__________________________________________
__________________________________________
1933
March 22 - I was born at Youens, Texas in the Old Humble Camp just east of Conroe, Montgomery County, 40 miles north of Houston. The camp was later replaced by a chemical plant.
September - My Dad was hired by Gulf Oil and moved back to Crane, Texas with my Mother and my two year old sister and I to the North-Line Gulf Oil Camp, about three miles north of town where his parents lived. Granddaddy was Crane County Road Supervisor and a two term County Commissioner during the 1930's to the 1950's. Both he and Grandmother were active in The First Baptist Church.
__________________________________________
1937
We moved to the new Gulf Oil Camp one mile south of town. There were about a 100 houses and a Company Store surrounded by ranch land. Lots were large and people planted trees and gardens; some had barns with horses, milk cows and chickens outside the fence surrounding the camp. The County School System sent buses to take the children into town for school. It was a very democratic and prestigious community.
__________________________________________
1944
May 7, 1944 - I accepted the Holy Spirit and was baptized by Pastor Hubert Christian, of the First Baptist Church in Crane, Texas which I had attended from Cradle Roll. At age 11 I was deeply moved in spirit yet fearful about going forward at the invitation. I conferred with a next door neighbor my own age now retired Army Colonel Chaplin Billy Don Ingram and he wisely advised me it was the Holy Spirit and that if I did not go forward the Spirit would leave me and never come again. Therefore I was encouraged to accept Christ, went forward, was baptized and joined the Church. I was so relieved and glad I did. I am still glad I did that and that I have had the Holy Spirit to guide me to this day.
__________________________________________
1945
March 22, 1945 - Now at age 12, having been a Cub Scout, I joined the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 57 in Crane, Texas and had attained the rank of a Life Scout at the time my Dad died in 1947.
__________________________________________
1947
January - Compounded by gas poisoning on the job, my Dad dies of bronchitis in the hospital in McCamey. My Mother said they would not let her stay in the camp so we moved into town a short time later. When our money ran out she had a nervous breakdown and went in the hospital under the care of the family doctor in McCamey 20 miles south of Crane. I was usually left alone in the house with my little dog which would also follow me as I walked back and forth a mile or so to school. I am not sure where Carla, my 16 year old sister was. She may have had a job at a soda fountain; she was married by the time she finished high school. My Mother became a nurse.This event also led to the end of my activities in the Boy Scouts. My Dad wanted me to be an Eagle Scout.
June - We moved to McCamey, Texas 20 miles south of Crane.
__________________________________________
1949
November - I returned to Crane to live with Grandparents after we lived several months in Grandfalls, Texas. My Mother had remarried in December 1948. She choose between Cuthbert Carl the local newpaper publisher in McCamey and Beeler Brown, brother-in-law of her best friend Ethyl Brown.
__________________________________________
1951
Saw the movie, The Fountainhead, asked High School drafting and shop teacher if I could be an architect, he said, yes. Leaving Crane, I entered Texas A&M College in September for study to become an Architect.
__________________________________________
1957
December - Met architect, Frank Lloyd Wright in his office at Taliesin West and was accepted as an apprentice beginning January 1, 1958. In a group photo by Archtectural Record magazine published in the book, IN THE CAUSE OF ARCHITECTURE / McGraw Hill c. 1975. On page 7, I am 4th from the left, between John O. and Nari Ghandi.
__________________________________________
1959
October - After eight years of school and training in Architecture I began to read the Bible. After a trip to Mexico and while working on a ranch in Montana I started listening to a radio evangelist and decided to become a Disciple forsaking all that I had according to the teaching of Christ in the New Testament. After arriving in California the autocratic evangelist's authoritarian son, Garner Ted Armstrong told me to, "get a job"; so I did. Then he sent two ministers from Pasadena out to Redlands, California where I was working for an Architectural Designer to tell me I could no longer attend their meetings. I guess I was asking too many questions or something like that. I then continued to follow the spirit, wherever it led. I walked away with nothing but the clothes on my back. I got a ride outside of Indio with a man who had a plane and flew back to Texas with him. I continued traveling this way for over three years. I ended up in Florida and returned to Texas about January 1963 to resume working in construction for a while and then in architects offices to complete my required training for registration. I was reinstated in the WCG by GTA in 1966 and I continued to pay my tithes and offerings to Armstrong's Radio Church of God until I resigned in 1975; still I continued torah observant as they had taught as a Chrisitian with some differances of opinion, according to the dictates of my own conscience.
__________________________________________
1963
January - Resumed career in Architecture, working as an architect-in-training for five or six different architects in Dallas, Texas over a period of about three years.
__________________________________________
1966
June - From Dallas I went back to my hometown to start a design practice and to prepare for examination and licensing for registration as an Architect. Application packet from the State Board of Architects to sit for the exam pointed out professional and ethical responsibilities of architects. The SITE PLANNING book by Kevin Lynch was on the list of required reading; I understood the principles of building well enough by then to realize this included the neglected matter of site selection; so, I decided I could not in good conscience build anything until I found the solution to the unsolved problem of City Planning concerning the first step in the building process, viz., site selection. Later, I wrote to the Governor of Texas and was commended for my effort but some County officials on the defensive became hostile to me.
July - Went to Fort Worth, Texas to resume research. Met with HUD official who encouraged me in my efforts to find a solution to the problem of City Planning.
__________________________________________
1967
July - From Fort Worth I went to Chicago for a visit; on the way I met two VISTA volunteers who took me to Palmer House Hotel for the "New Left" Political Convention about which I knew nothing and cared less. However I needed a place to stay and they arranged a place for me with a University of Chicago Economics professor, Benjamin Solomon and family along with several young convention delegates. Having a high regard for Frank Lloyd Wright they all suggested I write a "Resolution" about my ideas, offering to vote for it on the Convention Floor. In one Caucus I suggested that someone like Frank Lloyd Wright would make a good President. I was 34 years old then so they seemed to think I might qualify. Later in the evening Professor Solomon and I attended a speech by Martin Luther King at another location; I saw the caucus leader there in the lobby and he came over to us acting like he wanted to talk but didn't. This was the first time I had ever given such an idea a thought. Ten years later, in February 1977 just after I had decided to read the Book of Mormon on faith, I had dreams and visions such as once when a scene of myself shaking hands with people in place of another candidate, Jimmy Carter flashed through my mind. After the KYMAK concept unfolded to me over the next 3 1/2 years, I had reason to think I could do it and was genuinely inspired and bold enough to give it a try in 1980. After a frontpage article in the Independence Examiner and an hour long Radio Talk Show interview responding to callers and handing out cards around town and the Country, doubts crept in; so I decided I'd best maintain my position as a private citizen.
__________________________________________
1968
May - From Fort worth, Texas I Went to Chicago, Illinois again for the Summer continuing my research in the problems of city planning; while in Chicago I met with another HUD official who was also very interested in my efforts to find a solution.
September - Resumed design practice in Crane, Texas; While waiting for clients, continued my research in City Planning, spending three hours in the library each day. Wrote to Governor Preston Smith about the problem of designing cities and was referred to the Regional Planning Commission - I contacted one of the members who lived in Crane, Jerry Cowden, who was friendly to my effort. I wrote a few articles for the local newspaper and attended City Council and County commission meetings. I lived with my Granddad, a former County commissioner and Road Supervisor.
I stayed with my Granddad until he died in 1971. I invited my Mother who was in Ft. Worth, Texas to come stay with us; after her second husband, Beeler Brown died, she lived alone working as a nurse and then with his relatives (after surgical complications with a crushed ankle forced her to retire). She refused to join me and Granddad in Crane where my Dad and Sister are buried; so I suggested she return to her own relatives in Mississippi. There she married Floyd Ladner in Beaumont, Perry County, MS and lived happily but wanted me to come see her. Eventually, in October 1983, I moved to Mobile, Alabama 60 miles east of where she lived.
__________________________________________
1970
April - Heard Dr. Joseph Jeffers over WOAI Radio 1200AM on the Alan Dale Show and began correspondence with him. Attended his November Thanksgiving Day Conference in San Antonio and was one of seven out of 70 attendees ordained an Ambassador of Yahweh. I spent seven weeks in his home as one of twelve Ambassadors until January 25, 1971 and then returned to Crane. Joseph Jeffers, having a PhD in Theology was State Evangelist for the Southern Baptists in Texas until 1936, before going out on his own. He was born and raised in Alabama. His sainted Mother (once named, "Woman of the Year" by US Senator Thomas Heflin in the 1920's) desired that he be a Minister of the Gospel. This time of my life gained great significance in what he had told me about my destiny when I started to study Mormon theology on January 25, 1977 which led to the KYMAK concept. Our correspondence continued until his de ath in July 1988. I still maintain cordial contact with his YNK Headquarters in Arizona.
__________________________________________
1971 My dear old Granddaddy dies in March where I had returned after the seven weeks in San Antonio; then, I returned to San Antonio for the Summer. While in San Antonio, I stayed in the home of Colonel Guy F. Hix, AF retired, in exchange for my assistance in the management and maintenence of several rental houses and apartments. He bought a new Yamaha motorcycle for me to get around on and as further payment to me. As a licensed Real Estate Broker he paid for me to attend ACRE, the American College of Real Estate. I took the exam for a license while visiting my Mother in the Dallas area as I was recuperating from a motorcycle wreck. Later I also designed a small vacation house for Col. Hix. I returned to Crane and started a correspondance course in Law; but hostile relatives had taken over so I moved to Odessa, Texas in the Fall.
__________________________________________
1973 In Odessa, while living in a house at 203 East Mable, Mormon Missionaries came by in January and gave me a Book of Mormon which I placed on the shelf after reading a few chapters. I was just entering Odessa College to take a few lower-level courses in preparation for a degree in Business Management at the new upper-level University of Texas branch scheduled to open in Odessa in September. I had completed the curriculum in Business Management at UTPB by December 1974.
__________________________________________
1976 Heard Roy Masters on XEG Radio and corresponded briefly with him in November and listened to his introductory tape on observation and meditation. Then in December I heard Jacob Hawkins also on XEG and started attending his House of Yahweh Messianic Synagogue in Odessa. He started with Amstrong's teaching but had tended toward the traditions of the Pharisees as the Messianics do; but I had purposely avoided that. Even so we had a good relationship and Pastor Hawkins offered me a position as an Apostle. Instead I got involved with the Mormons in pursuit of the idea of building the New Jerusalem in America which was the solution to the problems of city planning that was paramount in my professional career and which is what this KYMAK website is devoted to after all.
__________________________________________
1977 On January 25 I decided to accept the Book of Mormon on faith and started visiting the Mormon Church in Odessa. The account of this is on my Benchmark page. Received letter from LDS President Kimball in July expressing positive interest in the KYMAK concept.
__________________________________________
1981 Leaving Odessa, Texas in June, I traveled around the country reconnoitering the perimeters of the 1500-mile square. In November 1983 I contacted the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama to discuss KYMAK with them. Rev Vicar Tom Weise and an assistant, Leo Denton treated me with the utmost courtesy, while referring the information to Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb. Ten years later, Pope John Paul ll at the World Youth Conference met the President of the Mormon Church, Gordon B Hinckley. Thirty five years later in 2019 Morman President Nelson met formallly in Rome with Pope Framcis beginning a working relationship with each other.
___________________________________________
1984 Setteled near Mobile, Alabama. I have lived in the same place in Chickasaw since January 19, 1984..
__________________________________________
1991 August: Mother dies of heart failure (arrhythmia) in Methodist hospital & buried in cemetery at Beaumont, MS - her childhood home.
__________________________________________
2010 On March 17, 2010 I was confirmed as a Candidate - by virtue of my baptism in the First Baptist Church - to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church founded by the Apostle Peter along with Paul; This is expedient in solving the problem, as YHWH provides in the KYMAK concept; because the Key to the Kingdom of Heaven was commited to the Apostle Peter (Matt. 16:19). More about this on my Heaven on Earth page - www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/Heaven.html . (Note: On February 26, 2020 about 7pm CST my Heaven on Earth page was strangely deleted without my consent by I do not know who, why or how. Every link to it now loops back to my homepage.)
__________________________________________
2019 DNA test ancestry: 41% Scottish, 35% English, 15% Irish, 6% Norwegian, 3% Swedish
__________________________________________
Updated 3/30/09
Updated 11/3/2016