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Oh, OK – so did you meet him in school or something like that?
We went through grade school and high school together
– I didn’t become aware of him until early high school.
Oh, ok - so what first attracted you to him - what caught your eye?
He seemed like a good kid; he was tall, blond, I was
14… (laughter) …he just was a nice guy…
I don’t know, that was about
it, I guess… at 14! (more laughter)
Wow! So you’ve known each other quite a long time then. Goodness!
Did you go then to college together – were you in the same college?
Yeah, we dated through high school and then he left
for college. He was a year older than I. So he went to the
University of Illinois the year before I did, and then when I
graduated, I started college immediately that summer, because I
planned to go through in three years, so I could get my education
done, and we planned to be married, so we were both kind of… well, I
was focused that way – he had some other focuses!
We’ve heard!
But… yeah! I followed him to the University of
Illinois, in elementary education and he was in engineering at the
time.
So
you got married while you were both in college then?
Yes, the year before I graduated in August, the
August before I graduated, we were married, so we were in school a
year together as newlyweds.
So
what was it like being married to a college student, and at that
same time he was going into the rock scene also? What was that like?
Well, I had a lot of girlfriends… not a lot, I should
say maybe three or four that were friends of mine before we were
married. They were good friends and actually, my social life was
pretty quiet, because he’d travel a lot on the weekends with the
band playing in different bars and things and it was kind of lonely
that way – it was lonely. But once we were married, then I was
concentrating on school and then my first job. It all worked out,
even though it was, you know, it wasn’t exactly a social time for us
– we didn’t have a lot of couple friends. He was focused on what he
was doing, and I had my focus as well, and together we were just
fine.
Now the band he was out with – that was Head East.
Right.
And I’m assuming you met all the men in that group – what did you
think of them when you first met them?
Well, they were from southern Illinois, so we didn’t
do a lot socially together, as far as the guys and their
girlfriends, and later their wives, but they seemed like nice guys.
They were OK. I didn’t have a do with them; I didn’t travel with
them. I just saw them when they would play together near
Champaign-Urbana; and they were focused on their careers; we didn’t
have a lot in common.
Given the rock ‘n roll scene and how things were, what was it like
for you, knowing that your husband was far away from home, singing
on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans – men AND women –
what was that like for you, being home?
(laughter) Well… I actually... I know I keep repeating myself, but
it was a totally different world and I didn’t know a lot about it. I
trusted John, and we had a really good relationship, so I never
worried about anything. I was just content with what I was doing;
after I graduated, I started as an aide in a school, and then later
that semester, got a teaching position there. One of the guys in the
band – the leader – his wife was my best friend, actually, after
(I’m kinda jumping ahead a little bit), after college and after our
early couple of years of being married, she and I just hit it off
wonderfully. I helped her get a job, and so we spent most of our
time together on the weekend, us girls! (laughter)
You have a degree as a teacher, then?
I do – elementary ed. I taught several years, and she
had an art degree, so we had a lot in common. In fact, when I became
pregnant and John was away a lot during that time, she went to the
Lamaze classes with me! She wasn’t there for the birth – John was
there for the birth!
Well, that’s good! (laughter)
But you know, even then, God was providing for me,
because I always had somebody to help me out.
As
the band rose to fame and became more popular – did you see a change
in them, in the members - and in John?
Oh yeah…. We lived in Champaign-Urbana, after we both
graduated from school, and John - his focus was definitely music –
he had no intention of going into engineering and so, then the band
kind of kicked into high gear, when he was finally free to be able
travel more. Soon after that, they had put some money together and
recorded "Flat as a Pancake," and it was doing pretty well,
regionally… Midwest. They were doing it all themselves.
Then they were introduced to some management in St.
Louis; that began a major change for the band, because now we
were... we had the potential of becoming a national act.
And so, the plan was that everyone would move to St.
Louis when you’re the management, and we would kind of pick up
there. What did happen was the guys in the band moved to St. Louis
and got a house. This time was in the ‘70s (chuckle); they all lived
together!
Roger, that was the guy – his wife Debbie – they
split; their marriage was on the rocks for a long time. None of us
were Christians, obviously. So she went back home, and he went on to
St. Louis. One of the other guys had a girlfriend, who kinda kept
the house for them while they were gone. I had Kari, and she was
just a little thing, and so we made a decision that I would go home
for awhile, and we would just see how this worked out in St. Louis,
and then that would give John some time to look for a place for us,
because we weren’t going to live in the house….
Yeah…Obviously!
So we did that, and I lived with my parents for
about, well, from June until August. John was on the road most of
the time, and that was another reason that we did that, was because
he was going to be traveling just nonstop.
And then we got a little house in our hometown in
August through January, and it was just… it was a lonely time,
because he was gone most of the time, you know. I had some friends
still in my hometown, but it just was not the same as what we had
had.
And so in January, we made the decision that we would
move, and we found an apartment, and that was the best thing we ever
did in that time frame. We were very happy; we lived in Ballwin,
Mo., which is just outside of St. Louis, and he was still traveling
a lot, but at least when he came home I was close; he didn’t have to
drive three hours.
The guys were… they were a typical rock ‘n roll band,
I’m sure, especially the other guys… at that time, you know…
Now there were some… as the band gained fame and became more and
more popular, things started to go in the opposite direction also.
Oh, right.
When did you start seeing the warning signs that there were problems
going on?
You know, it was probably a lot of little things, and
I never really put it together until things really fell apart, but I
knew there had always been some personality conflicts between a
couple of the guys in the band and some changes through their
history of members leaving, then coming back. In fact, John left at
one time because of school stress. He had to pass some classes and
then he’d come back in, so there was a lot of in and out with some
of the members.
When Roger and Donna broke up – that was a sign that
things were changing, because there was just a different lifestyle
there. And then the bass player – the guys were really – two of the
guys were really sweet. They were all nice guys – I can’t say they
weren’t nice guys, but two of the guys particularly – Mike
Somerville was very quiet, and he was single, and I would never
guess there was anything going there that might be amiss, but…
And then Dan Birney was married to a sweet girl; I
got to know her in St. Louis. She was an airline stewardess and
their marriage eventually… they split, after they had a child. The
drummer, Steve Huston, he and his girlfriend finally got married,
and then not too long later they split.
So out of all the marriages in that band, ours was
the only one that survived. You know, in late ’79 is sort of when we
began… the band was doing very well with the albums, and growing
popularity, but at the same time, the egos on the road must have
been growing as well (laughter), because that’s when the rubber met
the road, and they just had this… I don’t know if they had a blowout
or what – I wasn’t there at the time when it was all decided, but
that’s when we got the news that two of the guys were leaving. You’d
have to ask John if he could see some signs there, because I just
wasn’t around then. At that time I was teaching in St. Louis, and we
had just had John Kyle, and he had just turned a year.
Now John described… has talked a bit about what life was like on the
road for him at that time, you know, and getting into the alcohol
and the drug scene and that kind of thing – did that come home with
him? Were you seeing that going on?
Oh yeah, I was aware of the alcohol dependency. The
abuse… he just drank a lot at night, but it was like wine, and it
was a cheap wine (laughter). On the road he drank more heavily, beer
& stuff… I’m really not aware of what went on on the road. But I
knew that he drank heavily, but he always maintained himself fairly
well, so…. It was just… we weren’t Christians, it was a different
time…. I never really worried about it. I knew the cocaine was
there, but it was part of that lifestyle, and even though I was
teaching and I lived a totally different lifestyle, I never worried
about him, health-wise. Now I worried about some things legally – I
knew that what they were doing was illegal, but it was very strange,
when you look back.
But at the same time, while all that was going on, I
was teaching in St. Louis and I did have the… as members of my
teaching team, they were all Christians, except for one lady, and
they were all praying for us.
And it worked! (laughter)
You know, we were just always the ‘odd couple;’ if
you’ve ever seen John at that time, he looked like a rock ‘n roller!
I’ve seen photos, yes! (laughter)
Long hair and big porkchop sideburns, and he looked….
he just looked…
Looked the part, huh?!
Yeah, looked the part. And I looked like the teacher.
(laughter)
In
mid-1980, John left Head East, and he described that three-month
period as just a total disaster (laughter). What’s your take on that
time period?
(laughter) Well, as soon as we knew that the band was
definitely falling apart….. I grew up Methodist, so I didn’t have a
personal relationship with Jesus, but I believed in God, and I
prayed, and asked God to show us what to do, because we couldn’t
afford to make another mistake like we had. We had two children, we
had no savings… I had stopped teaching the semester right before
this all happened to stay home with Kari & John and baby-sit a
couple other little kids in the neighborhood and we were just… we
had nothing. We were renting – we didn’t have anything to sell,
even!
So I called my folks, and of course we let his mom &
dad know, and my folks offered their home; the home I grew up in in
Mt. Pulaski, and said ‘you can go there and regroup and stay there
as long as you need to, and it will all work out.’ And so that’s
what we did.
Within just a short time the lady next store to me
who was a Christian gave me a little book to read when we were all
saying good-bye after we had gotten things packed up. She had been
trying to kind of witness to me all along after the last, probably,
six months or so… she had a little boy… and I just didn’t – I wasn’t
interested (chuckles). Her husband was in seminary, and they played
Christian music, and she knew my husband was in music and probably
thought I would be interested, but I wasn’t.
And actually, we had been going to church – we had
taken Kari and John to a local Methodist church, because I really
wanted to have John baptized as an infant, because we had done that
with Kari, so it was just kind of a tradition. So we actually were
going and hearing God’s word there for a while. It was all just
working together, amazingly. God brought us to Mt. Pulaski and we
moved in the house I grew up in, read the little book and wanted to
read something else because it spoke... I don’t know – did something
to me… I didn’t know what!
And John was... you know, as you said, he was kind of
miserable, he was gone still fulfilling some tour dates that Head
East had, so I got the kids together and we went to the local
library, and looked for a book.
I came across Billy Graham’s "How to be Born Again"
and that was the phrase my neighbor had used so many times, and
gosh, ‘I’m gonna find out what that’s all about.’ And so while he
was gone on the road, I read that book probably within just a couple
days, and it really spoke to my heart. It just jumped off the page.
I went through repentance, and just a lot of crying and repentance,
and asked God, asked the Lord just to come into my heart and change
me and take my life… not any of it knowing exactly what I was doing
as a response to this book. So it was an immediate… I could tell
there was an immediate difference in me, because I was just so full
of joy.
So
how did John react to your joy and his depression?
I didn’t preach at him a lot; I did try and get him
to listen to Christian music that my best friend in high school (who
is also a Christian – a very on-fire Christian) …tried to get him to
listen to that… boy, he just had no intention of that.
I went to a Bible study and he wasn’t interested in
any of that. But he began to be more interested as he began to
really deteriorate and the band was doing… God was so good to us in
providing for us in every way, giving us the time, basically, we
needed to basically come to the end of himself with a band… he had
put together a band … they were living in our basement! (laughter)
Johnny Band, he called it?
Which, is a miracle in itself, that my father allowed
that in his home, because he is very meticulous about how things
should be done, and taken care of… there were like four guys living
in our basement, and it was mess, so…
But finally, we just got to the point… we were in
debt, and nothing… it wasn’t going anywhere. At that point, he had
finally, just before that time, he had finally considered ending it
all, basically, and that was just at the point where I had said
something to him "why don’t you talk to my pastor and you can just
ask questions, and get some answers, and maybe that will help?"
Yeah, he’s talked about that night quite a bit in his concerts. How
did you ever get him to go there?
I was just sharing about how there’s supernatural
good and there’s supernatural evil and it’s real, and so he finally
relented that he would ask the questions and I didn’t know… this was
his mind just thinking that he would just do it for me, so I could
see that he had done as much as he could, so to speak.
But there were people praying, because at this time I
knew a bunch of Christians. I was in a church, and they were all
praying for him, so we went and he asked the questions, and the
pastor asked the right questions as well!
The Holy Spirit really convicted his heart, and he
prayed and received Christ. When we left there, he remarked how much
more peaceful he felt. So you know, it’s interesting – I thought
that I would get the joy and he would get the peace. It was what
each of us needed.
Just what you needed… right, right…
But then at that point he was going to "do it for
God" and he was going to continue this band for a period of time,
and he was going to do it for Jesus. (chuckles)
And that didn’t work! (laughs)
None of these guys were Christians but interestingly
enough these guys in this new band did go to church with us a couple
times, and there were some interesting things that happened during
that period of time with them, but none of them really came to
Christ that I know of, at that point, anyway.
But the Lord began… that was in August, and then by
January, with a lot of intercession – I mean, I was praying, my
sister-in-law was praying, the church was praying – we all knew that
this was just not what God wanted for him.
So
we’re at January, 1981 right now?
Pardon?
January, 1981?
Right. So finally, in January, he left the band; he
called it quits. We had a big meeting with management and family,
and interestingly enough, some of our family wanted him to continue.
They felt it was just on the brink. I had really had enough… I knew…
I just knew inside that it as just another false promise.
So he quit, and at that time, as soon as he stopped
in January, the Lord provided. I started teaching in a Christian
school in our church. I don’t know – I was the only teacher, I don’t
know if I was the one – who kind of organized our little Christian
school. We started with 10 students (chuckles), from kindergarten to
high school and so God provided some income there for a while and
John started looking for a job.
He graduated with a civil engineering degree, but he
hadn’t been an engineer ever! (laughter) And he’d been out of school
eight years! (more laughter)
So he real quick found reality, and began work at a
tool & die shop right there in Mt. Pulaski, where he could ride his
bike to, and swept floors and did their... some basic drawings and
things.
We began to pay back on our debt and six months - I
can’t remember how much later; time just kinda goes into… but it
wasn’t too long and he was offered a job, he got a job at the mine.
They were developing this huge coal mine very near to us, and he
started as a surveyor. He was working in ditches with mud up to his
knees (chuckle), holding the pole (more laughter) and from six
months he would work doing that, and then the contractors would say
he was finished with that job and another contractor would pick him
up, so he continued to have a job… for about two years or so we
lived (like that).
I taught school and he worked and began to do
engineering, from nothing to actually using his engineering skills.
And then was offered a job with benefits and the whole thing – if we
would move to Utah and work in a mine there, and be one of the
engineers (who) actually ended up doing three-dimensional surveying
for a coal shale mine. And it was a mile underground, 50 miles out
of town, so he had quite the drive every day.
I
guess!
So we took that; we didn’t want to move from where we
were. We were in a great church, and by this time we were both
growing, and he was doing well. He had been delivered from alcohol
and cocaine, and was doing great, and we were a very happy little
family.
But we moved to Utah; we felt it was God and he was
just opening the door for us. We spent two years in Utah and that
was a real experiential time with him with learning to get along
with people that he would never have come in contact with in the
rock ‘n roll world. He was always treated very well as a rock
singer, but as an engineer, the miners don’t think a whole lot of
him, and there was a lot of teasing and physically – just horseplay
with them, rough with each other, and it was kinda… it was
difficult, besides the long hours and the long drive and whatever.
It was a real time of testing for him, and growth. But that’s when
we were really introduced to Petra’s music, because he would listen
to it to and from, on the long drive.
So
there’s a reason for that long distance commute, huh?
Right! But we were just there two years. We knew we
weren’t gonna stay there; we’d probably get transferred somewhere
else. But actually, he had done some kind of a study with numbers
and projections and that sort of thing, and had been sent to the
main office and they were so impressed with it that they offered him
a job in the main office, which would give us more stability,
because what we were doing, we would have ended up moving every
couple years to a different mine or different project. And that’s a
hard life for a family. So this was really an opportunity and a
promotion.
So we moved then to Evansville, Ind., where he was a
cost & scheduling engineer for two years, and that’s when we finally
were able to buy our first home.
At that point we had Kari, who was in third grade,
and John, who was going to be in kindergarten, and Kris, who had
been born in Utah, and he was just a year old. And so we were able
to buy our first home, and kids were going to a Christian school,
and he was able to start remodeling our home. (chuckle)
Oh
no!
(laughter) And found out his gift and his love for
doing that sort of thing! We really enjoyed it there; we had a
wonderful church and we were growing. At that point I was not
teaching; it was the first time I didn’t have to teach. I was
staying home with the kiddos and I was baby-sitting with a couple
little guys Kristopher’s age… and writing. I started to write, so it
was a great time!
And then we got…. John… we were at church and there
was a speaker there who said some words over John about not being
the end for him and that there were some changes coming rather
quickly and we had no idea what that meant. For John, it usually
meant "oh great, I’m losing my job and I’m gonna be sent somewhere
else!" (laughter) ‘Cause it seemed like every couple years or so we
were moving…
But it was something else!
That wasn’t it!
A couple weeks later Bob Hartman called. Well,
actually his (John’s) brother called to see if we knew Bob and if we
even wanted to hear from him, because he (John) had told his
brothers that if anybody called connected with rock ‘n roll not to
give him his number, because he just didn’t really want to be
bothered with it, because he had no intention of going back.
And so Jeff (John’s brother) didn’t know, so he had
called us first. Of course we were interested! Anyway, they got
connected then.
So
what was your reaction about that phone call?
So excited! ‘Cause I just knew that God was
gonna use him with his voice some way, some day. There had been a
lot of changes in our life since we had come to Christ, so it wasn’t
like I was looking around the corner every time to think "this might
be it, this might be it." We were just living and enjoying our
family, and going along our merry way!
So
somewhere along the line then, you met the other Petra members?
Right, actually they made a time when they came up:
Bob, Mark Kelly and John Lawry came up to Evansville to meet us and
kind of interview us.
We
heard about that!
They had dinner with us, and they decided John was
certainly workable, and so they decided to have him come down and
sing and stuff and try out.
And the rest is history! (laughter)
Yeah, right!
Have you ever formed any sort of support relationships with the
other wives of the band members? Other Petra wives? Have you needed
to?
We haven’t really needed to; we don’t meet regularly
or anything for support. Kim, Bob’s wife, and John Lawry’s wife, at
the time when we first started, we got along just fine and we didn’t
have… oh, every once in a while we would get together and have,
especially just before a new album would come out, we would get
together and have dinner and usually have something to eat and then
we’d pray, all of us.
But it was kind of spontaneous stuff; we didn’t have
any kind of support group that met regularly, because we all had
families. Bob and Kim… they adopted a little boy, and John and Stef
had adopted already a little boy and then Louie got married, so
there was a lot happening during that time that they weren’t
involved in the other band member’s lives. They had their own thing
going.
We’ve always been friends, and we’re close in that we
know we can call each other.
How has your family dealt with having an ‘absentee dad’? (laughter)
You know, ‘cause quite often there’s a lot of years there where John
was not home. How did your kids deal with that?
Well, they just adjust – that’s what they know,
that’s the lifestyle they know.
They understood why and how come?
Yeah, they understood why and when Daddy was home –
he was home! He was there, all the time; they got sort of a ‘feast
or famine.’ And a lot of times it seemed like when he was gone, that
those were the important times that would happen, you know –
something at school or something, but we always made a point to just
celebrate birthdays, if it was gonna fall when he was gone, we’d
celebrate early, so Daddy’d be around. It is different. But a lot of
people have to deal with those sorts of things; not just people in
music.
Right, right. So they’ve had to have - do a little bit of a
sacrificing of their father, kind of let him go and…
And that does take it’s toll somewhat; it’s not the
perfect situation, that’s for sure.
Yeah, yeah. Was there ever a time that you thought John should just
stop and come home and stay home for any reason?
No… no…..uh-ah. There were times where I wish he’d be
home more, but they were really only just seasons; short
seasons. Petra has always had a priority that they would never be
gone more than three weeks at a time, and that was a lot different
than what I was accustomed to before! (laughter)
Oh, I bet!
So that was a very short time. When they would go to
Europe, that was usually the longest – the three weeks. That is a
long time, especially when you can’t call home every night or every
other night. But you knew it was just for that particular tour, and
then you knew he’d be home for a little bit, and so God just… I
don’t know... It’s just God’s grace that works in the midst of
whatever you’re in. If your heart’s willing and you wanna do what
God wants you to do, He’ll provide.
This is true.
Have any of your kids shown any interest in music in any way?
Kari’s musically inclined; she sang in high school
and was in Show Choir and just loves performing! She’s got her
Daddy’s genes that way. She has a good voice. She went to college –
went to Belmont – and was going to pursue that (music education) but
kind of just decided that she would take a business bent instead of
an education bent. She has a music minor and a business major, so
she doesn’t sing as often. She does sing in a choir; but she doesn’t
have aspirations to do it, professionally or anything. She’s more of
a creative decorator kind of person now. So we’ve seen a lot of
changes in her!
John Kyle doesn’t seem to have any – he’s more of the
athletic type.
Kris has his dad’s rhythm; he’s so good. He started
playing drums in about fifth grade, fourth or fifth grade, and took
for several years. He’s not taking now; but he just has a natural
rhythm – anyone who heard him was pretty much amazed for such a
young kid! He was very good. So I would say yeah, he has some.
And Krey? I’m not sure at this point; he’ll sing a
little bit sometimes and he sounds OK, but he doesn’t seem to be too
interested – yet!
What do they feel about having a ‘famous dad’ – people see him on
the street and they know his face – how do they react to that kind
of thing?
Living here, where we do in Nashville – there’s a lot
of people, and where you go to church – there’s some artists that go
there. Everybody just treats each other like normal people, you
know… no big deal.
Now, when they’ve gone out on the road with him –
they’re proud of him. They’re proud of what their daddy does and
they’re glad that people recognize him. Now sometimes that gets in
the way of what they want to do! For instance, at the amusement park
– it’s a real downer, a real bummer! (chuckles)
Oh, I’ll bet!
Because he couldn’t take them out and be in the
crowds, because a lot of people would recognize him and stop him and
just want to tell him something… and the kids would get impatient
when they were little. Now they’re old enough they can go on their
own – it doesn’t matter. That was kind of a bummer, but it was worth
it to have Daddy go out with you! (laughter)
Oh
sure! How does that feel for you? I mean, does that kind of cramp
into the things that you want to do too?
Not too much. Since I don’t travel with him, I’m not
out a lot where he’s… I do once in a while, and people will stop and
they’ll talk and he’ll introduce me and whatever. It’s just nice to
meet people; it’s so neat to hear how much Petra has meant to them.
I used to do their correspondence. I still do it, but
we don’t get quite as much right now as we did there for a few
years. I would get a lot of letters from kids who had problems, real
problems. So I really enjoyed writing and encouraging them and that
sort of thing. So it’s neat to meet people and hear their stories,
through their letters, or when they talk to John. I’ve really
enjoyed that.
That’s sort of your contribution, in a sense?
It really just reaffirms what God’s doing.
Is
there ever a point where you’d like to see John call it a day? Or
retire somewhere?
No, no… not really. I would love to see him be able
to sing; sing for the Lord and be involved in Christian music of
some sort in the quote "performing aspect" and ministry part as long
as he is able (chuckles), but I don’t know what God has, so we’ll
just have to see.
So
you’re not even looking at any retirement date?
Oh no! (laughter) We’re not old enough to retire!
Absolutely not! Perish the thought!
We’re just getting our second wind!
There you go! Good, good, good!
We
had a couple people wondering about reunions and that sort of thing.
Would you ever think there would be kind of a past Petra reunion
tour type thing?
I kinda doubt it; I really do. Just because the guys
that have been in the band previously have gone on to do their own
thing, and it’s not like they’re waiting breathlessly for Petra to
call them to do something. I just don’t think so… I know Bob might
do something like that, but I just can’t say…
There’s a lot of people who would like to see a Head East reunion..
Oh!
And I suppose the chances of that are even slimmer yet?
Ummm… I think so! (laughter) I don’t know; maybe God
will do something there.
There’s quite a few people who would love to see something
like that happen.
We don’t really keep in contact with those guys
anymore. Like we know where each one of them is kind of at, but it’s
not like we’re getting together or anything.
Right, right. Now you’re quite involved with your church – tell us
about what you do with that.
Well, ever since I can remember being a Christian,
I’ve always been involved with children’s ministry, probably coming
out of my teaching background, teaching Sunday School and that sort
of thing. But when we moved to Nashville, I got real involved with
our Bible school program…. It’s very different (Vacation Bible
School) and began… we used a model the first year, that someone else
had written, the curriculum, the format and everything, and decided
that we would do it again, but use our own thing. And so, that’s
when I got hooked! (laughter)… Started writing for that, and
developing the theme and how to carry that out.
We have about 350 children, elementary children, and
of course they have their own preschool program too, so we have a
lot of children and we’ve got a great program. Every year we’ve done
four different themes now that I’ve been able to write the
curriculum, and then as a team, we work on developing it into
activities. I won’t go into detail on that, but it’s great!
So I’ve done that for four or five years, and taught
on Sundays with fifth graders in Kris’ class. Then, just this last
year ago, last October, I got involved with preschool. I was no
longer teaching; I can’t do everything here! (chuckles)
I’m still continuing with the Vacation Bible School
but I’m a coordinator for the Sunday morning, and during the week
too, part of it – the preschool program. I work with recruiting and
training teachers and we have 13 classrooms at 9:00 and eight
classrooms at 10:45 and probably about 250 preschoolers.
Wow….
We have run 300 when we first opened our doors in our
new building this fall. It’s very fulfilling. I love serving the
teachers. Being a teacher, I kind of have a knowing of what I would
want and I just love providing for them the materials, the
curriculum. I don’t write it – I’m just providing what we have; but
I get it ready and get everything set up and provide training and
keep things going on Sundays, because it’s all volunteers. We have
needs!
And you’ve written books also?
(NOTE: Click here to see pictures
of Dorla's books)
Yeah, I wrote, back in Evansville, like I said, when
I was not teaching but keeping a couple of little guys with Kris, I
volunteered in the school there… a Christian school that Kari was in
and her fifth grade class was teaching art, using scripture and I
wrote all those little lessons up, and just began to add and add and
add to them. So I ended up with quite, quite a large number of
activities. That was in ’85…. I think… ’86 probably… we moved here
right after that.
But it was about 10 years of sending different
samples to different companies, finding out that wasn’t what they
were interested in, or it wasn’t their format or lots of different
reasons. They all were complimentary, but that might have just been
lip service! (laughter)
But every few months I’d get the itch and try it
again, and it was always a wall. But then in ’96 I approached
Lifeway and they were excited about it and wanted to do some smaller
books; not take the huge ones that I had. I was thinking in terms of
curriculum, and they were thinking in terms of smaller books that
would be in a series. So that’s when it started. So I’ve written six
of those.
How interesting!
They’re for teachers, home schooling parents, Sunday
morning or Wednesday night, or anything that you would want some
activities but had the lesson and the scripture and everything right
with it – more than just a little paragraph.
Neat!
Musically, what are some of your favorite groups or bands? What do
you listen to?
Someone asked me that at church not too long ago. We
were talking about Petra and their new album, and they asked
whatever else I liked to listen to, and I said I really don’t listen
to anything else! (laughter) I’m die-hard Petra!
There ya go! All right! (more laughter)
Well then, what is your favorite Petra song? You must have something
that stands out.
I have lots, I have lots. I think my overall very
favorite is "Prayer." But I’ve been listening to "No Doubt" over and
over and over and over and over again. That is a great CD to
encourage someone, especially. Every song in it is speaking to my
heart right now. I love the song "No Doubt," and I think it’s called
"We Worship You," it’s "we lift up our hearts to you"… oh, there’s
bunches of them I like.
That’s off his solo project – We Worship You.
Pardon?
Off the solo project… Shake? That one?
No.. oh, you mean do I have any off of that one?
Yes.
Oh yes… I love.. I can’t think of it right now…. Oh,
my favorite solo song is "Inside of You." I love that song.
Really? He says that’s his favorite too!
Oh! (laughter)
As
long as we’re talking about favorites, somebody wants to know what
you’re favorite Bible verse is.
Oh, Romans 8:28.
Which says?
"All things work together for good to them that love
God, who are called according to His purpose." And interestingly
enough, that is our anniversary date, 8-28. (Chuckles)
Oh, true! So that’s quite appropriate, huh?
Yeah!
We’ve heard that you’re quite a good cook, and some were wondering
what are your favorite recipes that you like to do?
Oh gosh… well, I’m not a gourmet cook, I’m a home
family cook……
A
home-cooking gal? (laughter)
You know, I love to cook for a big family too. I have
a great chocolate Texas cake recipe and a sugar cookie recipe that
everybody raves about. Oh gosh… roast… John loves my roast.
(NOTE: click here to see the
recipes she has shared)
Oh, we’ve heard about that! (laughter) It’s famous!
I like to try new things; he’s a good sport about it
always.
Somebody wanted to know what you consider John’s most annoying
habit! (laughter) We’re getting into silly things now!
(laughter) Oh boy… I think its... he loves peanuts.
Yeah, that I’ve seen!
And he will chew his peanuts and talk on the phone
sometimes, and that drives me nuts!
(laughter) Hopefully not when he’s doing interviews!
(more laughter) No, no… just when he’s talking to
somebody.
That’s one thing a mother always said: Never chew and talk at the
same time.
Right, right.
Apparently he must not have been listening, huh?
(laughter)
Well, do you have any special memories you’d like to share from
anywhere along the line? Anything in particular that stands out?
Oh… we’ve had some wonderful memories having to do
with Petra and having to do with our family… just moments… I’m not a
real award-type person, but it was very nice to see Petra given the
Hall of Fame award, even to be recognized that they were the
trailblazers for Christian music in the contemporary sense of the
word. Petra gets a lot of flack on so many areas; it was just nice
that they did recognize that. So that was a real special time. Gosh…
I can’t...
There’s probably too many to even begin to pick one out…
There’s special ones to me, but they don’t sound all
that special!
We
were wondering too, seeing that quite a few people are going to be
reading this: do you have any specific prayer requests that you
would like the readers to be praying for you at this time?
We just definitely all along, just tried to keep our
eyes on the Lord, and what He would want for Petra and for us
personally, that He would just make the way for us. We have seen Him
from the very beginning, becoming Christians – His faithfulness, His
grace in our lives, and in our marriage. Our marriage survived those
awful years when he was gone so much and there was just a lot of
emptiness. We survived that turmoil time of Head East breaking
apart, and the other marriages falling apart and God healing ours. I
mean, He healed ours! Because there was a lot of junk in me, I
think, after we came to Christ. I didn’t really like what was in
there, but I went through a healing.
And just knowing that God is there, and He’s in the
midst of this, trusting Him that He’ll bring us through this period
of time and whatever He has for us. Just that we would be
encouraged.
Well, you do have quite a bit of prayer support in that.
Oh, I know – we have a wonderful support, prayer
support team; all the Petheads and people who Petra has meant
something to them… we’re very thankful.
Well, they have... the band and John in particular too - have meant
so much to so many people, and the least, the very least we can do
is to pray back for you.
Well, we really do appreciate it because we know that
that’s what it takes! (laughter)
Definitely!
In what they are doing, there is just so much
warfare, and so much spiritual warfare against what God wants to
have come forth to make it difficult, it can’t prevent it but it can
make things difficult. We won’t give up unless we know that God has
really said stop!
Well good! You guys keep on going – we’re going to keep pushing for
you to do that too! (chuckles)
I
just want to thank you for taking your time, for taking the time to
do this, to talk about your life and everything… it’s been a real… a
lot of good insights here… a real interesting conversation! So I
thank you!
Well, you are welcome! Thank you.
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