John Hood:
CLASS OF 1973
Centerville High SchoolClass of 1973
Centerville, IA
Oak Park AcademyClass of 1975
Nevada, IA
Stonecave AcademyClass of 1974
Dunlap, TN
Howar Junior High SchoolClass of 1969
Centerville, IA
Central Elementary SchoolClass of 1967
Centerville, IA
John's Story
June 2008
Mattawan, Michigan, USA
I'm looking forward to catching up with friends and classmates here from my youth and young adult years. That's from elementary school starting in 1961 to post graduate studies ending in 1990, and spanning nine schools. Now I have to add a tenth school to the list since I'm now embarking on another masters. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Get yourself some milk and cookies or a coffee. This is long. (Well, I am 52 and that's a lot of water under the bridge) :^)
I grew up in the quiet town of Centerville, Iowa, going to Central Ward Elementary, Howar Junior High, then dropping out of school my freshman year at Centerville High School. Singing in the Troubadors with my three older brothers since before I was in school, and then in the Cherub Choir of the United Methodist Church, vocal performance has remained a key element in the left-brain side of my life.
Stuck between my conservative Christian parents and my hippy brothers, I had to find a path of my own and I joined the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church in Centerville in the summer of 1971, the year after I dropped out of high school. Soon I was at the Seventh-day Adventist boarding school in Nevada, Iowa where I started over as a freshman, two years behind my age mates.
I met my wife-to-be at Oak Park, Ruth "Rufus" Gries, from Sioux City, Iowa, with whom I fell madly in love with. She didn't know quite what to make of me, but we became good friends and she became like a daughter to my parents, Clarence and Chelo Hood, who were then living and working at Oak Park Academy.
At the Christmas break my sophomore year, my parents and I moved to Dunlap, Tennessee, where I attended Stonecave Academy. There I was tested and advanced to junior year status, graduating in 1974.
I stayed on one more year at Stonecave as a "junior worker", teaching classes (English, Speech, Science, Choir, Bible) in the mornings and running the maintenance department in the afternoons.
The fall of 1975 found me enrolled in the theology program at Southern Missionary College, in Collegedale, TN. Completing a B.A. in theology in three years, I had caught up to my age mates.
At Christmas break my junior year in college I proposed to "Rufus" Gries and she said yes! We were married the following May, 1977 and I graduated college the next year and be...Expand for more
gan pastoring in the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference of SDAs.
Next came my Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary, Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, MI, from 1980 to 1983.
After pastoring another couple of years I decided to go get a Ph.D. in systematic theology at the seminary so I could teach. Between 1985 and 1990 I completed the course work and quit before comps and dissertation.
I pastored another couple of years then returned to Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI, where I managed the SDA 800 number phone center, Adventist Information Ministry, for four years.
At that point my interest had gone on to data processing and I finished an A.A.S. in programming in 1996 from Southwestern Michigan College, Dowagiac, MI. After graduating, I left denominational employment and worked a year at that school in the Information Systems Department and began a six-year stint as an adjunct faculty teaching computer courses.
From 1998 to 2006 I was Information Systems Manager at the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in Saint Joseph, MI. Since 2006 I have been in the Information Systems at MPI Research in Mattawan, MI, where Ruth and I now live.
Our two grown sons, John Jr. and James are married and doing well. In May of 2007, John graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, James with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, and Ruth with a Bachelor of Science in General Studies. James is now employed as a programmer at the same place I work, MPI Research and John Jr. is doing free lance jobs while his wife Natalie completes her Elementary Education degree. And Ruth is now half-way through a Master of Social Work program from Andrews University and works full time as the county's teen parent case worker for Catholic Family Services.
I'm blessed with good health (I've completed 12 marathons since 2000), a wonderful, beautiful wife, two fine sons, and two exceptional daughters-in-law. (We're patiently{?} waiting for the first grandchild.)
Two late developments.. With the price of gasoline, I've just bought my first motorcycle to commute to work. And after twelve years in Information Systems, I'm starting to think about getting back into church work.
Thanks for reading to the end. You're a sport!
Hope to hear from you and learn what you've been up to, lo these many years!
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