Category: Features

John Kaufeld’s entire demeanor is joyful.

He welcomes a complete stranger with a big smile and a friendly handshake, and within minutes he begins talking in funny accents.

John is a published writer and like many of his stories, when asked about his life, he is an open book.

But he never planned to be a writer. That aspect of him, like the majority of his life, was unexpected.

John went to Ball State University to become a professor. He said he had it all planned out: get his undergrad, his master’s degree, and finish with his Ph.D.

But that never happened.

He overslept the graduate management admissions test his senior year, and that one misstep changed his life-long plans.

So, instead he graduated with a business management degree and got a job.

Right out of college, John’s first job was working with PC tech support in Indianapolis.

“I’ve always been a people person,” John said. “But, I had a passion for computers. With this job, I got the opportunity to work with both.”

After that, John’s career started its rollercoaster ride of unexpected twists.

He worked for a network installation company, a computer graphics firm, did system analysis work for a few companies, PC programing, and analysis report writing.

During that time he got married and had two children, a boy and a girl.

“And then the story takes a very weird turn,” John said. “A past coworker of mine asked me if I would be a tech editor for a ‘For Dummies’ book.”

This book was supposed to be a “do it yourself” troubleshooting guide.

John said that when he went to edit it, the book was awful and the original author didn’t have the expertise on computers that he did.

So, they asked him to help write it.

Little did he know that this would lead to him writing “For Dummies” books for 10 years.

“I have 36 books published for the company,” John said. “With just under 3 million books in print, and a total of 15 languages around the world.”

He said he loved this time in his life, but it was very stressful. Each book was about 385 pages and they had to be written on an 8-week schedule. John said that’s about 5 pages per day.

After a decade of writing “For Dummies” books, and homeschooling his two children with his wife, John felt like it was time for a change.

So, on a whim, he decided to open a retail store in 1997.

His store, “More than Games,” sold American and well-known European board games.

John said he loved having the store open because it gave him the opportunity to work with people after being behind closed doors writing for so long.

In 2000, John and his family decided to move away from Indianapolis. John closed the store in Indy, but opened a new one here in Fort Wayne.

He kept the store open for a few years in Fort Wayne but eventually ended up closing in 2005. After that, John worked for a trade association. For that company, he helped buy and sell different types of games.

During that time John, unsurprisingly, had yet another twist in his life. In 2003 John and his wife welcomed another baby girl to the family.

John said after all of that, and much more, he ended up at a university. Since 2009, John has worked as the chief communications officer at IPFW.

He said that his favorite part about this job is the social media aspect and getting a chance to work with students.

“There are times that I feel like I live in your back pocket,” John said. “I hear the thoughts that are posted out there that have IPFW in them, and I get to help them even when they don’t ask. They have no expectation that I’ll actually respond to them.”

John said he never would have imagined that he would be working with social media the way it is today.

“When I got out of college I remember the first time that one of my friends explained to me, ‘Dude there’s this crazy thing called the internet and computers connect,’” John said laughing, mimicking his friend’s voice. “And I remember being like, ‘No way! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!’”

A lot has changed since then in John’s life, and in the technological world. Now-a-days, John likes to call himself “the secret voice of IPFW.”

When people complain about a problem they’ve had with the school or the school itself, John now has the ability to reach out and help students.

He said, even though it is through social media, John loves his job because he gets to work with people and help them solve any issues they might have.

 

Megan Dues hunched over the bathtub and cried out in pain as Piper, her 2-year-old daughter, sat in the water.

Dues quickly removed Piper from the bathtub in fear of something worse happening, but Piper did not leave her mother’s side.

“Piper held my hand and patted my back and said, ‘It’s going to be okay, mom,’” Dues said.

It was the only time she experienced a ruptured cyst alone with Piper, but Dues said she specifically remembers the situation as the first time she realized Piper was there for her.

Dues unexpectedly became pregnant with Piper when she was 18 years old. She said this changed her plans in life and more struggles arose accordingly, but she thrived during adverse times.

For instance, Dues said she struggled with diet restrictions from her endometriosis — what causes cysts to grow and rupture — and having 32 food allergies. But she adjusted to her limitations and saw the silver lining — she has to be healthy.

“Dieting has definitely changed my life for the better,” Dues said. “Even though I have all my restrictions, it makes me feel healthier.”

When Piper was almost three, Dues’ boyfriend broke up with her after he spent the first years of Piper’s life as her father figure, even though he is not a biological parent. Consequently, the family they created split apart as Dues and her daughter moved into her parents’ house.

She said this transition was the lowest point of her life, but she was tired of letting adversities consume her.

“I just decided one day that things weren’t going to get better unless I focused on myself,” Dues said, “like getting out of my parents’ house, getting back on my feet, getting back to having my own things. I just couldn’t sit there.”

To get out of her depression, Dues said she set new goals and began working as a baker in a hotel resort. She enjoyed her job, and it helped her discover a passion for cooking. It also lead her to meeting her soulmate, Bill Dues, another chef at the resort.

“I was thinking how ridiculous she looked with her tall chef hat on and her retro-framed glasses on,” her husband said, as he smiled talking about the first time they met. “She asked me to make her a salad, and I thought, ‘Who is this girl?’”

Since meeting Bill, Dues said her life has improved tremendously. He is the piece she had been missing, and today, they have a daughter together, Willow, who Dues said takes the highest priority in her life along with Piper.

She hopes her daughters will grow into strong, ambitious women.

“If you aren’t passionate about something then where are you going to go in life?” Dues said, while holding Willow’s hands to help her stand. “I just want them to be happy with where they end up in the future.”

One passion in Dues’ life is horses. When she was in seventh grade, her parents gifted her Sophie. She said her life began to improve by having an outlet to help release her stress and anxiety. To this day, she still has Sophie.

For her future, Dues said she hopes to own a horse farm in Michigan, and bake for people who have numerous allergies like her.

But, today, Dues said she is content with her life, and proud of herself for overcoming the obstacles she has faced.

“I’m glad that everything happened, because even though I am not where I want to be yet, I am happy with who I am, who I am with, and what I now know,” Dues said. “This is just the happiest I have been in my entire life.”

Cinema Center is not your typical theater.

Instead of showing major studio releases, the non-profit organization focuses on giving Fort Wayne natives a unique experience.

They feature indie, experimental, foreign, and classic films, since it was founded in 1976.

Currently residing at 437 E. Berry St., moves are a part of its history.

“Going from space to space severely limited the types of films that could be shown,” Jonah Crismore says.

Jonah, the current executive director for Cinema Center, says it is always changing.

Cinema Center was formed after The Spectator Theater was shut down, and film enthusiasts wanted to see movies that were different from what were shown at regular theater chains according to its website.

Prior to finding a home in the Hall Community Arts Center in 1991, the Cinema Center debuted films at any location available.

It showed “The Big Sleep,” their first film, on Sept. 11, 1976, in the Fort Wayne Art School auditorium in West Central according to the website.

After their first event, they continued to show films in the Allen County Public Library, One Summit Square, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, according to the website.

Kathy Bock, currently an adviser to the Board of Directors, says she found the organization shortly after coming to Fort Wayne.

“I was very happy to have a place like Cinema Center to go to myself,” she says.

Kathy says she had her first Cinema Center experience around 1980 at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, but the quality was not ideal.

She says they sat on regular chairs right next to the projector, which was almost louder than the movie itself.

This did not stop her from going back to Cinema Center.

“That was before you could rent movies to see on your VHS or your Betamax player or whatever it was,” she says.

Similar to Kathy, Jonah first encountered Cinema Center when he was a teenager. Though he says the experience was different from what he was expecting, it still had an impact on him.

“This is truly where I learned to love film,” he says.

Because of the movies that they show, Cinema Center has been able to differentiate themselves from larger nearby theaters.

“Cinema Center is more about showcasing film as an art form,” Kathy says. “I think and if you come to movies there, you’ll definitely notice a difference in the kinds of films you see.”

Tammara Cornett, the director of office administration and bookkeeping at Cinema Center, says she appreciates the diverse collections of films they show, which is how her and her husband found out about the organization.

At its current location, Cinema Center houses only one screen, but has a number of other commodities.

They have upgraded to a digital projector in recent years, as well as adding brand new seats and Dolby sound, and also featuring a wine bar section for concessions, Kathy says.

Even though they are not a theater like Carmike or Regal, Jonah says they still feel the consequences of the industry.

He says that with fewer people going to see movies now, Cinema Center is looking for new ways to bring people to their location.

“We’re constantly having speakers come in to generate excitement,” Jonah says, “as well as just create more awareness that we’re here.”

But guest speakers and unique films are not the only things that make Cinema Center unique, Kathy says.

They will sometimes have food trucks stationed in their parking lot ahead of special screenings, or will hold discussions after the credits have rolled as well Kathy says.

Kathy says all of this is part of making the trip to Cinema Center more than a film experience.

“To get people to come to the theater,” Kathy says, “its more about making it an event and making it an occasion to come to the theater.”

Jonah says this is not the typical community for independent art theaters, but they have supported the organization continuously.

“The community has always rallied around and helped Cinema Center persevere,” Jonah says.

Moving forward, Cinema Center will continue to bring new events for members such as Hobnobben, Fort Wayne’s first film festival that they hosted for four days last year, Kathy says.

Jonah says they are happy with their current location, but one with more screens, foot traffic, and in the heart of downtown Fort Wayne would be ideal.

For now, Cinema Center will stay in the same location it has been in for over 15 years, and Jonah urges more citizens to visit.

“If you haven’t been here give it a try,” Jonah says. “I mean, there’s no reason not to. We show better films than anybody else and we show films that, you know, are definitely more likely to make you think.”

Summer of 1983 was the first time anyone in Fort Wayne could buy a CD.

In fact, the only place you could get a CD was from 24-year-old Bob Roets, owner of the Wooden Nickel record store on North Clinton Street.

The CD cost $32, and Bob said he also purchased one of the first CD players, a Japanese-released Toshiba, for $850.

Bob said people have been coming back to buy their CDs ever since they started selling.

“And that’s what keeps us going,” Bob said. “That’s why in this particular store I’ve made money every single month since I opened in ’82. I’ve never lost money here.”

Bob said he moved to Fort Wayne in 1980, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, to manage Slatewood Records.

In 1982, the owner of Slatewood Records closed all the stores in one week. Six weeks later, Bob opened Wooden Nickel in Slatewood’s vacant lot.

“Wooden Nickel actually opened with $8,000 that my wife and I had saved up at the time,” Bob said, “and my record collection, which was about 3,000 albums.”

He said the name came from customers using small, wooden nickels to get free music. Ten tokens equal a $5 credit at the stores.

After the success of the first store, Bob said he opened a second location on North Anthony Boulevard, near IPFW and Ivy Tech, their “college store.”

He hired one of his biggest competitors, Tim Hogan from Karma Records, to manage that location.

Bob said Tim’s store was the only place locals could get vinyl in the early 1990s, when they largely stopped being pressed and sold, after the CD boom.

“We never gave up on vinyl,” Bob said. “We were the only place that you could get vinyl for about 15 years.”

By 1988, Bob he had six stores open across town.

Then, a free music downloading website called Napster appeared in 1998, and Bob said it changed the business forever. His younger clients started to download all of their music, instead of buying it in store.

“People were enamored by the fact that they thought they could get something for nothing,” Bob said.

By 2007, it had cost him three stores.

After that, Bob took part in the first ever Record Store Day, along with 130 other record stores nation wide.

Record Store Day is held on the third Saturday of April every year where Bob said record stores have hundreds of new releases and special sales.

“That was a turning point on vinyl,” Bob said. “Because no one was collecting vinyl and nothing was being pressed.”

Bob said for the first couple of years, he couldn’t get the local press to talk him about it. But vinyl changed everything, and Record Store Day has become his busiest day of the year.

The tables turned. Now the press calls him ahead of time to cover it.

Ten years ago, Bob had no vinyl in his store. Now, he has about 6,800 records in his location alone.

Tim’s location now sells about 120-150 vinyl pieces every day.

“New vinyl is really, really big,” Tim said. “I just had a guy buy three new albums, it was like $75. If people want something, they’re willing to pay for it. It’s pretty shocking.”

Bob’s son Chris said he grew up in the stores and has been around music his whole life.

“My mom would put me in the bins to corral me,” Chris said. “And when I was in my baby walker, I would sometimes leave the store and walk down the corridor and someone would have to bring me back because I escaped.”

He was the manager of the West Jefferson location in 2008, before leaving to open his own store, Entourage Music, in 2013.

Now he’s back where he started, managing Wooden Nickel.

After Entourage Music closed, he said he brought all of his merchandise over to the West Jefferson store.

“Our total work experience in-store is well over a hundred years,” Bob said. “And I don’t know how many record stores could say that around the country.”

Tim has been selling records for 45 years, Bob has for 39 years, and his wife Cindy has for 34 years.

Next year will be the 35^th anniversary of Wooden Nickel and the 10^th anniversary of Record Store Day. Bob said it’s a pivotal year for the company.

One of the things he has planned is bringing bigger musicians such as Bob Dylan to the Foellinger Theatre. You can buy tickets to the show and others at any of the Wooden Nickel shops.

“Next year I’m really looking forward to,” Bob said.

 

Growing up in her household, there was no talk of going to college for Gabriela Romo.

She was told once high school was over, she would work at the factory to provide for her family.

In a family that had never gone to college, with a father who never made it past the third grade, Gaby was never allowed to think about going herself.

That was until her junior year of high school, when soccer changed everything.

“The coach came and saw me play and she told me I was going full ride,” Gaby said,  laughing at the thought. “I had absolutely no idea what that meant, but I said yes and here I am.”

Gaby said she never thought she would get to play the sport she loved at such a high level while getting an education at the same time.

When Gaby told her parents she wanted to go to college, she said they didn’t know what that was, but agreed as long as they didn’t have to pay.

“I grew up with a very family oriented perspective,” Gaby said. “I know that if I invest this time and get a good job, then however much time God gives me, I can provide for them for the rest of my life.”

A few years ago, her cousin in Mexico got a bacterial infection. Gaby said that in Mexico people have to pay before treatment, but her cousin couldn’t afford it.

Her health became worse, and she was eventually put on a ventilator.

Gaby said she saved $2000 that summer to send down to her cousin, but it couldn’t save her.

She ended up passing away because no one could afford her treatment.

“That’s what made me want to be a doctor. If you’re a doctor the money shouldn’t matter,” Gaby said. “They should have run more tests. They should have saved her.”

Due to that traumatic experience, and realizing that soccer wouldn’t last forever, she said her new plan is to go to medical school and become a family physician.

Gaby said she has always wanted to help people, which was passed down to her from her mother’s ways. She said her mother is the glue that holds her family together.

Her mother always encouraged her and her siblings to look out for one another and to achieve their dreams.

“But my father, he is the one who divides us. He belittles me and my five siblings,” Gaby said. “He would always say things like, ‘You guys are useless,’ and when I would be doing homework he’d say, ‘School’s not important get your butt up and clean.’”

Gaby said her father never approved of her pursuits of education, her desire to learn, or her love for soccer. He would tell her since she was a girl she was supposed to do the chores, and that soccer was for guys.

She said he would even hit her and her siblings, which led to her having a low self-esteem at a young age.

But soccer was her escape.

Gaby would have to wait until he left for work to go outside and practice. She started at just 6 years old.

“God gave me that man as my father,” Gaby said. “No matter what, this is how my life was supposed to be. That is why I am here today.”

 

Esteban Coria dismissed the loud bang in the night, thinking it was just the dumpsters slamming outside.

After all, it had been a windy day.

But it was far from just wind.

Coria, a college student at IPFW at the time, found an unconscious man in a car the next morning, a gun laying on the seat beside him.

He attempted to take the man’s pulse, but found nothing.

“I just remember thinking, why couldn’t he have gotten help from someone?” Coria said. “Why does someone feel so desperate that there is no one who can help them at all?”

Mary Ross, director of Project COMPASS – Community Project Against Student Suicide – said IPFW lost seven students to suicide last year.

“That was really overwhelming last year,” Ross said. “That is a very high number for the size of our campus.”

Jeannie DiClementi, an associate professor of psychology at IPFW and the principal investigator for Project COMPASS, said suicide is the second leading cause of death among the ages of 15 to 24.

Prior to Project COMPASS’ founding in 2012, the university did not have a suicide prevention program.

DiClementi said Project COMPASS focuses on reducing the stigma surrounding mental health and educating students on suicide in order to prevent it on campus.

She said certain groups are more vulnerable to suicide. This includes LGBTQ students, ethnically diverse students, and students in the military.

The National Center for Health Statistics recently reported the overall suicide rate for Americans increased by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014.

Project Director Ross herself attended a high-pressure, private college 300 miles away from home. She said there were a number of suicides, but it was during a time when people didn’t talk about suicide.

Ross said she remembered a student who committed suicide by jumping from a dorm window.

“Blood stains don’t come up that easy,” Ross said.

Carrie Romines, a wellness specialist at the university, said the hardest part of her job is fighting the stigma against mental health.

“Not only do people not want to admit there’s something wrong,” Romines said, “but other people just don’t know how to handle it, and they don’t want to hear about it.”

MaryAnne Skora, a former communications student at IPFW, said she was affected by the stigma.

Skora first started feeling depressed her senior year of high school. During her freshman year of college in 2013, she began to have suicidal thoughts.

“I remember, actually, being at IPFW in the library, I think on the fifth floor. That’s kind of when the suicidal thoughts started at first,” Skora said. “I felt so much pressure to be perfect. I didn’t really know how to express myself, so I completely isolated.”

She hid her self-harm scars from her parents because she thought they would be ashamed. She would attempt suicide the following year.

Skora thought she could make a quick recovery and return home. Instead, she would later be readmitted for attempting suicide again in August of 2015.

Knowing something had to change, Skora began to share her experience, something she feels is important for those with depression.

“I started realizing I have to talk about this, because think of how many other people are struggling and they don’t have anyone to talk to,” Skora said. “I definitely think it’s important to at least tell someone how you are feeling and find the right person to do it, that you trust.”

On the IPFW campus, Project COMPASS also offers Gatekeeper training, a three-hour class on the signs of suicide and how to approach students who are being affected by depression.

“We’re not training mental health professionals, we’re training the average student and the average faculty member,” Principal Investigator DiClementi said. “When they’ve got a student or roommate talking about being depressed, they will know what to do.”

Ross said one of the challenges COMPASS is facing is figuring out how to get information out through different mediums.

She said COMPASS is looking to create a hybrid Gatekeeper training program, with both online and in-person sessions.

Coria, now a continuing lecturer in Spanish at IPFW, would later learn of a new suicide prevention tool, Telemental Health.

Telemental Health uses telecommunications such as videoconferencing and texting to provide behavioral health services, including access to counselors.

One of the various programs, Crisis Text Line, allows someone experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts to anonymously text a trained professional.

Two of Coria’s students committed suicide in 2016, and he said he can’t help but wonder what would happen if there more options like Telemental Health for students.

“I think it’s a feeling of guilt, shock and sadness,” Coria said. “The next step is asking how can I change this, how can I make this better, how can I prevent future suicides?”

 

IPFW Health and Counseling Resources:

IPFW Parkview Assistance Program: https://www.ipfw.edu/counseling/

IPFW Community Counseling Center: www.ipfw.edu/counseling-center

Project COMPASS: 260-481-6778, Kettler Hall Room G82

 

A year ago, when Fort Wayne native Liz Turkette was in Maryland with her boyfriend Chris, they saw a woman walking her dog while topless.

The woman was simply exercising her right, at least in 36 states, to expose her breasts in public. But it made Liz feel uncomfortable.

Liz said it made her think about why she was uncomfortable, and she realized it was because of how society has portrayed women and how it has sexualized female breasts.

“It’s so obvious that women are treated as pieces of meat,” Turkette said. “You see it in advertising, and men throw dollars at us because we’re taking our tops off.”

Liz said she now recognizes that people feel uncomfortable because of how female breasts are portrayed and is working to bring awareness to it.

“A male’s chest can look sexy, just like my chest,” Turkette said. “And I can be turned on by a male’s chest, just like they can be turned on by mine. But I have to control my mind and they don’t? That’s not okay.”

In Indiana and 13 other states, only men are allowed to go topless in public.

But things weren’t always this way. According to the Go Topless organization website, men were not legally allowed to be topless until 1936 in America.

Women were not allowed to sport bare breasts in any state until 1992, when a law was passed in New York, and 35 other states followed.

Fourteen other states have more ambiguous laws. In three, Indiana, Utah and Tennessee, it is completely illegal for a woman to expose their nipples in public. If she is topless, her nipples must be covered.

But local women are working to change that, by bringing the Free The Nipple movement to Fort Wayne.

Lauren Conklin, a 23-year-old Fort Wayne native, helped organize her first Free The Nipple rally on Aug. 14, along with Turkette.

They held the protests in front of the Fort Wayne Courthouse holding signs and going topless, while wearing pasties or covering their nipples as Indiana law dictates they must.

“What better way to bring on awareness and have people actually start asking you questions about why these women are doing this than doing something a little edgier?” Conklin said.

Conklin said there were only about 20 people at the first rally. But with the help of Facebook, they were able to raise more awareness for the next one.

120 people showed up to the second Free The Nipple rally on Sept. 12.

“We had this turn out of really excited and really ambitious women,” Conklin said. “And even men were showing up and saying ‘How can I support you guys?’”

The Free The Nipple Facebook page said that men were encouraged to come wearing bras or bikini tops to highlight gender inequality.

Both Conklin and Turkette said that Indiana passing the law for women to go topless legally would be a step toward gender equality.

Fort Wayne activist Vijaya Birkes-Adams said she works alongside Conklin and Turkette to fight for their right to make the same choices men do.

“In order for us to fully embody equality, we really need to be able to do be viewed in the same way as a man, and just being human in a human body,” Birkes-Adams said. “A big part of this is combatting the notion that women’s bodies are for men’s pleasure.”

Birkes-Adams said she likes to go topless sometimes, like when it’s hot and she’s working in the garden. Her fiancé takes his shirt off.

“For me to make myself uncomfortable just because someone thinks my body is inappropriate is not fair,” Birkes-Adams said. “It just needs to change.”

Birkes-Adams and Conklin said this anxiety is perpetuated by the negative comments that the women involved with this movement receive.

They said much of the criticism they receive is from comments online, mostly on their Free The Nipple Facebook page.

“When you’re not face to face, people feel more comfortable saying horrible things about us,” Birkes-Adams said. “Like calling us sluts or saying that we’re just out there for attention.”

But the rude comments aren’t stopping these women.

A third rally was held on Oct. 10, and Turkette said they are planning to have a fourth rally on April 10.

Conklin said they plan on holding these rallies until women can go topless legally in Indiana.

“You’ve got to plant the seeds,” Conklin said. “And you may not sit in the shade of that tree, but you have to plant it.”

McKayla Atkinson (front row, far left) and Lauren Sanderson (front row, second from left) participated in Fort Wayne’s Free the Nipple Rally on September 12. Photo by Liz Turkette.

 

 

 

It’s James Ramsey and his wife Dee’s 15^th-annual vacation down in Florida.

A cool summer breeze blows over the beach softly, mingling with the ocean. The water ripples. The sand shines under the sun. Life is peaceful.

But suddenly, James cannot breathe. He feels a pain in his arms run up his neck. A man in a golf cart drive him back to his condo, and after taking the nitroglycerin, James feels better.

James thought this heart attack was just angina, which would improve with treatment. However, later that night, he had another heart attack, and this time, the nitroglycerin did not fix anything.

“Okay, we’re going to the hospital cause we have done it so many times,” James said, “but this time, the doctor says you’re not going home.”

So James had two choices: Stay, or die.

He would have to have the bypass surgery on the first day of his vacation.

Yet, James said he was neither afraid of the surgery nor death. The only thing he fretted was the impact of this surgery on his part-time career, that of a reserve police officer.

James, at the age of 54, wondered if he would have to give up the job he loved.

He didn’t want to. He said he still remembers the moment he decided to be a police officer for the rest of his life.

It was 24 years ago. The 30-years-old James was volunteering at the police department.

One afternoon, James and another officer were working on a crash. The accident blocked the road. People driving by were looking at what was going on while James was directing traffic. At that moment, it hit him – he was making a positive contribution.

“I wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” James said, “and as a police officer, I was part of the solution, and that was what drove me.”

James finished the police officer training academy at the age of 48 with outstanding performance, and he started work as a reserve police officer in the same year.

He said he looks after his gun and his uniform as his child. He hangs all his badges and his award certificates on his wall.

But what about his health? Is it worth his life to continue his work?

James remembers his father, who he said influenced him the most.

His father had him at the age of 17, and James jokes that children raised him up. Through his childhood, his father played with him, took him to different places, and did many fantastic things. His father taught him how to hunt, James remembered, they were like best friends.

James was even named after his dad, James, and he considers himself the extended version of him, the guy who will get up and go to work no matter how sick he was.

“I watched him hacking and throwing up and he would go to work,” James recalled. “There was a running joke where he worked in, ‘If Ramsey did not show up, he was dead.’”

Since his father could stick it out, why couldn’t he?

After all, he has Dee, the caring wife who always supports him. James says Dee is around whenever he needs help, and Dee packed a lunch for him every single day he was on duty.

Even during the unexpected surgery, Dee said she tried to be organized.

She recalls getting up to walk the beach before going to the hospital every day, sitting in his room even if James was sleeping from his medication. She asked friends to pray for them, and found help from her sister to fly down to Florida.

Even after the surgery, Dee still supported her husband being a reserve police officer, because she knows he just wanted to help.

She says it’s the reason she married him 40 years ago.

Eight years after bypass surgery, James retired in 2015 at the age of 63. He feels much healthier than before, and has started the new challenge of learning Chinese.

So if someone asked James, “Is doing what you love worth your health?”

His answer would still be yes.