There I was in bed on a Saturday morning when I got a phone call from Dr. L. Audrey Thomas, the Dean of Students at John Brown University, and he offered me a full-ride scholarship that I had not even applied for!

My grandfather Jones lived in Nevada as I grew up and worked as “the loan arranger” for Farm and Home Savings and Loan. He was an avid fisherman and upon retirement moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to be close to Grand Lake fishing. He and Grandmother attended First Baptist Church, and so did Dr. Thomas. One Sunday my grandmother pulled out a Nevada Daily Mail clipping of my reception of the Bell Telephone Science Award, and showed it to him. He exclaimed, “That’s the kind of student we’d like to have at JBU!” It is an example of “kairos”, Greek for “right time, right place”. That term would apply to my life so many times!

EPISODE 6

There I was, staring at a letter inviting me down to Houston to Baylor for “Twenty Four Hours of Medical Education”! I had applied and was received for admission to the medical school of the University of Missouri, but had selected Baylor. Once there I met the Dean of Students, attended Grand Rounds (which about 6 years later I would lead as Chief Resident!) and went over to Ben Taub, the emergency hospital for Harris County, where I saw my first dead body with a tag on the toe.

I was then accepted to Baylor University College of Medicine. The name was shortened to Baylor College of Medicine a year later when it separated from the university so as to receive federal grants. Two of my favorite classes there were physiology and gross anatomy, both revealing the amazing specificity and complexity of our bodies that God designed.

EPISODE 7

There I was sitting across the table from the mother of Van Cliburn, who had invited us to his after-performance meal at the Houston Petroleum Club!

One of my medical school classmates was Phil Alexander, who had taught music theory at Texas Tech before coming to Baylor. He had been first-chair oboist in the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, and had three piano-oboe albums with Van Cliburn, who had just won the International Piano Competition. Phil played an original oboe piece at our wedding in Dallas. He had invited me and Valo to Cliburn’s piano concert at Jones Hall, and we got to attend the meal afterward.

Phil was a man of many talents. At his home in Conroe, Texas I fired his .44 Magnum revolver (made my day) and I later purchased a Colt .45 auto in Houston brand new for $121! Phil later on made beautiful green jewelry from malachite, manufactured marbles, and was an amazing painter of aviation art. I am so blessed.