekers, those who still believe in America, to find it. Love can be seen in the attention to detail of the gardner, the farmer, the stone mason and the artist. It can be felt as emotions are touched by music as well as gentle breezes which cool our fevered brows. Love is felt in the warmth of human connection--sharing kind words, encouragement, comfort--a gentle touch of one hand upon another, reassuringly --- HUGS, an acronym for Have U Greeted Spirit? Love exists always in our thoughts if in no other place.
My love for America lives on in and through my mother's family heritage. Charles Byrn left Dublin, Ireland in 1760 and immigrated to America, settling in Rowan County North Carolina. Charles Byrn was my great, great, great, great grandfather and showed his love for America by fighting in the Revolutionary War. His sacrifice qualifies me as a Son of the American Revolution. His sons Charles Leason and Temple Cole came by oxcart in 1806 and 1809 respectfully across the mountains through the Cumberland Gap and across the Ohio River by flatboat to homestead in southern Indiana. There was considerable sibling rivalry between the boys, actually so much so that Temple Cole added an "e" to the Byrn name, so He and his lineage became the Byrne Family. Temple Cole founded the village of Byrneville laying the village plots out on his land in 1837. I was born in my Grandfather John Ransom Byrn's home in the center of Byrneville of Charles Leason Byrn lineage.. I have stood by the graves of these pioneers on the limestone bluff overlooking the Byrneville valley and felt the love and passionate desire for a better life that was so much a part of those early Americans. I want the same things that they did: to love and be loved, to never harm another or be harmed by them, to live peaceably and with serenity in freedom and tranquility. There are many things that I do not profess to know, but the most important things I do are those that I learned at my mother's knee. . .the greatest being to sincerely care about others and to be willing to help them when and where you can. I have learned in my life that acceptance is a key to contentment and being true to yourself allows you to live your beliefs. It is well said that if you don't believe in something, you will fall for anything. That is the plight that I see America in today. Many of its citizens have simply lost track of who they are and have fallen for the current "idea of the day" losing their effectiveness as vital Americans. Citizens of this Republic have a greater calling. They are called to be Statesmen, stalwart souls, who lead by example and who stand for what is right and good and as Aryana Grantham, life coach and mentor has often said, Practice A Preclusion of Harm:
"Do Not Harm Yourself, Do Not Harm Others, and RECEIVE NO HARM FROM OTHERS."
Where is the love in and for America?
It is alive and well in my heart.
I love America,
May God Bless Her Always!
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5. A LETTER TO THE SAINTS IN GRANDVIEW
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Friends, My Family,
You have all touched me deeply, lifted me up with the friendship, acceptance, joy, happiness and a deep spiritual nurture which you have shared with me. I treasure all your gifts as pearls of greatest price and keep them hidden away in my heart where they can bless my life many times anew.
In 1975, many of you welcomed us into the Grandview Family. Jim and Shirley met us at the door and introduced us to Allen and Leslie and many others. It was not long till we were anxiously engaged with you in many good causes for the sake of the Kingdom. The congregational trip to the House of the Lord in Kirtland lives on and reminds me that the Spirit of God truly is like a fire burning.
In my mind the gift of love that the Grandview congregation lavished upon me has been multiplied many times over as my life unfolding took me away from the congregation only to return many years later. It was as if my time away was yesterday in your mind but all that was important to you was my being with you today! I find that gift overwhelming.
I am taking this opportunity to share some things that have burdened me greatly during the weeks that I have been unable to fellowship with you because of transportation difficulties, and the prolonged recovery made necessary by my last two surgeries. Though presently I am doing much better and the incisions from surgeries have closed, I am still in pain from both. For the first time in 8 weeks, I have driven short distances for appointments and am paying for it now, reminded with each painful step I take that I am still a long way from complete healing. My cardiologist scans yesterday revealed that I have an added concern, bilateral Carotid Artery Disease, with an occlusion of around 50%. My health issues appear to be accumulative which presents me with several opportunities to grow, but God is good and present and that makes our lives good as well.
Randy and Laurie Hale, Tom and Jackie Fuller, Allen and Leslie Rogers, Brenda Clements, Marcia West and David Botts and many others have gone above and beyond on my behalf, and for their loving willingness to help and the actual help given I am so grateful. My heart is brim full of love for you and overflowing!
When it was possible for me to walk even though very little, I was still able to get to the elevator and worship with the Saints downstairs in the Heritage House Community of Christ Congregation. Those times brought me comfort and continue to present added opportunities to serve in ministry in the areas of administrations, preaching, teaching in Wednesday scripture study, presiding, bulletin preparation, audio-visuals and music ministry. The congregation is very small and struggling, 12 attended last Sunday, and the need for ministry and outreach is great, a need that I believe I can help meet. The pastor and financial officer, Eric Pearsan, comes in from Beacon Heights and one sister, my neighbor Roberta DuBose, has stepped up to plan services assisted by 2 elders beside myself with all the attending members of the congregation participating. I look forward to inviting my daughter to attend and share her music ministry as well. It would be an added blessing if any of you might be free to come as visiting ministry to share the gospel with us. I would love to hear from any of you whose responsibilities might permit this.
The thought of my leaving the place which has been a loving sanctuary for me the last 5 years has broken my heart in many pieces. I feel like Humpty Dumpty after the great fall. In my down times, I have thought that I was being insensitive and selfish and that it would be very hurtful to each of you for me to do this again. I feel many will have regrets about this and I too have many, but I know that acceptance is always the answer for me.
I pray the Serenity Prayer which says, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” I know in my heart that you will not judge me and love me less but be accepting and supportive. I realize that I am not really saying good-bye but am only responding to another ministry opportunity I feel the Lord is offering, for me to serve in another part of His Vineyard.
I am scheduled to speak in Grandview on November 10th, and I have been preparing for that privilege. It will be a joy to be with you again. I will be there even if necessary, by Pony Express. I welcome any future opportunities for me to visit with you again in any capacity.
I have been, am now and will always be your brother in Christ, sharing always with acceptance and love and responding with you to our great calling to seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion. My thoughts and prayers are always with you my friends, now and always.
Love,
Brother John
October 18, 2019
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6. Gratitude Releases Me From Bondage
Gratitude has released me from a self-imposed bondage I placed upon myself by believing that I had to be perfect in all my actions. Perfectionism expressed itself in several forms was a prison from which I have barely escaped with my life. Though it has taken almost a lifetime, my life now has changed for the better since I adopted an attitude of gratitude and began to live proactively rather than reactively. I finally realized that I would never be perfect in this life but that I could reach for excellence and could choose to follow the desires of my heart. I have learned to take better charge of my life rather than settling for what I had always been or what others thought I should be. I soon began accepting that good was coming to me everyday and in every way as a birthright and that I no longer had to live mired down in my own negative stinking thinking. I am in debt to many people whose insightful thinking and exemplary lives have given me the inspiration and understanding I needed to think more clearly and thus embrace and enjoy a better life. Some of those people are noted on this page. I hope their words or their websites will inspire you as they have me.
Jesus said, "I am come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) I believe that gratitude is the key that unlocks the door to that abundant life. One day at a time I live the life I have always desired.
Melody Beattie's writing has strengthened my resolve and determination to live my life with an attitude of gratitude. She writes, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. . . Gratitude isn't a tool to manipulate the universe or God. It's a way to acknowledge our faith that everything happens for a reason even if we don't know what that reason is. . . I trust so much in the power of the heart and the soul; I know that the answer to what we need to do next is in our own hearts. All we have to do is listen, then take that one step further and trust what we hear. We will be taught what we need to learn.”
Aryana Grantham, life coach and spiritual mentor, wrote "You are all you need to be to do all you need to do. There is no drug, or even natural substance that is more powerful than the human mind. When you decide you are the main player to your own destiny, you will be able to play your role in the world better than you can play any other thing. We get to choose how we evaluate ourselves and how we use our energy and we do not need to rely on others in the present or the past. This fact is possible because you, like every human on this planet is the true child of God and our God, the creative source, does not play favorites with his children. We cannot separate ourselves from the legacy of this fact, nor can we separate ourselves from the power within, except by choosing to use self doubt, self distrust, self discrimination or self anything negative."
Another of my favorite motivators is Zig Ziglar. The following quotes from his writing have made a great difference to me: "You are what you are and you are where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You change what you are and you change where you are by changing what goes into your mind." "You can get anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." "It's your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude."
The attitude of gratitude has been most helpful to me as I have learned to live it. John Fitzgerald Kennedy once wrote, "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them". The Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda taught young Luke Skywalker, "Try not. Do or do not, there is no try."
Michael Lee is a persuasion expert, professional copywriter, and known by many as a "self-improvement guru." You can watch videos on certain very helpful topics by going to his video webpage.
Self-Help, Inspirational and Motivational Videos
You can also benefit from Michael's audios and articles.Self-Help Audios, Self-Improvement Articles and Advice
Chris Cade always strives to serve the highest good by empowering people through heart-based endeavors. His websites have affected me so positively that I am, with his permission, passing along his efforts to you. Reading from his website Spiritual Short Stories will uplift you and fill you with an attitude of gratitude. It does so for me, everyday!
Steve Brunkhorst recommends that you Renew Your Spirit and Reach a Higher Level of Personal and Professional Achievement...With his permission, I commend his beautiful site to you as a quiet and powerful space for Living Life Fully.
http://www.livinglifefully.com/flo/flocreatingandliving.htm
Gratitude Frees Me to Serve
My faith-based ministry follows the scripture Ecclesiastes 11: 1 "Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days." All of my programs and services are offered in person at your location. I believe in Blaise Pascal's definition that "faith is the great wager of betting one's life on God!" That is what I have tried to do in my life - literally throw myself into service for others, trusting that God with be there! I particularly like the quote: "Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can." This quote is often attributed to John Wesley, though Methodist scholar Kevin M. Watson says that Wesley was misquoted. The sense of the quote is in harmony with my belief that God expects us to be anxiously engaged in many good causes, doing many things of our own free will and helping each other when, where and as often as we can. I do trust in the Lord's provisions for me but I also invite your participation and would appreciate your support in a freewill or love offering to assist me in meeting my expenses.
God has blessed me richly and has spared my life at my birth and many times during my life from accidents, illnesses and serious infections. I am forever grateful for God's grace. Early on I mistakenly believed that I must serve others to buy the space I occupied in the world not realizing that my Lord Jesus Christ had purchased that right for me by willingly going to the cross. My gratitude has overflowed since I accepted that fact and it has freed me to be of service to others for all the right reasons. I have served in the ministry since 1963 and I specifically built and given this program ministry to be offered in Indiana, Florida and Missouri over the last 20 years.
Brother John Has Given Programs At The Following Locations:
- Grandview Community of Christ Grandview, MO
- Wexford Place, Assisted Living & Memory Support Kansas City
- Season's Care Center, An Alzheimers Care Community Kansas City
- First Baptist Church of Raytown Kansas City
- Grain Valley Baptist Church
- John Knox Village Kansas City
- Byrneville Community of Christ Byrneville, IN
- Hillview Apartments in Corydon, IN
- Corydon Dulcimer Society
- Carson's and Maria's Shows on WBRO 89.9 FM Crawford County Indiana
- Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Corydon, IN
- Cedar Court Senior Living Community in Corydon, IN
- Tavares Community of Christ Tavares, FL
- Community of Christ Deerhaven Retreat & Conference Center Crows Bluff, FL
- Twilight Towers Tell City, IN
- Prairie Dulcimer Club Independence, MO
- Missouri Town 1855 Lees Summit, MO
A sampling of the complimentary things said about my program ministry:
John - I want to thank you so much for the inspiring program you provided our residents at Twilight Towers on October 29, 2010. The music, songs, and readings were greatly enjoyed by all of us. You are so talented, and I hope you will be able to return and do another program for us. (Bobbi P)
John, We enjoyed very much the program you gave us for Our Thanksgiving Dinner for Our Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church of Raytown. Your stories, music , poems and scriptures surely let us feel the Spirit work through You and your witness. Thanks for Blessing Us !! To God be the Glory! (Nancy A)
Great Performance on Sunday Evening at Bates City Baptist Church. Brother Matt still would love a DVD of you!!! You gave us a Great performance of Love, Thanksgiving, Humor and Grace. Surely Our Lord smiles down from heaven as he watches you perform and share your witness. God Bless!! (Nancy A)
I am a resident of Cedar Court, an assisted living institution. Brother John has been coming to our facility for nearly a year, since late 2011. He plays the dulcimer and sings with a very good singing voice (with or without his dulcimer). He is a good story teller, both dramatic and humorous, has a keen sense of humor and is very tender-hearted. My feelings are shared by all I have talked to and his programs have been well attended. My personal feeling is that I hate to see him stop coming and would welcome him back any time he would want to come. (Wilma P)
John, Thanks for being an inspiration to all of us older folks at Cedar Court. Wishing you Best of everything in your new venture. We will miss you so much. (Fern H & Family)
Mr. Utz has been performing at our facility for a long time now, He does a great job and our Residents are very receptive and enjoy his programs very much! As an Activity Director of Kindred Care it is hard to find good people who do good programs, and who are dependable and loyal. It has been an honor knowing John and he has been a true blessing to our Residents. We will miss you. (Mandy O)
Gratitude Challeges Us To Give & To Help
“Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take;
the larger kind we feel for what we give.” — Edwin Arlington Robinson
Please join me on the Hunger Site for these free ways to help those in need.
The Hunger Site is the original click-to-donate site created in 1999 that gets sponsorship from advertisers in return for delivering users who will see their advertisements. The Hunger site encourages visitors to click a button on the site, once per day, asserting that each unique click results in a donation "equivalent" to 1.1 cups of food. The Hunger Site is not a charity; it is a for-profit corporation which donates the revenue from its advertising banner to selected charities. Currently, these are Millennium Promise, Food Recovery Network, Partners in Health, Feeding America and Mercy Corps.
OUR CLICK TO GIVE™ SITES
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10. Chicken Fukiennese
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