James Fellure:  

1949 August 26 Born in Chicago, IL. 1950 Moved to Mansfield, Ohio. Wasn't born here, but got here as quick as I could. 1959 5th Grade. Born Again, First Assembly of God. From my conversion on, continued to have friends at home and at school. But Church and study of the Bible became very important to me. To the point that all things about the Christian Life became more and more significant than almost anything else. 1962/3 8th Grade. Began to notice girls. Had a crush on Judy, but was too shy to talk to her, let alone to try and be friends. In Junior High, was called weird and a person from Mars. I rest my case. 1963/4 9th Grade. For a School Science Project, submitted a working model of Electromagnetics. Don't remember the details. It failed to gain any interest from the Judges. But it sparked (is that a pun?) a desire to learn more about electricity. 1964/5 10th Grade. Totally lost in school. But fell in love with Plain Geometry. Wish I had meet her sister, Solid Geometry. 1965/6 11th Grade. My very first single date. Mary from Church and a friend of my sister. Continued to be shy, introverted, and totally inept at any social interaction (thank you Dilbert). Basically the same since I can remember. Continued my love with Math, but left Plain Geometry for Trig (and I never, ever considered her to be Plain). Trig was entrancing. With continual surprises, beauty, and revealed wonders. What would be next? Continued my interest in Electromagnetics by enrolling in Shop Electronics. Thought that if electro was interesting, maybe electronics would be as well. To my surprise, found that electronics was interesting, challenging, useful, and fun. I had something of a gift for it. My Electronics teacher for 11th and 12 grades was Mr Smith. I thoroughly enjoyed his classes. During one of our talks, he mentioned that if I wanted to continue learning and perhaps work in an electronics related job, I had a choice. I could learn to be a Technician and work under the direction of an Engineer. Or I could get a degree in Engineering and have the Technician work under my direction. At that point I decided to go to college and get a degree in Electrical Engineering. So I continued Shop classes in Electronics, advanced Math classes, and planned to go to college. Worked during the summer at a Radio & TV repair shop. 1966/7 12th Grade. Accepted into the National Honor Society. I'm not certain how that happened. My guess would be that Mr Smith played a large part, My very first girl friend, Sharon Rose Manz. We met in church instead of at Senior High, even though we were both Mansfield '67ers. We fell in love. Later, we promised marriage to each other after college was over. Sharon planned to and did graduate as a Teacher of Middle School Science and Math. As a look ahead, she attended OSU Mansfield and is an Alumni of Ashland College. Continued my love affair with Math. Differential and Integral Calculus. Wonderfully entertaining and challenging. Intoxicating. Added Physics for good measure. Worked at Hartman Electric in downtown Mansfield (5th and Diamond). Tested and repaired electrical relays and power supplies. 1967/8 1st Year at Ohio State Mansfield. In one of the preliminary Engineering classes, was told look to your left, look to your right. Those two people will not be in your graduating class. The people electing to go into Engineering were few. The drop out rate was high. My love for Math continued. One of my teachers brought Analytical Geometry to life and wanted to show his students where the equations lived. 1968/9 2nd Year at Ohio State Mansfield. Took two classes in Psychology, General 100 and 101. Took Introduction to Philosophy 101. To quote from an artist I've since learned to love, Charlie Dodrill, song "Who", album "Prolog To This Drama". [Side note. Charlie's had two albums, 1st in 2005, 2nd in 2007. I call them I and II Charlie. Available on eBay, I wish they were part of the Bible :-)] "Sitt'in in....philosophy - Learn'in why not to believe - Crutch religion....God Is Dead - Aching heart....bewildered head" I began to question my Faith in God. Flunked the first and only class of my life. Winter semester, second course in Physics. The class was meant for students that were planning that major. OSU was transitioning the Engineering degree from five to four years. We were caught in the middle. Ours would be a four year degree that would require 4.5 years. My failure in Physics coverage of the theoretical basis of electrical science was devastating to me. All my understanding of electricity/electronics was in question. My experience in constructing a model vacuum tube radio, Shop Electronics classes, summer jobs in electronics. All left me quite unprepared for the class I was in. And wondering if I could really be an Electrical Engineer. Lost my Faith in God and Christian teaching. Was totally unprepared to defend myself. Surrendered to apparently superior logic and reasoning. Abandoned God and all things connected to my Faith. I felt differently about Sharon. I'm still unsure how that happened. I remained an extremely introverted and awkward person when I was dating Sharon. We were close, emotionally and physically closer than anyone else I had been with in my life up until that time. But I still failed to tell her very much about my life or what was going on in the battle of my mind. When I broke off our relationship, before I left, she told me who the next person in her life would be. I believed that she was and would be OK. When I left Sharon, she and I separated as virgins. I could be wrong, but I believe that most students graduated high school as virgins during those days. The sexual revolution had started, but not yet saturated society. My outlook on life had changed. My perception of people changed. In some sense, I began to hate God and all things connected to Him. Sharon did not change. My perception of Sharon changed. My prayer now is tha...Expand for more