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Ron Yonker, ’53 Ron is an ordained Methodist minister. He and his wife, Mimi, a graduate of Millsaps College in Mississippi, are now retired and live in Walhalla, S.C. Seeds planted by caring parents, teachers and so many other friends who believed in me led me to a calling that eventually grew into a career of Christian service in South America, China and many parts of the United States. Sharing fully in this ministry were Mimi, my soulmate and wife of 46 years, and our four children. Together, we have pursued education and pastoral ministry, and, along the way, we did what we could to combat poor health conditions, unemployment and injustice. We were blessed to love and be loved by the good folks who welcomed us into their communities and hearts. While in South America, Mimi and I began our practice of supporting those who are imprisoned, and since returning to the U.S., we have been active with Prisoner Visitation and Support, a nationwide alternative ministry. We have worked with inmates at a federal maximum security facility near Terre Haute, Ind., and more recently have visited at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla. and the federal prison in Atlanta. Our fluency in Spanish has allowed us to work with inmates from Latin America, and we often contact their loved ones abroad to let them know how their husbands, sons or fathers are faring. It is not unusual to meet a person who has not had a visit in decades. Shortly after graduating from college, we began our mission work in schools in Mexico and Chile, and later in Bolivia. In addition, from 1990 to 1992, the bishop granted us an assignment to teach English at the Fujian Agricultural University in Fuzhou, China, under the sponsorship of the Amity Foundation, a service organization of the Christian church in China and the National Council of Churches of Christ—USA. Given our experience as educators, it naturally followed that we would continue to teach in retirement. Since retiring in 1995, we have become active in Volunteers in Mission (VIM), a voluntary outreach program of the United Methodist Church, and have been given opportunities to help out as teachers of English at a primary-secondary school in Iquique, Chile and at an agricultural and technical school in
Bolivia’s tropical rain forest. In 2000, we also spent two months in Milan, Italy, where I served under VIM as pastor of the international congregation of the Methodist Church. While we have chosen to work within the church and public education, we wholeheartedly believe that serving others is something each of us can do, whatever our callings and gifts, and regardless of profession. It has been nine years since we retired. Jokingly we notice that we are “reallytired.” We are retired, look retired and feel retired! At the same time, we are aware of the un-retiring grace of God, enabling whoever is available to lend a hand and loving heart. Mimi and I thank God for his loving and enabling presence in our lives and in the lives of all those with whom we have been privileged to live.
Marcus LaPratt, ’98 Marcus is president of Singers of United Lands (www.singersofunitedlands.org). He lives in Albion. My sister and I had never hugged as tightly as we did the morning of Sept. 14, 2001. She dropped me off at the Kalamazoo airport where I took the first flight since 9/11 from Kalamazoo to Chicago to Los Angeles to Fresno. I was scheduled to tour for three months as a singer with a Christian music ministry team called Celebrant Singers, based near Fresno. For three months I traveled with Celebrant Singers from California to Maine via the Rockies, the Midwest and the East Coast. Our tour then continued along the eastern seaboard to Miami. From there our team of 22 people (7 singers, 10 instrumentalists, support staff and a sign language interpreter) spent two weeks in Haiti before returning to Florida. The last three weeks of the tour took us from Miami back to Fresno via the Louisiana bayou country, the plains of Texas, the Arizona/Mexican border, the Grand Canyon and L.A. Each 24-hour period of that three-month tour was virtually the same daily routine, just in a different
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location: Arrive in a new town in the afternoon, set up equipment, check sound system, have a short rehearsal, eat dinner with hosts, perform a concert, travel to host family’s home and try to sleep, get on tour bus by 9 a.m., drive to the next town. Though tiring mentally and physically, it’s a lifestyle with the potential for changing many lives. As a singer with this ministry organization, I had the opportunity, every night, to tell people about my Christian faith. In addition to praying with people all across the country and sharing personal stories of religion and faith and commitment, I also experienced three months of personal soul-searching and seeking direction in my own life from God. Many people who came to our performances used me as an instrument to reconnect with a spiritual devotion they may have had at one time—something I said or sang about may have triggered them to seek God’s guidance in their own life. And some people were introduced to a spiritual commitment through me because I shared how God was an integral part of my life. Ultimately, those three months helped to prepare me for what would come next in my life. Some may refer to it as a “calling” or a “sign.” At the end of this tour with Celebrant Singers, I felt God directing me to use all of the gifts I felt I’d been given and put them to work in one project. For the next two years I worked full-time at Starr Commonwealth in Albion as a music specialist. And every moment that I wasn’t working at Starr I spent developing Singers of United Lands (SOUL), a nonprofit organization, based in Albion, whose mission is to foster international relationships through the powerful medium of vocal music. SOUL is a team of five singers, each from a different continent. Together we accomplish the organization’s mission by sharing with communities in schools and churches the music that is native to our respective countries. We also fulfill the mission by sharing with people our similarities and differences through discussions and workshops that focus on a variety of topics from linguistics to current world events to food and culture. And although SOUL is not a religiously-affiliated organization, it highlights each of our represented cultures including religions and lifestyles. SOUL hopes to have a team of four different singers tour each year for up to eight months all across the United States. Our current tour will take us into at least seven different states and possibly to Alberta, Canada. We’ll be working with students from early elementary through graduate-level. And our hope is that SOUL will continue to grow in reputation and success while maintaining its main office in Albion, a town that celebrates cultural diversity and education.
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