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I'm 53 and my four passions are hot rodding, my family, music and Jesus. Ten years ago I was diagnoised with Parkinson's. . To those of you who car and truck lovers, I've been a race car nut since I was 8. I lived in Reading, PA and they had a 1/2 mile dirt oval and my Mom's friend took me every Friday. Then finally my Dad started taking me but he wasn't thrilled with noise. I loved it. We then moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL when I was 12. Hialeah had 5/8 asphalt oval but it was so far away that my Dad said that once I start driving myself then I can go. When I turned 16 I got a 1970 AMC Javelin, Since Hollywood had a dragstrip I started going there. Then I started to tear apart the Javelin and really liked when it got faster. I had two years of auto mechanics in High School. It was the only class besides band that I cared about. When I graduated I got an apprenticeship at one of the local Ford Dealers. I worked for a few other dealers and got hired by Horse Power Sales as a store Manager. Then I got asked to move to Orlando to manage one of the Pace Performance stores. I then opened up Heisers Automotive and High Performance.and found out how hard it is to run your own shop! Even though the shop was only open one year I kept doing work on race cars and engines, as the house we bought had a really cool garage built in the back yard. I ran the cars out at Orlando Speed World. I have had over 20 cars that I have hot rodded and raced.
Then God had a change of plans for me and my family. I thought I was taking a job in Daytona, but it turned out to be in Savannah, GA. We were only there a year and a half, but we had found a wonderful church that God had lots of things He wanted us to do there. It was there He also told me to go back to college and get my degree so I could work full time in a church. 35 years old and three children in a town that really has no employment opportunities was difficult, however God is always sufficient and although it was hard it probably the best five years my family has had. The first year after school I went to this little country town 60 miles north of Mobile and it was really different, seeing that Donna and I both grew up in the big city of Ft. Lauderdale. We learned a lot there but that didn't last long and God lead us to Yulee, FL which is a suburb of Jacksonville. For seven years God put over 100 youth in our path during those years. We love and cherish each and every one of them. They will always have a special spot in our lives, as we basically watched some of then grow up from when they were just little. As Christians we have a responsible to others first and then ourselves, the whole time, keeping God the center of our focus.
About eight or nine years ago while my Son Scott was part of the High Football, at the time he was 6'3 350 pounds, He was doing two a days he and I joined the YMCA. We both wanted to get really strong. Scott was hitting over 400 on the bench and I was right at 300. Not bad for an old guy in his early 40s. It was during this time that I developed Parkinson’s. Well some life changing events happened to Scott and his brand new girlfriend within their first few weeks of the courtship, long story short, was now pregnant and Scott not only had to be a junior in High School, but also a Father and a husband. Scott promised to finish school but his football career was pretty much over. He did get to go GA Bulldogs Summer Camp and they told him he did real well. However with family obligations he stayed here and got his X-Ray/CT/Training at Shands Jacksonville and that’s were he is presently working. One other really cool thing is that his present wife, Jackie, was in this same class. Scott has two awesome sons, Andrew and Dawson. Their Mother and Scott ending up divorcing and Scott's Ex got remarried and have a cute boy that Andrew and Dawson both adore him. The new Husband seems like a pretty good guy and Andrew and Dawson really seem to love him. He is in the Navy and is gone sometimes for several weeks at a time
Scott and Jackie get the boys every other weekend and one of those weekends Super Nana (Donna) gets to keep them. I think most of the kids in Yulee wish that Donna was their Nana. One of those weeks Scott and Jackie keep the boys as Jackie has grown quite fond of them and they show quite a bit of affection for her as well. A little over three years ago with my Parkinson’s getting worse and my right hip not working at all we felt like God wanted us to go in a different direction. We felt good about it as when we got to Blackrock seven years ago, there were about 10 or 12 youth and about 18 or 20 in the choir. The month we left there were over 60 teenagers in our Wednesday night program and close to 40 in the choir. The church got to build a fabulous new Sanctuary, which I got to design the sound and lighting system, and the congregation now had over doubled during the time we there.
This past three years, Donna has been the main bread winner working for Sears and now as an account manager for Quill, which is a subsidy of Staples, as my Parkinson’s has progressed and we found out my right hip had been totally eaten up with arthritis. April 2007 I had a total right hip replacement, but that’s a whole other story in itself, but I can walk again and only have slight discomfort in the surgery area. As I eluded to at the beginning, my Parkinson's is progressing and I would treasure the friendship of other folks with Parkinson’s or fellow car nuts or even someone needing a trumpet player in a Chicago style band, or maybe all of the above. The more friends the merrier. We are presently living in Longwood, FL, which is just on the Northside of Orlando. Our youngest Daughter, Amy, is a massage therapist and is working for Chiropractor. She also has 6 semesters in toward elementy education. Lindsey, our oldest is working for a bank and Scott and his present wife Jackie have a one year old Bennett and is a joy!
Thanks for reading.
Bill