1969 The year we became new creatures
![In Christ [we become]... a new creature](quote.JPG)
| NOTE: What you read below is briefly our conversion story from my point of view. To read Susie's more in depth version, please CLICK HERE for a transcript from her first journal written in 1976. It is a text file 14 pages long (page 20 to page 34 of her journal). 1969-01-27 Susie had been asking me to take her to church. When I finally explained to her that I wasn’t convinced that God even existed and I didn’t believe in church, she was devastated. She worried for my salvation because she had been taught that non-believers who failed to convert before they died were all going to spend an eternity in hell. Susie began praying that the Lord would send someone to teach me the “error of my ways.” About that time, two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Terry Blake and Gary John of Safford, Arizona, visited our apartment for the first time. I wasn’t home so she asked them to return when I was there. She felt that maybe these missionaries were an answer to her prayer. They returned in the evening.  Terry Blake & Gary John in our apartment on Walnut Street - 1969 |
To read the rest of Ron's conversion story, please CLICK HERE for a transcript from his autobiography written between 2007 and 2021. It is a text file only 3-1/2 pages long (page 32 to page 35). |
1969-02-15 On this date Susie and I became members of the Kokomo Branch, Indianapolis Stake 3 weeks after we first met the missionaries. We were baptized at 7:30 PM on a Saturday night. The missionaries had invited us to attend “a baptism” before we found out we were the only ones being baptized! Although the Indianapolis Stake Center was only 60 miles away, the Kokomo Branch was still part of the Northern States Mission at the time. There were no ward or stake leaders near so Elder Blake and Elder John's zone leaders gave us our baptism interview. We had never met them before and never saw them again after the interview. I asked them for a photo and they wrote their names on the back. They were Elders Von Clark and Art Hill.  Zone leaders Elder Von Clark and Art HIll |
1969-Spring The Air Force moved me to evening shift again. We desperately needed more income so I got a part-time day job pumping gas at the J.C. Penny's auto service garage. The supervisor wanted me to work a full, 8-hour shift. I doubted that I could handle working two 8 hour jobs but I accepted it anyway. Unfortunately, I had previously accepted a calling at church to teach 11-year-old boys in Primary. I told him I could not be there one afternoon a week. He ignored me and hired me anyway. Primary was held on Mondays in the Kokomo branch in 1969. Every week I taught my Primary class. Every week I failed to show up for my job at J.C. Penny’s on Mondays. Every week my boss had to fill in for me. After only 8 weeks he fired me because I wasn’t there on Mondays. I’m sure I could have told my church I had to work and I could no longer serve the Lord that day, however, I’ve always felt the need to fulfill my callings to the best of my ability.  (Click the pic for a larger photo) Here I am posing outside our Walnut St. apartment in my J.C. Penny's Uniform. This was back in an age when people who pumped gas wore uniforms. |
After we joined the church and, I think before John was born, I had leave to go home. I had sent letters home about the new church we had joined so I talked to my parents about it soon as I visited them. My mother had already been inquiring about the church. Naturally, her Protestant friends provided her with anti-Mormon material. She presented it to me soon as I brought the subject up. She showed me some of the printed matter and said, “Do you believe this?” Soon as I read it I could tell is was from those who wanted to destroy the church. I told her, “No, we don’t believe this.” I guess that’s all she wanted to hear. She never asked me another question about it. Sometime after I returned to Kokomo, I mentioned to Brother Richard Forbes, the branch clerk, about the anti-Mormon literature. I asked him if I shouldn’t be preparing myself for such attacks on my newfound religion by reading what they said against our church. He asked, "Have you read all 4 standard works cover-to-cover? Have you read The Articles of Faith and Jesus The Christ by Talmage? Have you read A Marvelous Work And A Wonder?" He told me there are way too many good works out there for me to be wasting time reading bad things. He said I had no time for them. He was very convincing. Now each time I run across something negative, I remember Brother Forbes advice. He also sparked my desire to read all the good books I could get my hands on.  (Click the pic for a larger image) Richard and Pauline Forbes photo from FamilySearch Memories |
It was the Forbes home that the entire Kokomo Branch was invited to that night we first socialized with members of the church. They served a concoction they called "guey" which is a simplified version of a type of Waldorf Salad. The Forbes used a pack of dry mix for the whipped cream. Susie had a version she served on holidays made from a can of chilled crushed pineapple, a pack of pistachio Jello mix, and a thawed non-dairy whip. Linda's version adds crushed walnuts. |
The night we visited them, Pauline Forbes met us at the door. She was the perfect hostess greeting every guest who entered. After she welcomed Susie and introduced her to some of the Relief Society sisters, she greeted me. Pauline asked me what some of my interests were. Soon as I told her I played guitar, she said, "Oh! There's someone here I'd like you to meet." She walked me over to where Jim and Jill Holmes were standing and introduced me to Jim. I've never met anyone so adept at making strangers feel welcomed as much as Pauline Forbes did that night. We hadn't even joined the church yet and, with her skill as a hostess, she had me (an investigator) and Jim (a recently reactivated member) introduced to each other and making friends. You can read from Susie's first journal how close we became to Jim and Jill Holmes. They were wonderful to us. We became very close friends. We helped them want to stay active in church while they were helping us as new members. Jill became pregnant while we were living there. After we left Kokomo Jill sent us a photo of the baby girl she had. They named the baby "Jill Rainey Holmes."  Jill Rainey Holmes - about 1971 |
Some other friends we made in Kokomo were a couple related to the base same as us. Glenn Gardner was a captain in the USAF at the time. Although I was not an officer Glenn treated me as an equal. The B-58 I worked on had a crew of 3: Pilot, Nav, and DSO (Defensive Systems Operator). Glenn was a navigator. |
Glenn's wife Lynn is a famous LDS author. They have a daughter whose nickname is "Rainey." My wife Susie and Jill Holmes loved the name so much they each named a daughter Rainey. Our Rainey was our 5th child. |
One of my earliest experiences with the Holy Ghost came shortly after I had prayed to learn of God and to know if the church was true. I had learned how effective prayers are and found myself praying often. Lynn invited us to meet with her and Glenn after a meeting at the Indianapolis Stake Center. There were so many people leaving the building that I quickly lost her in the crowd. I hurriedly prayed asking Heavenly Father to help me find her. No sooner had I finished the prayer than I looked up and saw Lynn and Glenn just ahead. Previously I would have said, "As luck would have it, she was looking my way as I waved to get her attention." Now I know luck had nothing to do with it. |
The Kokomo Branch building was built on the same identical plan as the Bessemer, Alabama Stake Center where my family attended church for nearly 40 years. The photo below shows a side-by-side comparison of the two buildings. The "First Phase" of the building is the part below the white dashed line. The First Phase was the extent of the building until further growth demanded a larger structure. In both Kokomo and Bessemer, this part of the building served for all meetings. In Kokomo, this included:
 One major difference with the building in Kokomo was the large city lot it was on. Behind the building was acreage which the Kokomo Branch used to grow a crop of tomatoes each year to sell and earn money. In1969, Church Headquarters required every Branch to contribute to their own building fund. Once enough money was collected to pay a major portion of construction costs, the Presiding Bishop's Office in Salt Lake City would authorize additional expansion of the building provided there were enough members and priesthood holders to justify it.  Aerial photo of the land and building in Kokomo, IN |
We wanted to have a baby but I guess the Lord wanted us to join the church first. Our first born came almost 9 months to the day after we first met the missionaries! Susie had quit work so, during the time she was pregnant, she did a lot more sewing on the little sewing machine we had saved for and purchased the year before. One thing she wanted was new drapes but we couldn't afford the material. She negotiated with the landlord that, if they would pay for the material, Susie would sew new drapes for our apartment. In the photo below you can see the new drapes behind her as well as a new outfit she sewed for herself. Her hand is resting on her trusty sewing machine.  Susie showing off her new clothes in 1969 |
Susie had already begun creating beautiful and useful things at our previous apartment. The photo below is a closeup of an afghan she made in 1968 patterned as a white flower with a yellow center surrounded by green.  An afghan Susie made draped over the back of a couch |
Here's another pose of Susie modeling her new clothes sitting by the basonette for our new baby soon to arrive.  Susie by the basonette |
My parents, Hap and Doris Vincent, came to see us once.  Hap and Doris Vincent in Kokomo |
Susie's parents, Coot and Dot Little, came to visit us a couple times while we were in Kokom. On one trip they brought the rest of the family and we met at Mammoth Cave, KY.  L to R: Jodie Little, Jerry & Sandy Hocutt, Mike Little, Ron & Susie Vincent at Mammoth Cave, KY - 1969 |
Coot Little loved automobiles. He new more about them than anyone I've known. He was familiar with obscure antique models most people had never heard of including some of the earliest makes of the auto industry. One of the earliest autos ever built anywhere by anyone was made in Kokomo, Indiana by Elwood Haynes the engineer who also invented stainless steel. Coot got to visit the Haynes Museum where one of these early automobiles was displayed.  A photo we took of a Haynes 1905 Model L |
The Haynes Museum is at 1915 South Webster on the corner of Webster Street and Stadium Drive. Here's a street photo below. CLICK HERE for a PDF brochure produced by the City of Kokomo.  Current street photo of the Haynes Museum |
Our first child, John Vincent, was born at the base hospital on Grissom Air Force Base. Here's a photo of the front door. Notice the snow shovel by the window.  Photo of Grissom AFB base hospital taken in 1969 |
Susie was in labor for 10 hours. Hospital rules kept me from being able to be with her or the baby. By the time our son was born, she was exhausted. I could not hold him until he was released to come home, but the nurse held him up so I could take this photo.  John Vincent 0 days old |
Many of John's ancestors on his mother's side of the family were still living. He was our firstborn child and their firstborn grandson, great-grandson, and great-great-grandson. He was an immediate favorite of ... His grandfather, Coot ...
 His
grandmother, Dot ...
 and
his father, Ron
 |
Since he was our earliest Christmas gift that year and such a good little baby, we named him our "Christmas Mouse."  John, the Christmas Mouse |
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