Meet Jim and Alice from Waverly, NY

Jim and Alice have known each other for 50 years and have been married for 47 of them. As a young adults, they studied music at Fredonia State University. At the end of his first year, Jim was kicked out of college because he enjoyed drinking more than studying. As soon as he got kicked out of college, he lost his deferment from the Vietnam Draft. Fortunately for Jim, he says that it was a blessing in disguise. He was sent to Hawaii to play clarinet for the military band. The band was even featured in an episode of Hawaii Five-0! Alice was a country girl. She met Jim in her senior year of college. Both of them had a great love of music and often attended the same events together. Upon Jim returning home from deployment, they both became missionaries for their church. Shortly after they were married, their pastor offered many opportunities to go overseas to teach music and do missionary work. They declined the offers as they wanted to stay and do their missions in the United States. They leaned into their faith and made the hard decision to move to Kenya for one year to teach. One year turned into 33 years of their life together, working as missionaries, In East Africa!! They raised two beautiful children in Kenya. They said the hardest thing about their missionary pilgrimage was that their children had to attend a private boarding school that was over three hours away. The children would stay at school for three months and then come home for one month. If they wanted to give their children a good education a private boarding school was the only way it was going to happen in Kenya in the 1980s. They said back then there was no WiFi or cell phones in East Africa. Eventually, they retired from being missionaries and moved back to the United States with two grown children. Their daughter, Sarah, married a student that she attended the boarding school with back in Kenya. She moved to Washington DC and now has two beautiful children. She works in the medical field as an educator. Their son, Nate, has dedicated his life to helping the elderly and works in a nursing home in Ohio. The one thing they want to tell the world is, “God has a wonderful plan for your life. Trust the plan and have faith.” Thank you so much for taking the time to share your incredible story. Thank you so much for visiting!