The Testimony of Adele (Holm) Shinholt

My story begins like everyone's . . . with three short words. I was born! And as so many of my generation my birth occurred in a small town, Plymouth, Indiana. I believe myself to be fortunate to be the child of Christian parents. Raised on a dairy farm in Marshall, County, a tranquil place not far from Koontz Lake. I made Christ as my Savior during a summer of my youth during Vacation Bible School at the Swedish Covenant Church of a tiny place not far from my home called Donaldson, the church where my parents first met. After I graduated from Tyner High School and married Lynn Ryggs. We began our housekeeping in the area until we moved to Grant County, Indiana three years later. It was in Grant county my husband served as a Conservation officer as our own family formed.

In the summer of 1972, a dear friend Marcele Rickner and I went to Colorado. Staying at Marcele's mother's home, we visited my mother's youngest sister Aunt Elaine. It was a special time I will always remember. From Colorado I took a train to California to visit my brother, Gene, who lived in the San Francisco area. Then going south to see my mother's brother Bud Holmquist. The time spent with distant part of family rare. We took in some sights on the west coast as well as a stop in Disneyland.

At the end of that special adventure, I returned home by plane flying into Marion, Indiana. On my return Lynn and I had the house to ourselves, for the children were in Michigan, visiting Lynn's Mother and sister Erma. Later that day when Lynn returned from work I was told he wanted a divorce. My husband in my absence, consulted a lawyer and a rental property in Upland, Indiana. The divorce became final the 3rd of January, 1973 . . . and my world changed! Our two oldest, Larry and Jerry moved into their father's home while my younger continued to live with me.

The new life I faced, a single mother living on my own, required adjustments. I had a job as a custodian at nearby Eastbrook High School. But that was but one of several jobs I had, as I worked to maintain our home and our lives. I worked part time cleaning three banks, took extra hours as I helped during ball games at the High School, and took a job in a small gas station as well.

In January of 1973 I began attending Parents without Partners meetings. There I met a gentleman, Truman. He and I remained friends until 1980.

1973 was also the year I began volunteering, as a Chaplin's assistant at Marion General Hospital. Word had come to me that a church member, Rex Shinholt was in the hospital and I as a representative of my church, went to visit him. Rex had gone to the church in the past, but had left, angry with God and upset with his Pastor, Mr Shinholt knew I attended Union Chapel. He had called my home to inquire about returning to church. But I had missed those calls, for long hours kept me out of my home a great deal. So though Rex was my neighbor, and I knew his children from my work at the school, the visit in the hospital was our first meeting.

Who can know the reason things happen . . . only God. What caused the series of events that, by chance it seemed, brought me to the hospital to see a neighbor I don't know . . . only God.

Once Rex had been released from the hospital we made arrangements to go shopping and lunch the day after Thanksgiving. My youngest, Robert, had come home from college for the holiday, so Rex and I took him back to Hyles Anderson College in Crown Point, stopping on the way in Plymouth to pick up my Mother. Mom liked Rex right off.

Rex and I shared the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping and making cookies. Rex and I also prayed together; it was than I fell in love. On January 15 Rex Shinholt asked me to marry him. We were married on Sunday March 22, 1981, in the middle of Pastor Rickner's sermon, using us as his illustration of God's wish for the family.

Where have all the years gone? Rex and I shared more than twenty seven years of marriage before the Lord took him to heaven. Special years of fun time with many adventures. I remember the trips we shared . . . the times we greeted our fellow worshipers . . . all the things Rex made with his skilled hands for the church . . . his retirement from RCA after thirty nine years of service there. I remember the love we shared, the new life we built in our home in Van Buren. God brought us together . . . of that I am certain!

There will come a time when with Rex, my love, I shall walk again.

See also:

Rex Shinholt

Johannes & Johanna Holmquist & Family