Richard Lowell Engle

My earliest memories involve the security of being part of two wonderful extended families and a supportive and loving church family. The youngest of six children of John and Anna Kreider Engle, I was born in the old Hershey (PA) Hospital on April 14, 1954, with a birth weight of 11 pounds, 7 ounces. The hospital personnel may have thought one of my parents was an elephant - but fortunately I did not have a long trunk protruding from my face!

My first 8 years were spent on the farm on Route 117 south of Campbelltown, and while I do not have many specific memories of the farm, I remember always being fascinated with jigsaw puzzles and baseball cards. I remember being quite shy when I started first grade at Campbelltown School. One day when I was supposed to get off the bus at Grandma Kreider's house, I was too shy to tell the bus driver, so I went on the bus to the farm and walked six miles back to Campbelltown alone.

When Grandma Kreider died in 1962, we moved to her house in Campbelltown, where I spent the remainder of my formative years. I always had many friends in the neighborhood, and our house became the local playground, as I was always organizing games and things to play with the kids who lived nearby. They used to come peer in the window at the side porch when we were having evening "family worship" waiting for me to come out and play. I always enjoyed school, but learning came easily, and I did not always have to work very hard to get good grades. I would later learn what it meant to study and work hard, but not until college and graduate school. Uncle Herbert's farm was the scene of many activities with my friends - we would sometimes camp out in the woods above the pond, or play "Capture the Flag" in the cornfield behind our house. I remember shooting a couple of pigeons once with our 22 rifle and bringing them home. Mom made pot pie with them...

Most of our family vacation times were spent travelling to other states where my older siblings were living and starting families - Kentucky, Indiana, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia. The first long trip I remember was going to Kansas for my brother John's wedding in 1960. I always enjoyed when the Kreider cousins would come and visit. It was inspiring to have so many missionaries in the family and to hear all their stories. I particularly bonded with my oldest Kreider cousin, Marlin, when he would come to Campbelltown to visit Uncle Ethan and Aunt Esther. He would take me spelunking (cave exploring), and it was always exciting to learn new things from him. It was a pleasure to be able to spend time with Marlin and Elin in Worcester many years later when I was attending graduate school in Boston.

A significant part of my junior high and high school years involved Bible Quizzing, and one year we won the Brethren in Christ National Championship at General Conference in Fort Erie, Ontario. One of the spiritual blessings of my life, was having Dr. C.N. Hostetter, Jr. as pastor at Palmyra Church where my father served as deacon for many years. Dr. Hostetter's life played an important role in my spiritual development. He baptized me, and was also instrumental in my lifestyle as a believer to understand "peacemaking". I was also involved in sports activities in high school, primarily basketball and track. My biggest accomplishment in track was setting a new school record running the 120 High Hurdles. I was also very much involved in Youth for Christ and Campus Life.

I attended Messiah College from 1971 through 1975, majoring in Biology and was involved in many leadership positions there. I also enjoyed singing in the Chora] Society and Grantham Oratorio Society while in college. I was also blessed to have Dr. K.B. Hoover as a mentor and to benefit from both his practical scientific knowledge and spiritual maturity. Going on field trips with Dr. Hoover was always a highlight.

During my junior year at Messiah, I met my future wife, Sara Getz, while working at a local Howard Johnson restaurant. (I actually worked as a cook at four different Howard Johnson's for seven years during high school and college). My keen interest in cooking and creating new dishes remains to this day.

Sara and 1 were married in 1976, and soon thereafter went to New Mexico and taught for two years at the Navajo Brethren in Christ Mission School. We were fortunate to make many friends there, including Marion and Rachel Heisey, and Dr. Warren and Connie Hoffman. We returned to Palmyra, PA in 1979, as Sara's father was terminally ill. During this time I worked at Hershey Medical Center in Biochemistry and Microbiology research labs.

I was at a point where I had to figure out what I would do professionally, and during this year started to explore graduate school opportunities. One of the possibilities seemed like a "long shot" to me - I applied for a full scholarship with living stipend offered by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to study Industrial Hygiene and Safety at the Harvard School of Public Health. I was both shocked and overwhelmed to be accepted, and we moved to the outskirts of Boston in the summer of 1980. A fond memory was graduation in May, 1982, when my mother and father came to my commencement where Mother Theresa was the speaker. During the two years in Boston, I had a summer internship at IBM Corporate Headquarters in White Plains, NY, which involved commuting between Boston and New York each weekend for a summer.

Upon graduation, I had hoped to obtain a permanent position with IBM, but there was nothing available at the time, so I accepted a position as Radiation Safety Coordinator at Harvard University. Almost a year later, I received an offer from IBM in Poughkeepsie NY, starting in January, 1983. It was during this final year in Boston that Alyssa Joy Engle came into the world at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. So we moved to the Poughkeepsie area, to our first "owned" home in Hyde Park, with a 6-month-old daughter. Working at IBM was going very well, and I was advancing rapidly for my first few years, and during this time Kyla Renae was born in 1984 and Kelsey Dianna in 1987. The pressure of work and a young family, as well as financial pressures, and other personal issues, created a strain in the marital relationship, causing us to separate in our marriage. The next number of years were devoted to work and trying to be a responsible parent, even though living apart. I am not always proud of choices I made during these years, and it caused me to reject my faith for a period of years. I was not able to reconcile my choices with my faith, and so I abandoned my faith. Fortunately, our God is a forgiving God, and accepts us in our greatest weaknesses, which I came to realize later when I was fully broken.

After a divorce was finalized, I married Donna Braatz, who worked as a Home Care Nurse at the time. We are still in the home that we purchased in Poughkeepsie in late 1999. We became the parents of Brenna Alain in July, 2001. As Brenna began to grow, we started attending church again at the Poughkeepsie Alliance Church (now New Beginnings CMA). Donna became a Christian in 2003, and I again began realizing my rejection of God, and began walking with Him (at least partially). During these years on Albert Road, my children were now growing older and each spent some time living here during high school or college. I always felt that I had not set a very good example for them with some of the decisions I made, and had a lot of "catching up" to do to regain their trust and respect.

In February 2005, we went to PA after my father had a stroke, and when driving back to New York, encountered some snowy roads in the Poconos. Unfortunately, we were struck in the rear by a tractortrailer truck, and Brenna was gravely injured. She was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center and died the next day, February 13, the day before Valentine's Day. Our lives were never to be the same.

The next 12-18 months brought severe testing and trials to our faith, our family, and our marriage. In April, 2006, my very close friend, Tim Moyer, passed away from cancer, and in September 2006, I lost my job with IBM. For me, it was a time of dire soul-searching, and I rededicated my life to Christ, and prayed for His strength to be a spiritual leader, husband, and father. Donna and I started having daily devotions and praying together and God worked miracles in our lives and our relationship with each other and with Him.

As a result of Brenna's death, we had connections to a family working with underprivileged children in Ukraine, and Donna went to Ukraine on a short-term mission trip. Brenna's Home for Underprivileged Children in Lutsk, Ukraine became reality because of people who donated money when she died. This became the "home" first for two children, then three, then four. In February 2006, we made our first trip together to Ukraine to visit the children. Later that year, we established The Brenna Engle Foundation as an IRS approved tax-exempt charity to support the home. By January 2009, Brenna's Home needed more space, and we were able to use funds from the accident settlement to purchase a larger flat and accommodate more children. The home has been able to serve as home for more than 20 children for varying length of time, and in May 2011, we purchased an adjoining flat to allow for more children to live there. Travelling to Ukraine has now become almost second-nature to us, as we enjoy going and ministering there, and also taking teams for short terms mission trips, often during the winter, but also several times to run summer camp for up to 75 children. We pray that God will continue to use us to bless the lives of children in Ukraine, and elsewhere as God may lead in the future.

Donna has now been working with Hospice for five years as an admissions nurse. I have been fortunate to have a position as Director of Environmental Health and Safety at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City for over 3 1/2 years (despite the long commute by train to the city each day). We are both involved in various ministry activities at New Beginnings Church, but have also been involved in helping with music ministry and serving in other capacities with a small country church in the area. Two years ago we started a local ministry from our home known as "Brenna's Basement", through which people can come to our home on Saturdays to receive donated clothing and household items. We do this work in conjunction with more than 10 local charities and agencies. We are fortunate to be able to share with many around us in this way, and we pray for God's grace to abound in our lives, as we touch the lives of others.

We are also blessed with good children and grandchildren. Alyssa and Hugh (Romine) live in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they have been running a home improvement business. Alyssa has recently begun work on a nursing degree They are the proud parents of Townes Romine, our grandson born in October, 2008. Kyla and Ben (Gatton) recently relocated to Sparta, North Carolina, where they are involved in the start-up of a new Christian school. They are parents to Margot, our granddaughter born in November 2009. Kelsey and Marcus (Hill) live in Waterford, NY, north of Albany, where Kelsey is employed by the New York State Department of Labor, and Marcus services a sales route. Donna's daughter, Taryn also lives in the Albany area, where she recently completed her Masters Degree in Social Welfare, and currently works with clients suffering from traumatic brain injury.