There I was, stuck in Ramstein, Germany.

I was the base pediatrician at RAF Upper Heyford, England from 1974 to 1977. I was on the program to speak at a medical convention in Wiesbaden, Germany on “The Use and Misuse of Antibiotics”, and departed Lakenheath Air Base on the “European Eagle”. I had my papers in hand that indicated that we would land in Ramstein and then fly on up to Rhine Main near Wiesbaden. I had a reservation at the von Steuben Hotel at the final destination.

Well, we landed at Ramstein and everyone got off of the plane and it wasn’t going any further! I stood there perplexed as two individuals appointed by the Lord prepared to rescue me. First, a Lt. Colonel came over to me and asked if I needed any help. I told him my plight, and he drove me to the bahnhof (train station) and bought me a ticket to Wiesbaden!

On the train I sat by the daughter of a general, and she was on the way to Wiesbaden to see her boyfriend. She said to me “you know we have to change trains half way there”. No, I didn’t know that! When the time came we had two minutes to get on the other train, and when it pulled into Wiesbaden it stopped right across the street from the von Steuben Hotel! Thank you, Jesus!

EPISODE 15

There I was, late at night, out of gas, and the filling station was closed!

Valo and I were driving southwesterly down toward Cornwall for a vacation. The boys were in their car seats in the back of our Midnight Blue Morris 1300. It was late, around 10 pm as I recall, and we were getting quite low on petrol (gas) – so much for great planning.

I was desperately searching for a filling station, and finally saw what appeared to be one, only to find that all of the lights were off and it was closed. Well, I pulled up next to one of the pumps and to my amazement found that the pumps were coin-operated! I pulled out some 50p (pence) coins and we took on enough fuel to get us to our hotel. That is the only time in my life that I ever have seen coin-operated pumps. Do you agree with me that the Lord keeps showering me with his favor?

EPISODE 16

There I was in the Kentucky countryside and being told of a dog breed that nobody has ever heard of!

My grandmother Mary grew up near Greensburg, Kentucky on a dairy/tobacco farm. They owned a slave (!) and when emancipation came he didn’t want to leave, so he was retained as a hired hand. Valo and I made a trip to the old home place, the two-story brick house that Grandmother lived in. It had been deserted for years, and an old gentleman named Bobby was the caretaker of the property.

Relatives had told Bobby that we would be visiting that day, and sure enough, after we had been there a while here came old Bobby in his pickup truck with a rifle in the rear window. I noticed a rather large dog across the road in a field, and Bobby announced that it belonged to him. It came bounding across the road and sat down close to us. I remarked to Bobby that it was a fine-looking dog, and he said, “Yes, it’s a Pekingese”.

I smiled and said, “They’re usually pretty small, aren’t they?” He replied, “He’s a Great Pekingese”. I’m sure he meant “Great Pyrenees”!

There I was, enjoying a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet in the Kremlin in Moscow!

Our Air Force base in England had an American Express travel office that offered fantastic trips, including one to Russia. In 1976 during the “cold war” we chose that one. We departed London on Aeroflot and landed at Sheremetyevo, thoughtfully named for the man whose land had been confiscated for the airport. I had to use my civilian passport, not my military one (I suppose they feared that I might be forced to reveal all of my pediatric secrets there!) For some reason they refused to stamp our passports.

We stayed a block off Red Square and a light blanket of snow lay over the gorgeous St. Basil’s cathedral that December. The streets were all decorated for Christmas, but the churches were museums. [there has been a marvelous transformation today, as there are gorgeous cathedrals all around Moscow that are truly worship centers]

Parked cars lacked windshield wipers – owners had removed them to prevent theft! We visited beryozka shops where Russian goods were only available to foreigners. Local people stood in long lines along the streets not even knowing what for, only that it was a rare chance to get something usually not available. We visited the battleship Aurora where the signal had been given for starting the revolution in 1917. We enjoyed the ballet in the Kremlin. People were friendly.

We took an 11 hour overnight train ride to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) where we enjoyed a performance of the Moscow State Circus and later went to the Leningrad Symphony in a beautiful hall with marble columns and crystal chandeliers, listening to Beethoven’s third.

We loved the gorgeous underground metro stations with their statues, tiled murals, and their own chandeliers. After ascending a long escalator one would often find crowds standing around in the snow eating ice cream cones! BTW, here was one of those “kairos” moments. Returning from the symphony hall we got lost on the metro, and you just can’t get any help from those signs all written in Cyrillic.! As we were stopped at one station, wondering what to do, a lady stopped by who was French but knew some German. I had studied German for two years in college, so was able to gather enough information for us to make it back to our hotel with no problem.

I learned enough Russian to say, “thank you” and “good-bye”. I had to leave behind my collection of fresh, uncirculated 100 Ruble notes with consecutive serial numbers because you could only take Russian coins out of the country, not currency. I was planning to take them anyway, but Valo was sure that I would be taken to Siberia! (They never even checked at customs.)

EPISODE 12

There I was, 110 feet down on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and I was running out of air!

At the end of my senior year of medical school at Baylor I had some free time and took a SCUBA course, including a free ascent from the bottom of a 40 ft tower tank and an open water dive in Lake Travis.

On this dive we were out from Freeport, Texas where the 500 foot long ship VA Fogg had blown up and sank with 39 people 6 months earlier. On the way down I noticed the largest fish I had ever seen just off my left shoulder, a giant sea bass. As we reached the ship, there were creaking and groaning sounds as the mild current had its effects on the vessel.

We had been at the bottom 110 feet down only a short time when I began sucking on the mouthpiece of my SCUBA gear – I was out of air! For each 33 feet you descend you take in another “atmosphere” of air to fill your lungs, i.e. at 66 feet you take in twice as much air with each breath as at the surface. So you use up the air in your tank quickly at greater depths.

Thankfully I still had the “reserve” supply of about 5 minutes (or I wouldn’t be here) and released it by pulling down on the rod attached to the tank. I signaled to my dive partner that I was out of air (by grasping my throat with both hands) and we began our slow ascent.

EPISODE 13

There I was at the swimming pool at Radio Springs and the only people there were myself and beautiful women!

On a break from medical school I was home in Nevada and on this hot, sunny day I decided to go to the old pool down at Radio Springs. That’s when the pool was out in the lake and a large bath house stood on the shore.

Well, I entered the bath house and there was nobody there to check me in, so I went ahead and changed into my swimsuit, took a brief “shower”, stepped into the foot bath, and proceeded on down the steps to the pool.

When I got beside the pool I noticed something strange; all of the other bathers were young women! I located the individual in charge and learned that Cottey College had rented the pool for the day! I explained my situation, and I was allowed to stay.

I got to repeat my one and a half somersault dive off the high board that I had learned from Buzz Adams years before. I had spent many, many enjoyable days at this pool, but I suppose that one was the best!

There I was in Greenwich Village late at night, and noticed a sign that Jim Croce was appearing in a basement below…

In the course of my pediatric training at Baylor College of Medicine we were treated to one special trip per each of the three years. One was to San Francisco, one to New Orleans, and one to New York City. We had enjoyed the current play “Jesus Christ Superstar” and had decided to go for a walk through Greenwich Village. I had heard Jim Croce’s latest songs on the radio, so decided to check him out.

Valo and I walked down those stairs into a rather small room where Jim Croce was sitting at a table speaking to a group of around 12-15 people. He told of growing up in South Philly, and about details of his past life. And he picked up his guitar and sang some of his popular songs, such as Junkyard Dog and Bad Leroy Brown. It was amazing. Sadly, he died in a plane crash not too long after that.

EPISODE 9

There I was staring at the Loch Ness Monster!

Well, think what you will, but I believe that I actually did see the creature. Our boys Sam and Scott were three years old and we had rented a camper truck to drive up to Scotland. (I was in the Air Force and stationed in England). So, we drove up past Edinburgh (where there were several men playing golf out in the rain) and on up to Loch Ness.

We stopped at the ruins of Urquhart Castle, where a number of people had reported seeing the Loch Ness monster. We climbed up into the castle ruins while the boys threw rocks into the water below, trying to hit “Nessie”! There was no sign of the creature. But, as we were driving along the lake road I looked out at the lake to my left and saw what appeared to be an overturned rowboat. I looked back ahead at the road, and when I turned to check out the object it was gone! I have no explanation for what I saw.

EPISODE 10

There I was standing in the Plaza Espana in Madrid as a policeman rushed to me and grabbed my camera from around my neck!

The first trip we took outside of the country while (whilst) stationed in England was with a couple to Madrid, Spain. Bob was the base pharmacist and his wife was Pat. One of the items I bought while there was a lovely guitar at the Guitararia which I still play. Interestingly, there was a shop in Madrid called Colonel Miller’s where U.S. military personnel could purchase local goods at a discount and have them flown back to base in the bomb bay of an F-11!

On a Sunday afternoon Valo and I went to the Plaza de Toros for the bullfight. It was a bright, sunny day and the crowd was enthusiastic with “oles”! The matador that day was especially adventurous, and paid for it. He was down on his knees waiving the red cape when the bull snagged him and tossed him 12-15 feet into the air – twice! Somehow he survived.

Well, as Valo and I were walking into one of the busiest plazas in Madrid I saw an officer standing at a corner with a machine gun. I thought that I must get a photo of that, so I walked to the opposite corner and zoomed into focus on him with my telephoto lens. Unfortunately, I noticed in the viewfinder that another officer was running towards me. Before I could snap the picture, he snatched the camera from around my neck as he motioned for me to follow him!

We were led up some steps into police headquarters and were finally able to understand that it was not allowed to take any photos of that building. I expected that the film would be ripped out of my camera, but they let us go in peace.

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.

I plan to write about one or more of my life episodes on most days here on my website. The “first” one was posted on Facebook yesterday about my encounter with the Houston Mass Murderers”. These next ones will be more or less in chronological order beginning in high school.

There I was, being interrogated by an FBI agent sent by J. Edgar Hoover to talk to me! I was having lunch at Nevada High School when Principal Garland Keithley tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Ronnie, there’s a man here from the FBI that would like to talk to you.” What had I done??

I went to the foyer where a man in a black suit gave his name and indicated that Mr. Hoover had sent him from the Springfield office to see me. I held out my hand, but he refused to shake. He wanted to know what I had heard about communist activity at Cottey College! I told him that my brother, Richard, had a friend over one day and I had heard him mention “all of the communist activity at Cottey College”.

Inquiring minds want to know, so I sent a letter to J. Edgar Hoover and asked him about it. He wrote me back (twice) and said that their files were confidential and recommended his latest book “Masters of Deceit”. It was shortly after this that I was destined for that interrogation. I still have both of Mr. Hoover’s letters.

EPISODE 3

There I was, sitting before 12 men at a table in Jefferson City, being pressed for information by the Governor’s Selection Committee. I was a senior, and they were in the process of selecting two Missouri students out of 15,000 to attend the West Virginia Centennial Science Camp. I had been driven there by Principal Keithley and was a candidate because I had been selected a “Student of High Scholastic Promise” by the curators of MU, and had received the Bell Telephone Science Award.

Well, they selected a student from St. Louis and one from Kansas City, and I was selected as First Alternate Delegate, or number 3 from Missouri. I would go if either of the other two could not attend. They did.

E PISODE 4

There I was walking up the steps in the chemistry building at John Brown University and saw my future wife for the first time. I had heard mention of “the new girl from Dallas”. In that first glance I saw a beautiful young lady with a beautiful smile!

As it turned out, I was her laboratory assistant in Qualitative Analysis in Chemistry and was thrilled when she later accepted my offer of a date. She has been the kindest, sweetest person I have known over the past 55 years!

These episodes are not to boast of how great I am, but of the greatness of God and his love for me (and for all Christians). Similar the the way the apostle John thought, I believe that I am God’s favorite pediatrician! Many stories of special favor and deliverance will follow…