Wanda Kohn:
CLASS OF 1977
Dunedin High SchoolClass of 1977
Dunedin, FL
Clearwater Junior CollegeClass of 1979
Clearwater, FL
Wanda's Story
Life
My liforore after high school started out on the rocky side. In '82, I married my high school sweetheart & moved to Bushnell, FL (Sumter Co). Divorced two years later.
I went from a career as a real estate broker and office manager to finding God at a low point in my life. I married Bob in '86 and began working with him in his A/C & electrical business in Fruitland Park, FL. Even though I grumbled about the heat (attics) and the insulation (itchy), it gave me enough experience and exposure to co-found Habitat for Humanity of Lake County, FL. After years of volunteering at the Pregnancy Care Center, Leesburg, I became the director in 2003. I also initiated and taught parenting classes in the county jail. Bob teaches a Young Married Couples Bible Fellowship class at our church, First Baptist Leesburg, FL as well as classes at our Men's Residence (rehab). The focus of our lives has been to encourage & serve others & to share our faith in Christ.
In 2005, The Touch movie, written by my director, Art Ayris, was released. While the supporting actress is "Wanda" and her husband is "Bob", only parts of it are our story. Filmed at and centering around one of the ministries of the Christian Care Center, Leesburg (aka: Ministry Village), it conveys this message: There is a world full of hurting people and you can make a difference in someone's life by risking to care - "Meeting Needs, Sharing Christ." The Touch is now available for purchase at Christian Book Distributors - see their website. The "Ministry Village" includes a men's residence (drug rehab & feeds the homeless), a women's shelter (also a drug rehab), a pregnancy crisis center(where I work), two children's homes, a benevolence center, as well as a medical center. I am only one of many who serve the community of "the least of these". You can search for The Touch Movie or Art Ayris in Google. Also if you google First Baptist Church, Leesburg and then go to Ministry Village you can get more info there as well on the ministries.
To encourage and remind you - Lives are changed one person at a time. Take a step of faith & consider helping at a food bank, a crisis pregnancy center, a shelter or befriend a fatherless child in your neighborhood and see how you can make a difference in someone's life. Don't pass the buck, God wants to use you and He will, if you'll only answer His call! "Do not forget to do good and to share with others for such sacrifices God is pleased." Hebrews 13:16
In 2003, Bob semi-retired and we moved back to Bushnell to the stilt house I lived in before we got married. Bob gutted it and rebuilt it, adding on to it as well. It's simple but perfect for life in the woods...come visit us! See photos of before and after! We used to feel that we needed to "get away", but living here is a retreat. Turkey, deer and wild hog sightings as well as alligators and water moccasins are a normal occurrence :o)
In 2004, my parents moved up here from Dunedin, building on their acreage (beside us). My sister, Bonnie Doucette(DHS grad 1976) lives in Palm Harbor. Her husband, Mark, rebuilds racing motorcycle transmissions and Bonnie is active in their church and supports her kids in their daily activities. She has four kids from 11 to 27 yrs old. We are all blessed with great health and so are our parents.
Bob has two grown daughters, Christa and Holly, who live in Georgia and are married and have children. Even though we never had children between us, we are god parents to many others! We unofficially adopted Deana Fisher when she was a teen. She's now married and has three kids who call us Papa and Grandma Wanda.
I still stay in touch with Pam Parker Manning, Terry Henley Walker, Lynn Hurst Davis, mostly by phone or email.
School
I was privileged to have attended Dunedin Elementary, Middle and High School because I never moved. I did attend St. Paul's Episcopal School when I was in 6th grade because of the busing situation. Most of my memories of early school are positive. I remember the harvest carnivals at Dunedin Elementary School most. My mom would always make a real cool costume for me! I also remember my mom making matching dresses for my older sister, Bonnie, and me to wear for Christmas and the like every year. The worst memory I have was in first grade, when I slammed Myrtle Snyder's finger in the door - it was an accident! It still makes me cringe to think about it! Yes, there was blood, ouch! Please forgive me Myrtle!
My first "date" was in 5th grade. Robert Ivey took me to the Circus! His step-dad hated Chiropractors (and my father was one!). I liked my teachers a lot. Most of them stayed for years, except for my 3rd grade teachers (we went through three in one year! That was my first exposure to "dysfunction".)
I was picked on a little bit in Elementary School and then again in Jr. High School because I was real skinny and extremely shy. I dreamed of the rides I would take across the large Jr. High School field on my white horse Troy. One summer I wrote with purple Wound Coat spray "Save Gas, Ride a Horse" on Troy's sides and legs. It took weeks to come off!
I met a guy, the first guy I really liked in Jr. High School. He gave me a penny with a heart cut out that said "I Luv You" on it. They called us "Flip-n-Krip".
High School was a whole different game. I was introduced to tenor drums and joined the band and the City Pipe & Drum Corps. That became my life and my identity. I remember us playing jigs in various places including Kapok Tree Restaurant...I always worried one of the customers would get hit with a drum stick or a bag pipe as we snaked our way beween tables. A try at track (hurdles) left me breathless and wincing. But I really do think I was beginning to get the hang of it! I did "make it" scholastically, achieving the Dean's List. My senior year in high school, I was doned the title, "Crash-em-up-Krip!" Needless to say, I got my license before much needed experience behind the wheel. After 2 private programs and 1 school class on defensive driving, they decided I was fit again :o) I've come a long way! I just finished helping a young lady complete her 50 hours of driving so she can take her final test, easily quoting the advice and warnings from my previous instructors that have been ingrained in my head! I remember Arthur Minor's class and his proverbs or scripture verses. Not sure, which they were? I'm sure...Expand for more
that his sayings would not be allowed in a classroom today. Mrs. Boylan appointed me to take part in a Creation vs. Evolution debate in High School. I was to defend the Biblical side of it. I'll admit I was terribly unprepared for the debate but it really opened my eyes. I felt somewhat inept at defending creation then, but I feel capable of defending it now :o) Mrs. Boylan also had me and another student (was it Tim Evans?) liquidermy(pump the bodies full of formaldehyde) a pair of wood ducks her husband wanted mounted. After that, I tried my hand at liquedermy for Lynn Hurst Davis' dad who had shot a racoon. It turned out pretty good until it started really drying out months later, shrinking the coon. Also layers of skin peeled off my hands! Yuck!
High School was one of those phases in life that I know I had to experience, but I don't think I could survive it again! The best part was being identified by something as unique as the Scottish heritage of the city and the school (pipe & drum corp, Scottish games and festivals, etc.)
College
My time at St. Pete Junior College, Clearwater Campus is kind of a blur. I remember taking Chemical Calculations (why I remember I don't know!) and a class on business management. Oh yeah...I remember a computer class that used those punch cards! Since I still lived at home there were no big changes in my life. I remember driving to the Jr. College and using small flash cards to study by as I drove! Emotionally, there were a lot of changes going on. I clept English and now wish I hadn't as I write a lot. I don't remember any of my Jr. College classmates. I realize now that my values changed greatly during my last year of high school and my two years at Jr. College. I was excited and also in turmoil at the same time.
Workplace
Since I couldn't decide what to do with my life, my father encouraged me to get into Real Estate sales or Travel Agent as both would be beneficial in different ways. I chose Real Estate. By the time I was 21, I was a real estate broker. I worked at a Century 21 office in Dunedin and ended up helping to manage 3 offices in Sumter County while maintaining my license. I also kept books for someone who ran two businesses. When I got married in 1986, I decided to work with my husband, Bob, in his Residential/Light Commercial Air Conditioning Business. I installed duct work as he installed the systems. We worked as a team for years.
Ministry
God used my real estate expertise and my construction experience, to co-found Habitat for Humanity of Lake Co, FL in 1988. I was the "volunteer" executive director for the first few years.
Then my heart turned toward the Pregnancy Care Center and it's ministry, saving unborn babies' lives and giving women hope and tangible help. After being a volunteer counselor for years, an opening developed enabling me to become the director of this ministry in 2001 whose umbrella is the Christian Care Center, Inc. I have been blessed by seeing everything I've ever learned being used for God's kingdom in my position. In Dec '07, I was very suprised and honored to receive WORLD Magazine's Daniel of the Year Award (see photo). You can google "Wanda Kohn" to read more. I'm just one of countless others with a heart to help those in crisis. Everyday at the Pregnancy Care Center it seems that there is another crisis, ranging from someone wanting an abortion, to a mom and her kids who are homeless, to an unwed pregnant young lady who is homeless or involved in drugs, to married couples whose lives are falling apart...you name it they walk through our doors.
Salvation
I'm so glad God is not a respecter of persons and that His love is unconditional...He desires that none of us should perish but that we have everlasting life. There's only one way for that to happen and that's through the acceptance of God's son, Jesus Christ, as your Savior. We can't work hard enough, do good enough things, be nice enough to earn our way to heaven...if we could then there would be no need for Christ's death on the cross and we wouldn't have to be just "good", we would have to be perfect! I don't know about you, but I'm far from being perfect. We can't jump through enough hoops to make ourselves acceptable in God's sight. Our life on this earth is just a blink of an eye to God...but we will spend eternity in one of two places, heaven or hell, there are no other options. If you have not acknowledged that you are a sinner in need a Savior, then you are being deceived by the enemy of God, Satan himself. Satan would have you go through your life, not considering these matters. But if you are reading this and the Holy Spirit is prompting you to take inventory of your life and if you are not sure if you died right now, where you would go, then I encourage you to read the following scriptures (get a Bible and read the entire scripture) and ask youself what they say to you? Romans 3:23 - "All have sinned"; Romans 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death"; John 3:3 - "You must be born again (why did Jesus come to die?)"; John 14:6 - "I am the way.."; Romans 10:9-11 - "If you confess... you will be saved"; 2 Corinthians 5:15 - "No longer live for themselves"; Revelation 3:20 - "I stand at the door, and knock."
Questions: Are you a sinner? Do you want forgiveness for your sins? Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for you and rose again? Are you willing to surrender your life to Christ? Are you ready to acknowledge Christ as your savior?
If so, then consider talking to God and admitting your need for Christ...it could go something like this, "Heavenly Father, I have sinned against You. Please forgive me of my sins (you can even take some time to recall ones that come to your mind). I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again. Father, I give You my life to do with as You wish. I want Jesus Christ to be my savior, I receive him as such. This I ask in Jesus' name. Amen"
If you have put your faith in trust in Christ as your savior then and only then are you one of God's kids...adopted into the family of believers. He loves you as a baby Christian the same amount as He will love you when you mature because His love isn't conditioned on how we perform, but on what Christ did on the cross for you and for me. Praise God! May you grow in Christ's love and in God's truth as the Holy Spirit guides you from this day forward!
May the peace of God which transcends all understanding be with you in Christ Jesus.
Wanda
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