Kenneth recalls his first day at the church in Columbus, NJ. He describes the church building and its people. He comments on the order of service on this first day. He went in the evening for service at another church.
Kenneth on his first encounter with graft and corruption. He was about 11 years old and went with Jimmy, a 15 years old, to a movie. The girl that was selling the tickets liked Jimmy and so gave them two tickets before she turned around to take them…
Kenneth recalls his first visit to the dentist. It was for an extensive work including multiple teeth removal and filings. The dentist wouldn't tell Kenneth, who was 7 or 8 at the time, what he was going to do, so Kenneth refused to cooperate. They…
Kenneth's first funeral at the Deacons' was a big one, with crowds of people coming from all over Pennsylvania. It was all new to him, but he made no mistakes, even at the grave.
Kenneth tells the story of his brother, Bradley, starting his "business" manufacturing ATV and hiring Kenneth (who thus got his first job) to do advertising work for him. Kenneth addressed up to 10,000 circulars while working from a phonebook. He…
Kenneth tells about his infancy, how his Irish nurse would put whiskey in his milk to help him digest what he believes he could not disgest otherwise, and how his mother, on learning this, promptly fired the nurse.
Kenneth reads his letter to Margaret about his final exams and the Bible conference. He studied about 24 hours a day for his exams. He was so tired and slept a lot after the exams were over.
Kenneth had only two more Sundays to preach in Columbus, and the news of his departure felt like there was a funeral going on. The feeling, says Kenneth, was mutual. Yet, "I can surely look back on my first church with satisfaction and peace in my…
Kenneth preached his last Sunday at Columbus. He only had his final Bible conference to do before leaving for Siam. He talks about his travel arrangements, the shipment of his car to Siam, and his travel expenses.
Kenneth's letters to Margaret in the summer of 1924 were full of news about his mother and father's relationship getting better, in part because of Kenneth's decision to become a minister. He wrote about his desire to go to Princeton. Kenneth talked…
Kenneth was called in to New York in April for further examination because the doctor suspected a heart problem. The heart specialist cleared him, but the mission board doctor remained skeptical. Finally, after a long interview, the doctor…
Kenneth remembers a mishap in his performance at the Beltonian banquet when he and another fellow forgot the same word on the same note twice. People thought they had done it on purpose, and that they were pretending they had forgotten.
Kenneth recalls his mother's visit while he was in Princeton. He tells about their visit to his church and time together around the time and their trip to New York. From there she was to catch a train back home.
Kenneth bought an old flute, repaired it and learned to play on his own. He went on to learn to play several other musical instruments and later on bought a new flute, which he had to sell during his unemployment years in the 1930s. He never went…
Kenneth reads an account of his ordination from the Meadville newspaper. It was May 10, 1927 (contra an earlier account in which Kenneth insists that it was April 19, 1926). The articles describes the hymns, the sermon, and the ordination prayer…
Brad was pleased with the news of Kenneth and Margaret's move to Thailand to the mission field--for him it was a natural religious step. Mae was not, and she was afraid that she would never see her son (Kenneth) again. She was right; she never did.
The College had problems accommodating the growing flow of students, so many stayed off-campus. Kenneth had a roommate, Wesley Ingels, at a house they rented on Main St. Wesley was working at a bakery and had to go to bed early because he would leave…
Kenneth can't remember ever taking a book home in high school. His memory was that his grades in High School were not good, but going through his records he was surprised to discover that he had excellent grades. He also tells about him learning to…
In the summer of 1924 Kenneth and his friends would go swimming. He worked an early morning shift at a restaurant. He would pull ice often. Red Grange, a Wheaton boy, would come up and pick up a 100-pound blocks of ice to load for delivery. Kenneth…
Kenneth reads about his plan to get a quartet for every night of the week for the evangelistic meetings. He reads about his discussion with Dad Hall about personal works in relation to Calvinism. He tells of his plan to preach on Second Coming as…
Kenneth returns to the story of his time at the University of Cincinnati, life at the home of Mrs Heintzmann (who was a spiritist), his friends Bennie and Felix, and his struggle with chemistry. He also recalls his friendship with Katherine Lindner.
Kenneth interjects to explains that he is one of few people whose tonsils simply dissolved. The doctor had told him that he needed to have them removed, which Kenneth didn't want to do, and fortunately at a later visit the tonsils were nowhere to be…