My sister and I rode one of the last passenger trains passing through the Bartlesville depot. Grandma Taylor lassoed us onto that train because she wanted a break from driving her clunky AMC Rambler. She wasn’t great at driving and she was even worse at stopping. My nose collided with the cigarette lighter of that [...]
Haunted Houses & Bars of Orion
Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m 14 years old. Which is my typical maturity level, but no, I’m referring to the other cognitive signposts of that age. Take pickleball for instance. As I compete in pickleball tournaments and the competitive juices flow, I feel 14 years old once more. Seven matches later, I realize I’m [...]
Tell me your life story in 4 minutes
Tell me your life story in 4 minutes. This is a question I have been asking my friends and family. Their first reaction is stunned silence, a deer in headlights. Then slowly, the wheels begin to turn and they speak, measured and careful words, maneuvering around covered landmines. The years roll away and they become [...]
Kitchen of Grace
People ask me, "What are you doing in Denver?" I tell them I'm helping Karen Taylor and Tammy Ross cook 700 meals for our youth group from Bartlesville, with very little refrigerator space which means I'm on a first name basis with grocery clerks on Colorado avenue. In the midst of cooking, washing dishes, and [...]
Singing with Al Green
Karen and I were driving through Wisconsin farmland a couple of years ago, and I was overcome by pastoral splendor although it may have been too many cheese curds. I began singing America the Beautiful, like Ray Charles, because after all, my middle name is Ray. I’ve always loved that song. It’s not ambivalent, it resolves, [...]
1922
“I was born at home and my family gave the money we saved by not going to the hospital to the church building fund.” Madison Holroyd
The Singing Stream
I have two brothers. My brother the doctor has spent some time in jail. But he got better...more on that later. The younger is a preacher who has written several books. I have always wanted to write a novel. I've started at least a dozen novels in my mind but none have gotten past page [...]
