Radioman

Years ago our church did Rich Warren's 40 Days of Purpose.  I had a minor role in all that.  There were weekly drama sketches associated with the lesson for each of the 6 weeks.  I played a woman named Ronda.  She was absolutely clueless about God's plan for her life, but sweetly innocent in all her shenanigans.  Ronda was a BIG hit with our congregation. 

As a result I was typecast at church.  People didn't know my real name.  They didn't know me outside of Ronda.  The best part of all this was that Ronda was actually as crazy as I am.  Which is probably why I played her so well.  Even though she lacked common sense, we shared a sense of the outrageous.  I loved playing Ronda.  It wasn't until this year that I actually retired Ronda.  They have asked her back for the last 7 years to do announcements or small sketches on things. 

One gentleman in our church especially loved Ronda.  His name was Ray Daves.  He would yell "RONDA" across the foyer and give me big hugs.  I think if I were to label it, I would call him Ronda's groupie.  At the time I had no idea that Ray had such an amazing past.  He never really talked much about it.  I think if you'd ask him, he'd introduce himself as Marian's husband.  He has one of the best laughs and a great sense of humor.

The more I learn about Ray, the more I want to be around him.  He had a book written about his time in World War II called Radioman.  Now he is being honored by having the control tower of our airport named after him.  It still has to pass through the House before it's official, but I don't really see why it wouldn't.  He's an extraodinary man who is the first to tell you his family is his first accomplishment.

Even though Ronda is the part of me that Ray always identified with, it's Kelly who is in awe of his character.