Jerry & Miriam

BRIEFLY DESCRIBE YOUR ROLE AND DUTIES AT FRESHWATER:

What we do at the church includes visiting our seniors and shut-ins. This takes us to area nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. Some we visit are living with family members while others are living alone.We pray with them and take communion to those who ask for it. We try to encourage, listen, comfort and help however and wherever possible. We show them compassion and care letting them know that as part of the body of  Christ they have not been forgotten. We also visit others of the church who are facing surgery, loss of loved ones, illness or otherwise need encouragement.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY:

Our family is large and spread out. We have six children all now married adults. John works for a building contractor, Cheryl, our only daughter is married to a physician and has seven children of her own. Jim is a guidance counselor for a  high school in Pennsylvania. Peter works for a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey. Mark is a pastor in New Mexico working with the Navajo Police doing post traumatic stress counseling. Dave, lives in Norton with our latest grandson, Jacob, and is a graphic designer for Hospice in New Philadelphia. We have 18 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren with another one due in April 2019.

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF A PERFECT DAY OFF?

Curling up in an easy chair with a good book is my idea of a perfect day.

MOST USED EMOJI ON YOUR PHONE? 😄

YOU HAVE YOUR OWN LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW. WHO DO YOU INVITE AS YOUR FIRST GUEST?

The person I would most like to interview is, unfortunately deceased. For the longest time I would like to have sat down with Barbara Bush. She always came across, at least to me, as a genuine person with a great sense of humor, not the least bit pretentious or arrogant. I read where she once chased her own children off the White House tennis courts so the Secret Service members could play. She loved to take jabs at her husband. She even yelled at George W. Bush then President to get his feet off her coffee table. Her husband said, “He’s the President!” Barbara’s response. “I don’t care who he is. Get his feet off my coffee table.” I really would have liked to have interviewed her.

WHAT WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE FOOD AS A CHILD? DO YOU EAT IT AS AN ADULT?

Least favorite food as a kid was salads of any kind. My father called them rabbit food. In contrast my wife grew up eating out of her father’s garden. She has made a convert out of me.

IF YOU COULD ELIMINATE ONE THING FROM YOUR DAILY ROUTINE, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

I would eliminate any drudge work, the boring things you have to do over and over, stuff that never ends, like cutting the grass, trimming hedges, shoveling snow. Why? Because they simply won’t go away. You think you are finished with them and they soon come back – with reinforcements!