Don's Life Until He Met Elsie

I was blessed with two loving parents, a stay-at-home mom,  four younger brothers, and a fairly close relationship with all four grandparents and a bunch of uncles, aunts, and cousins.  I was born in Dallas, Texas, and mostly grew up in Hughes Springs in northeast Texas.  My dad, Don Sr.,  grew up on a farm between Italy and Frost, Texas, and was a graduate of  Texas A&M.  My mother, Lois, grew up in Dallas and attended SMU (Southern Methodist University) for one year.  They married in 1936 and I was born December 28, 1940.  Because Dad was in the Army Reserve, he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941).  During World War II, we lived where Dad was stationed--in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Detroit, Michigan.  

In the summer of 1947, Dad was hired as Chief Engineer of Lone Star Steel Co. in Lone Star, Texas, and we moved to the nearby town of Hughes Springs, where we became active in the Methodist Church.  I was there from the second grade through high school graduation in 1958.  The one great heartbreaking crisis of our lives was when my brother Roddy died of a staph infection when he was 3 1/2 years old and I was 12. 

Shortly after the move in 1947, my parents bought six acres (and later 4 more acres) on Lone Star Lake.  Because we could see the steel plant on the other side of the lake, so we called our place "the plantation."  It was there that we spent many weekends, especially during the summer, and where I came to love trees, swimming, and water-skiing.

 I've always had a love for the outdoors--God's creation--which is one of the reasons I remained active in the Boy Scouts clear through high school.  I became an Eagle Scout, earned the God and Country Award, and was a member of the Order of the Arrow, an honorary and service arm of the Boy Scouts.  I went to Scout camps every summer, went one summer to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, and went to a BSA National Jamboree in Valley Forge, PA. 

I also played saxophone in the school band during my junior high and high school years, and one year I played high school football.

I attended and received a B.S. degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. I always loved science, and my dad was a mechanical engineer, so I majored in mechanical engineering.  During my five years at SMU I worked at a co-op job at Lone Star Steel Co., paying most of my own way through SMU.  During college, I was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Looking back, it seems that it was primarily during my junior year at SMU that God was starting to call me to understand and live by His truth.  I became intensely interested in the Bible and in seeking God's will for my life.   I feel God led me to the Worldwide Church of God in August, 1962, at the start of my senior year, and I began regular attendance at WCG services. 

That fall, I attended the church's inspiring 8-day observance of the Feast of Tabernacles in Big Sandy, Texas.  And it was there that I  met Elsie Hanson, my future wife!

Elsie's Life Until She Met Don

I was born September 17, 1939, and was named after my mother's sister, Elsie Marie, who died of spinal meningitis at age 11.  I grew up on the east side of Detroit, Michigan, with my two parents (a stay-at-home mom) and my two younger sisters, Carol and June.   My parents, Rudolph (Rudy) and Eunice Hanson, were both Swedish.  Dad immigrated to Michigan from Sweden in 1924 when  he was 19, and Mom was born at Roscommon, Michigan,  to parents who had emigrated from Sweden.  While growing up, we were members of the Lutheran Church.

When I was 5 years old, my parents also had a son, Gerald Lee, born 2 1/2 months premature, and he died in the hospital 17 days later--a terribly sad time in our lives.

 In 1944, my parents bought their first home in Detroit, and I lived there for the next 18 years.  Around 1948, my parents bought around 140 acres on Sugar Island, which is between Canada and the mainland of Michigan.  The waterfront property faced St. Mary's River and was a short ferry boat ride from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  Dad had a cabin built, and that is where we as a family would go in the summers to spend our vacation time.  In 1962, my parents sold their home in Detroit and they and June moved to the Sugar Island cabin while he built a home.  (They lived there until Dad and Mom moved to Springfield, Missouri, in 1965.)

We also enjoyed wonderful times with Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Bud and my cousins, who lived at Higgins Lake near Roscommon, Michigan.  We spent delightful times visiting them and enjoying the swimming and fishing in the lake. 

My high school was Cass Tech, a college-preparatory school in downtown Detroit, where I majored in pre-nursing, commercial, and home economics.  At the time of graduation in 1957, I  lacked the financial means to go to college, so I went to work for Detroit Mutual Insurance Company doing secretarial work.  (After working there for seven years, I did go to college.  More on that later.)   I lived with my parents until 1962, when Dad, Mom, and June moved to Sugar Island.  Then Carol and I lived together until I left for college in 1964.

It seems that God began calling me in 1961.   A good friend, Joyce Dyer-Hurdon, helped me to become interested in the Bible, introduced me to the Worldwide Church of God, and I began attending the church services.  In the fall of 1962, I traveled with the Dyer-Hurdon family to Big Sandy, Texas, to participate in the church's observance of the Feast of Tabernacles.  It was there that I met Don, my future husband!

Our Lives From 1962 to the Present

Elsie and I met each other in the fall of 1962 in Big Sandy, Texas, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the biblical festival that historically has been the highlight of the year for God's people.  We hit it off splendidly, and found we thoroughly enjoyed talking with each other.  Most of our time together was on the church grounds, but we did go on one picnic outing at a roadside park at the top of a high hill, which I afterwards named "Elsie's Mountain."

Elsie had been studying the Bible and attending church services for over a year, whereas I had just started.  So whenever Elsie discovered something biblical that I didn't understand, she promptly gave me a thorough explanation.  Between the sermons I was hearing in the church services and Elsie's "sermonettes," I was learning new biblical truth at a phenomenal rate that week!

Afterwards, Elsie and I began writing, and soon I was making plans to visit her. My parents had moved to a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1959.  When I went to visit them during the December 1962 college break,  I returned to Texas via Detroit and stayed with Elsie's friends, the Dyer-Hurdons.  Elsie and I had a wonderful time.  We continued to write.

I became so excited about the Bible and the Church that I applied for admission to Worldwide Church of God's college, Ambassador College, in Pasadena, California.  I wanted to rapidly learn as much as I could about the Bible, and even though I liked engineering, I was open to the possibility of  turning to a completely different career.  I graduated with High Honors from SMU in May, 1963, with a B.S.M.E. (mechanical engineering degree).  During that summer, I worked for York Corporation in York, Pennsylvania.  

In August, 1963, I drove from Pennsylvania to California--via Detroit naturally.  Elsie and I again had a great time together.  I didn't want to pressure Elsie to go to Ambassador, but I certainly suggested she consider it. She did, and a few months later applied to Ambassador.  Elsie and I continued to write during my freshman year.

 Since I already had another degree, I obtained a B.A. degree from AC in three years.  In 1964, after my freshman year at Pasadena, I transferred to the brand new sister campus at Big Sandy, Texas, and Elsie entered college at the same campus!  I was a pioneer junior student and she was a pioneer freshman student!  We thoroughly enjoyed sharing two wonderful years together there.

I proposed marriage to Elsie on January 1, 1966!  It was a busy spring, as we were planning a wedding.  During that spring, I was asked to consider going to a church area to work as a ministerial trainee, with the idea that I could likely become a church pastor.  I loved the idea, and Elsie shared my dream and eagerness.

I graduated from Ambassador College on Friday, June 3, 1966, with a degree in theology and Elsie and I were married on campus two days later.  Our honeymoon mostly consisted of driving to Akron, Ohio, to begin my first ministerial assignment working under the pastor, David Antion.  My parents and brothers lived near Cleveland, so it was great getting to see them often during the next two years.

We started out in a little one bedroom efficiency apartment.  We served the Akron and Youngstown congregations.  We usually would attend the Youngstown church Sabbath morning and the Akron church Sabbath afternoon.    The next year, the Cleveland church was started.  Then we alternated between Youngstown and Cleveland on Sabbath mornings.  During the week, there was much visiting to be done--with members and prospective members--all over northeastern Ohio and even into Pennsylvania.  Worldwide Church of God was rapidly growing.

Elsie and I originally thought we would wait two years before trying to have a child.  But after about three months, we decided we didn't want to wait any longer.  We love children and were eager to have our own.    Amy Elizabeth was born July 10, 1967, in our apartment with an old Jewish doctor in attendance.  (I grew up with four brothers and no sisters, so having a girl as our first child was extra special to me.  And we have been so glad to have at least one child of each gender.)

In the summer of 1968, I was transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio, to serve the AM and PM churches that met in west Cincinnati.  I worked under three successive pastors--Keith Thomas, Edward Smith, and Walter Sharp.  With all the growth, by the time we moved away from Cincinnati in 1974, there were four congregations in Cincinnati plus other outlying congregations. 

 We first lived in Mt. Healthy, a suburb of Cincinnati, and that is where our son, Randel Paul, was born on August 28, 1969.  My dad and my uncle Joe Hooser were also born on August 28!   Randy too was born in our apartment with a doctor in attendance.

In January, 1972, I was asked to pastor a new congregation--Cincinnati East with about 400 members--and an existing congregation--Portsmouth, Ohio, with about 100 members.  Until we were transferred in 1974, I was in Portsmouth almost every Sabbath morning and in Cincinnati East every Sabbath afternoon. 

We moved and rented a house in Bethel, Ohio, and then rented a house in Mt. Carmel.  Then we decided to buy a home--one that was built for us according to set floor plan.  We moved in during the summer of 1973.  We could hardly have been more excited over the first home of our own.

However, while we lived in the Cincinnati area, Elsie and I were heartbroken to see both sets of parents divorce.  With my parents, the main problem was my dad's worsening alcoholism, for which he would not get help.  Dad quickly remarried and worked a few more years before retiring to his house on the lake between Daingerfield and  Lone Star, Texas.  Mom lived and worked in the Cleveland area for a while and then moved to her home town of Dallas, Texas.

Elsie's dad left her mom largely over his objections to her religious beliefs and his immature desire for complete independence.  So in January, 1974, I brought Mom Hanson from Springfield, Missouri, to our new home to live with us, as she was too devastated to contemplate living alone.  I pulled a trailer with all her remaining belongings.  After living with us for the next several years, she was ready to move into an apartment.  But even then she always moved when we moved to live near us.

In May, 1974, I was asked to transfer to Nebraska to pastor the Grand Island and North Platte churches.  This was very unexpected and disappointing.  We had hoped we could enjoy our new home for several years.  As it turned out, we had it for only one year.  By moving to Nebraska, at least we were closer to my parents, who had moved back to Texas.

In Grand Island, we chose to buy a home with a full basement with the idea that I could finish it off and double our livable floor space.  We needed space since we had a girl and a boy and Elsie's mother was living with us.  I did as much of the work myself as I possibly could.  As busy as I was, it took me five years to get it totally finished.  However, I had a lot of satisfaction in the creative work and seeing it gradually take shape.

We loved Cincinnati and first thought, "Where is Nebraska?"  As time went along, we appreciated more and more the benefits of living there--good, conservative schools, conservative people, low crime rate, healthful food, clean air, etc.  We got to stay there 11 years, so Amy and Randy mostly grew up there.  In fact, Amy graduated from high school just before we moved to Oklahoma.  It was wonderful that they didn't have to move a lot while they were growing up.  And we had a lot of fun experiences.  Almost every winter, we would take a bunch of church kids to Colorado to go skiing.

Our biggest event in Nebraska was having our third child!  Daniel Shawn was born in the snowy night of February 7, 1982.  We had planned to once again have a home birth, but Elsie had some complications, so we went to the hospital.  However, Danny also was born with natural childbirth.

We enjoyed several pets in Nebraska--a German Shepherd named Vopan, cats and kittens, and a Burrowing Owl (about the size of a coffee can). 

All during our married life, Elsie and I have had a big interest in good nutrition.  When we were first married, our first purchase was a bed.  Our second purchase was a wheat grinder in order to enjoy homemade bread from fresh-ground flour!  Our children got off to a good start by being breastfed.  After that, we managed to obtain raw cow's milk most of the time while they were growing up.  And almost all our bread and baked goods were whole grain.  Especially in Nebraska, we were able to get home-grown organic vegetables, fruit, beef, and chickens.

I was transferred to Oklahoma in 1985 to pastor the Ada and Lawton churches.  This brought us a lot closer to my parents and brothers who were in Texas.  It was hard on our son Randy, as he was having to move between his sophomore and junior years.  And it was a set-back academically, as the schools were not as advanced as they were in Nebraska. 

We chose to live in Ada, which is beautiful and wooded and reminded me a lot of east Texas where I grew up.  I drew up a floor plan, and a church member contractor built us a house on a two-acre wooded lot.  We dearly loved that house and the surrounding scenery.  It was a great place for Danny during those years between age 3 and age 8.  We bought Danny a Beagle pup and named her Molly.  We had her for 14 years until 2000.

On December 16, 1987, Elsie's dad died in Hawaii where he had been living for several years.

Amy worked one year after high school to save some money, and then went to Ambassador College in the fall of 1986.  Randy also worked for one year after high school, and started to AC in the fall of 1988.  Amy graduated in 1991 and Randy graduated in 1992.

I was transferred to Dallas, Texas, in 1991 to pastor the third Dallas congregation, Dallas South.  It was exciting to once again pastor a brand new church, and this one started with 300 in attendance.  The congregation was composed of a wonderful mix of races--about 50% white, 30% black, and 20%Latino. 

Dallas was the perfect place for us to be at this time in our lives, because the health of my parents was failing and they were going to need more help and moral support.  I was finally back in my home town near my parents, brothers and their families, and near many other relatives.  And Elsie loved it too, as she has always been very close to all my family.  We chose to live in the suburb of DeSoto, and we were blessed to live there for ten years.  My brothers and I did give more and more help to my parents during the last years and months of their lives.  And Elsie was giving almost daily help to her mom during the last year of her life.  My mom died in 1994, my dad died in 1997, and Elsie's mom died in 1998.

In the fall of 1991, right after moving to the Dallas area, Elsie, Amy, Danny, and I had the privilege of going to Amman, Jordan, to observe the Feast of Tabernacles there with about 200 other church members!  We went on tours during that week, including to the ancient "city" of Petra with all its caves and temples carved into the red cliffs.  The most special experience in Jordan was being invited by Queen Noor to one of King Hussein's palaces for a reception.  She spoke to us for about 45 minutes and then we all got to meet her personally and shake hands.  The next week we stayed in Jerusalem and toured the land of Israel.  The whole trip was a fabulous educational and enjoyable experience!  

In April, 1994, a tornado demolished the Lancaster Town Center which we had been renting for church services.  But the most traumatic occurrence of our lives was a spiritual tornado when the leadership of Worldwide Church of God abandoned the church's historic teaching that the Ten Commandments are still in force under the New Covenant--that they are still valid and valuable.  Herbert W. Armstrong, founder and long-time pastor general of Worldwide Church of God, died in 1986.  He had appointed Joseph W. Tkach to take his place, thinking Mr. Tkach would faithfully preserve the teachings of the Church.  But he and his assistants soon began to gradually water down the doctrines of the Church. 

The apostasy (this "churchquake") reached its climax in 1994 and early 1995.  As a result, in the spring of 1995 hundreds of members were leaving the organization and scores of ministers around the world either resigned or were fired from employment.  I resigned on March 24.  Elsie and I continued attending Worldwide Church of God, hoping that a new organization would soon be formed to carry on what we considered to be the true teachings of the Bible.

It happened.  Some of our ministers organized a conference for April 30 through May 2 in Indianapolis, Indiana, for the purpose of forming a new church organization that would maintain the teachings of the Bible that we so strongly believed in.  Anyone who wanted to come was welcome.  About 300 ministers and wives attended, so we nicknamed it the "Indy 300."  Everyone had to pay his own way, but a church couple in Dallas financially helped Elsie and me so we could attend.  Out of this conference was born United Church of God.  Prior to this, we had felt like we had been abandoned by a mother, but now we felt we had been adopted by a loving mother.  And I was once again employed as a church pastor.

On the very next Sabbath, May 8, United Church of God--Dallas South had its first Sabbath service.  UCG--Dallas North and UCG--Fort Worth started soon after.   In 1996, I began also pastoring another UCG congregation--in Coleman, Texas.  After one year, I was asked to pastor the Waco, Texas, congregation in place of pastoring Coleman. 

In 1998, United Church of God went through a major transition and there was a financial crisis.  As a result, quite a few ministers were asked to go on half salary for a temporary time.  So from about August of 1998 to about December of 1999, I was on half salary from the church.  In addition to the full-time responsibility of pastoring two congregations, I had to get another full-time job.  In the fall of 1998, I worked for the DeSoto High School and taught five classes of freshman physical science. After two six-week periods, I resigned because of the huge stress.  From then until December 1999 I worked as a newspaper reporter for a newspaper that reported on the news of four Dallas suburbs.  The pay was low, but I was glad to be doing that as I love to write and I was getting valuable journalistic experience.  I averaged writing over 3 articles per week.  In one year I wrote about 175 articles that were all published in the newspaper.  But that period of time set us back financially and it was very stressful on my health.  I was glad, though, to be helping the Church survive a financial crisis.

Speaking of health, in 1997 I began to have a chronic problem of  extremely  itchy blisters and lesions on my skin.  Over the next three years, I went to five dermatologists and other medical specialists trying to get a correct diagnosis.  Finally, in August of 2000, a dermatologist with the help of a lab test correctly diagnosed the problem as dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), an auto-immune disease that is characterized by gluten intolerance.  (I am DH--Don Hooser--with DH.)  Gluten is in wheat, rye, oats, and barley.  So from August, 2000, I have diligently tried to avoid ingesting any of those grains or anything made from those grains. 

DH, dermatitis herpetiformis, is related to CD, celiac disease, as reactions with both diseases are triggered by gluten.  But whereas the reaction with CD is damage to one's small intestine, the reaction with DH is blisters on one's skin.

I try to look on the positive side of having DH.  God has given us an amazing variety of things to eat, so there are still plenty of choices for me.  And since most desserts and junk food are made partly with wheat flour, I pass them up and end up having a more healthful diet overall.

 We knew for a year that I was to be transferred in the summer of 2001, partly because the two Dallas churches were going to be combined into one Dallas congregation.  We were expecting to be transferred to some place far from Dallas, Texas, where our children live.  So it was a delightful surprise to learn that the church administration wanted to put a resident pastor in nearby Austin, Texas, and we could move there to pastor three congregations--Austin, Waco, and Coleman. (I already was pastoring Waco and I had previously pastored Coleman.)  So for three years, we lived in Leander, Texas, a suburb of Austin.

Then in 2004, I was transferred to pastor a congregation of about 100 people in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, between Seattle and the Canadian border!   Elsie and I feel very blessed to be assigned to a congregation whose members are spiritually strong, faithful, and dedicated.  We live in Bellingham WA, which is only about 20 miles from the Canadian border.

Naturally, the sad part for Elsie and me is to move far away from our children, other family members, and countless friends in Texas.  We are glad to be near two major hub airports--Seattle/Tacoma and Vancouver B.C.--while our children are near the major hub airport of Dallas/Fort Worth.  We try to get to Dallas at least once per year and hope that our children will come to see us at least once per year!

The fall of 2004 was a tight and exciting schedule.  We oversaw the loading of the moving van on September 13, and we arrived in Dallas on the 15th to visit our children.  Then the joyous occasion of our son's wedding.  I conducted the ceremony on the 19th when our son Randy married Natalie Engelbart.  They reside in Flower Mound, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

For the next three days Elsie and I were driving to Washington.  The moving van was unloaded at our new home on the 23rd and 24th.  Then on the 29th, we drove to Kelowna B.C. for our church's annual 8-day observance of the Feast of Tabernacles!

The joyous occasion in 2006 was on August 20 when our daughter, Amy, married Don Wuerfel!    Again, I had the honor and pleasure of presiding over the wedding ceremony!  I wasn't very nervous about conducting a wedding, as I have done that many times.  But this was my first and only time to walk down the aisle with the bride.  That was when I was the most nervous--as well as overjoyed.  They reside in Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

In November of 2006, our son Danny moved from Dallas to live with his parents until he finishes his college education.  We are delighted to have him back with us again!

The big change for me in 2009 was a partial career change--at age 68!  In January, I became a full-time writer for the Church's Editorial Department!  I still actively serve as an elder in my local congregation (Sedro-Woolley WA), but the majority of my time is spent writing, reviewing and editing for our church publications.  My main ongoing project has been to assist Mike Bennett in writing Bible lessons for Bible Study Guides, a new church website for interactive online Bible study that is expected to launch in early 2010.

The opportunity to spend most of my work time in writing and editing is a giant blessing to me.  I've always enjoyed writing, and I've really come to love it in the last several years.  The big turning point for me was when the church, because of a financial crisis, put me and about 100 other elders on half-salary from August 1998 to December 1999.  I had to get a full-time job--in addition to pastoring two churches--and I worked for about a year as a newspaper reporter, getting valuable journalistic experience.  I averaged writing over 3 articles per week.  In that one year I wrote about 175 articles that were all published in the newspaper.  My writing ability improved significantly during that time.

We are excited to be in one of the most beautiful parts of America, with the ocean, the surrounding forests, and the Cascade Mountains.   My favorite year-round recreation has become mountain hiking. And I have taken up snow skiing again at nearby Mt. Baker.  An additional blessing for us is that June, one of Elsie's two sisters, and her husband and son live in one of the Seattle suburbs.

The closest Festival site for the annual Feast of Tabernacles in Kelowna, B.C., so we go there more often than any other site.  It is only about four hours from our home.  And since living here, we have had the surprising opportunity to make a trip to Alaska! 

I'll write the next chapters of our lives as they take place.  Now you know more about us.  We would like to know more about you. 

God be with you.

Don