Salvation Army Seattle Temple Corps Young People's Band

 When we returned from Texas, we found that the Young People's band had become defunct. No problem. We had returned loaded for bear. We began putting together a Young People's Band program in Seattle. With our personal 15 passenger van we were ready to go hunting for kids. We started with the children of the members of the Seattle Temple Corps. Some of these kids were children of Divisional Headquarters Officers and some were children of local officers in the corps or the children of soldier's in the corps.

We held a "day camp" music program at the Seattle Temple Corps. This was all day for two weeks. We soon had 35 children involved. In November, shortly after we arrived in Seattle and months before this day camp, we made a donation to the Seattle Temple Corps which was to be used solely for the Young People's Band program. This was enough money to buy uniforms and instruments for a 50 piece Brass Band. It was these uniforms we gave to the Laotian Corps Singing Company for the Territorial Competition. These were the uniforms that they wore on the trip to California after winning the competition. We used some of this money to provide lunches at McDonald's daily for all of the children. (To see the conditions of this gift accepted by the Salvation Army, click HERE. Some of the text has been deleted.) By the time we had completed this day camp, we had enough children and training to have three bands on three different levels and play a complete concert.

To reward the children for their effort, the last event of the camp before the concert was a day trip to Vancouver, Canada. Each child was given a T-shirt with the Salvation Army Crest and a "Seattle Temple" banner on the front. We spent the whole Saturday in Stanley Park going to the Marina and using practically every square inch of the park for recreation. Every where you looked in the park there was a kid wearing a Salvation Army Seattle Temple YP Band T-shirt. Throughout the whole day camp and trip to Vancouver, Canada, the kids were very well behaved.

 This young man's older brother attended the Seattle Temple Corps. He, his sister and mother began attending as a result of the Evangelism Explosion work led by Bonna. His mother became one of the best members of the Evangelism Explosion team. She was a natural born evangelist. I've never seen anybody with such empathy for the people we went to visit. Because of her own life experience, she could talk to somebody for two or three minutes and understand and sympathize in a way I could never comprehend.

The girl is my daughter, Jordana Ross. She played this Alto Horn in the Young People's Band and later took up the French Horn in her school band. She not only played in the Einstein Jr Hi band, but in the Shorewood High School Band and Orchestra. She also played in the Seattle Youth Symphony Debut Orchestra. She is now in Grad School at Cincinnati University working on her Master in Criminal Law. She graduated Cum Laude from Washington State University with a BA in Sociology, a BA in Criminal Justice and a minor in the Russian language. She was also named the Outstanding Senior in the Department of Criminal Justice. She was on the "President's Honor Roll" every grading period at WSU. Most of the children Bonna has taught have become high achievers.

 My daughter, Jordana Ross, with J.D. Hopps. In all of my life, I've never understood why kids like J.D. Hopps so much. He's a crotchety old fellow, but he loves kids and has taught hundreds how to play brass instruments and how to conduct music. Bonna and I visited every soldier of the Seattle Temple Corps that went into the hospital. J.D. had a problem which nearly caused his death. Frequently, Bonna and I would visit him in the hospital and Jordana, who was nine years old, made a lot of those visits with us. One day, we were sitting in J.D.'s hospital room talking to him after he had been moved out of intensive care. As we talked, a nurse came in with a huge needle.

We asked if we should leave and she said, "On no. That won't be necessary, I'm just going to put him to sleep." Jordana got a shocked look on her face. Her eyes were wide open and her face lost all of its color. We decided to leave and were walking down the hallway. I turned to Jordana and asked her what the problem was. Her eyes teared up and she said, "Are they really going to put J.D. to sleep?" I said, "Sure. He hasn't been able to sleep very well. " She started to cry and I asked her why she was crying. She said, "Tim and Marcia put their dog to sleep because he was too old and now we'll never see J.D. again." I had to explain the difference between my brother "putting his dog to sleep" and J.D. getting a good nap. We have breakfast every Saturday morning with J.D. and two other friends.

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