Sharing My Story

In my February 1972 newsletter I wrote. "I have been assigned
to take over the making of overhead transparencies. This is a
service that the Audio-Visual department provides for the staff
of Campus Crusade. An overhead transparency is a sheet of acetate
(with drawings, diagrams, and words) that can be placed on an
overhead projector which transfers those images to a movie screen
so that they can be easily seen and read bu an audience. This also give
me an opportunity to put my art background (and cartooning) into
action which is very much to my liking." The reason I got the
transparency making job was to free up Johnny Meitz to work
more fully on a second Christian comics tract, "The Greatest Treasure"
which he illustrated and Bill Bright wrote.

The next part of this letter dealt with a special friend that I met at
the San Bernardino YMCA (which I lived near at the time). The Y
(and my apartment) was on Fifth Street which is on the historical
Route 66 highway. This was special as I remember fondly the old
Route 66 TV program.

Here is what my letter said, "I am very excited about the outside
ministry that God has given me at the YMCA. I have been praying
for another Christian who would be interested in seeing the "Y"
evangelized for Christ. My prayer has been answered in the form
of a dear 56 year old power-lifter (he does 400 ilb. leg squats)
named Don Franklin. Don has been in the San Bernardino "Y"
since he was 9 years old and has been one of the few Christian
witnesses there during that time. He works there part time and
knows the members and staff very well. He has done a good deal
of evangelism and pre-evangelism there himself over the years.
Interestingly enough he has also been praying for help in witnessing
at the "Y". I go on to share how we went to a Lay Institute for
Evangelism at Arrowhead Springs together and were ready to put
into practice what we had learned there at the "Y". We schedule an
event at the "Y' for next month.

My friendship with Don proved to be a long lasting one and lasted
beyond my tenure with Campus Crusade until his death in 1986.
Don, proud of his Irish heritage, was a World War II veteran
(in the tank corps) though to his regret he was never shipped
overseas to see combat. Don was a real unforgettable character-
married with two daughters, a Santa Fe Railroad worker for
many years, a power lifter on the Muscle Beach scene during
the 1950s and a well-read Christian man. We did many social
things together like going to soft ball games, color guard
presentations, power lifting and bodybuilding contests, church
events and just hanging out. What a fine gentleman he was.
I still miss him.