I was born in September of 1946 at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.I am the son of a professional jazz piano player named FreddieDeLand, and an artist mother named Dorothy. I grew up in Atlanta, graduating from Briarcliff High School in 1964. I went to YoungHarris College with the intention of becoming a doctor eventually, and received an A.S. degree. Because Young Harris is only a two-year college, I transferred to the University of Georgia, still enrolled in science courses and looking to a pre-med degree in science. My mother died in October of 1966 from a brain tumor, and I became very depressed. My only brother had died three years earlier, and I was estranged from my father, and felt very alone in the world.
This became a turning point-in my life. I was about to “flunk out” of school when I finally came to myself with God’s help. I switched majors rather abruptly to philosophy, seeking for the answers to life’s questions. God was with me through it all, but I hadn’t yet become particularly religiously-minded. I was to be drafted into the Vietnam War after school, so I volunteered for the Navy instead of waiting to be drafted, hoping that being on a ship might keep me out of harm’s way as much as possible. I wanted to save lives rather than take lives, so I became a hospital corpsman and then an X-Ray technician, but that didn’t keep me out of the war, for in my naiveté I hadn’t realized that the Navy supplies medical support for the Marines, so I found myself very quickly moving into the “thick” of things.
After my duty in Vietnam I was stationed in Pensacola, Florida, and there began to get back into church. I also
began to feel very uneasy, and finally realized that God was calling me into the ministry, though it took a while to both realize this and say “yes”.When I did, I launched out on faith, drove overnight from Pensacola to Dallas, Texas, where I had enrolled in seminary at Southern Methodist University .I graduated with honors in 1976, returned to Georgia, and began ministry in the North Georgia Conference of the UnitedMethodistChurch in June, 1977.I am in now my 35th year of ministry and am in my 10th appointment as a minister in the Conference, serving currently the Carnesville-Vanna Circuit.This is a lovely area with good people, and I hope to retire from here when the time comes for me to take that step.
In 1975, I married my high school sweetheart, Claire, and we have one grown daughter, Dorothy.Life has been
good to us, and even with all of the ups and downs, God has been there, loving us and bringing us into a closer relationship with himself.My desire is to serve God and follow Jesus all the days of my life, to use my talents at writing, music, and painting, and create works of art, and to help others along life’s journey, that the world might be a better place for my having been here.
