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Today's Featured Biography

John Lawless

This is a personal biography for John Lawless

Soon after high school graduation I moved to Grand Junction to go to Mesa Jr. College. During that time I had an off and on again relationship with Dana Rae. In August of 1969 we married and lived in Grand Junction Colorado. It was evident that I was not ready for college. After all, I barely made it out of high school, what with all the socializing and trying to discover who I was and what I wanted to do I had little time for studies. Dana I and were happy and began our family very early in our marriage. During the next 4 years we had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. They have all grown up and have given us 7 lovely grandchildren.

A major life changing experience happened to me in 1979. Dana and I were having a rough time in our marriage and I lived as though I was still in high school. Then it happened. We were attending a church that my father was the senior pastor for and they were having a meeting. Dana and got the kids dressed and decided to attend. The visiting preacher said something I had heard all of my life but never really believed. He said, "God wants to be your God, not just your father and mother's God but yours." Something inside of me came alive and I turned my life around.


For the next 2 years I studied under my father about different aspects of the ministry. In 1977, after I had completed my official pastoral training and had received my ordination, I was asked to pastor a church in Boulder Colorado where my real training began.

Dana and I packed up and moved to Boulder for our first ministry. The congregation was small and it was difficult to attract people to it. We labored there for 7+ years. In 1985 Dana and I visited a congregation in Fresno California that was looking for a minister. After begin selected to pastor this church, once again we packed up the family and moved to Fresno. This move was a little more traumatic because our oldest was in 10th grade, our middle was in 8th and our baby was in 6th grade. They did not want to move.

We might have given more serious thought to their objections but we had concerns about the influence in their lives and since they did not have many Christian influences in the church (most of the people were older). We felt the move was the best thing and as a family we moved. For the next 17 years, from 1985 – 2002 we worked with this church.

At some point along the way I felt I had offered all I had to offer in the way of sermons and Biblical advice. I felt like a dry well dipping sand and trying to quench the thirst of the congregation. I knew I needed a change because I felt trapped. At 43 years old I decided to go to school. I had my ministerial training but that does not count towards a degree, so I started at Fresno City College. I just knew I would be the oldest student in the history of that school to begin at the beginning but I did not care, and I found out I was not the oldest student. There were several students my age and older. Besides, I knew I had to try it. My initial interest was in the study of psychology. Along with my basic classes I took all of the elective classes in psychology I could find.

Before I started to college I was ambivalent, I did not do well in high school and I was not sure what I was capable of. After I started, I realized my learning curve was steep. But I worked hard and made good grades. During my 4th semester a sociology professor asked me if I had thought of taking social work classes. I told him I had not. He suggested that I look into that. He said, “Psychology does not have much in and of itself to offer. If you get a degree in psychology you will need to specialize as a psychologist or go into research or focus on marriage and family counseling.” I looked into social work and soon decided he was right. During my Bachelor of Arts years and my Master’s studies I focused on social work. It paid off. I received my master’s degree in social work in 2000. After completing my schooling while working part time at the church, I prayerfully decided to change the focus of my ministry.

In July of 2000 I got a job working as a counselor with abused children in Madera California. Madera is about 17 miles north of Fresno, so the commute was not difficult. In 2003 I decided that I could not continue to preach on a part time basis and do this other job full time so I retired from the ministry and devoted my time and energy to working for a private non profit organization counseling abused children. I worked there for three (3) years and then the private non profit that I worked for was taken over by Madera County. I did not much like working for the county so I began a job search. Among other jobs that did not sound interesting, I found a job advertisement for a program manager in Mariposa California. This is a small mountain town, population 1,800 in the township, about 18,000 in the county. It’s big draw is that it is close to Yosemite National Park and there are many tourist type businesses in town.

The job was for a supervisory position for a small clinic, similar to the one I was working at. I filled out the application and sent it in. I was not real hopeful and forgot about it until about three (3) weeks later when I received a letter from Mariposa County requesting my presence at an interview. I went and sat before the director of Human Services, a local judge, the chief probation officer and the director of mental health. They asked me questions I did not feel prepared to answer in an appropriate manner. Talk about intimidating, I was overwhelmed to say the least and during that interview I wished I had been anywhere else but in that room.

Soon after I left the interview I called Dana on the way home (it is about 85 miles from Fresno to Mariposa) and told her not to pack the bags I did not have a good feeling about the interview. Three weeks later I got a call from the human services director asking me to meet with her in Oakhurst (a small town between Fresno and Mariposa) for a second interview. I met her and we talked for about one half hour. At the end of the second interview she asked me if I was ready to go to work for Mariposa County. I tried not to seem too anxious but I said, “YES!” when do I start. I told her I needed to give my current job a 2 week notice and I started in Mariposa in July, 2003. After I commuted from Fresno for almost a year we decided we needed to find a home closer to my work. We sold our house in Fresno and bought a home in Mariposa.

That was the beginning of our lives in Mariposa California. All three (3) of the kids were grown and beginning their own families so we did not have to worry about uprooting our children again. After I was in the job for one year, the State decided the program I was working in, called Family Solutions was not necessary and the funding for the Children’s System of Care Program in the State was cut. The program had to close. During the same time I studied for and passed 2 examinations to become a licensed social worker. In June of 2004 I became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, able to practice social work in the State of California and able to charge for my services. The agency providing mental health services was a private non profit agency that had provided services for the past 25 years. They provided services mental health and alcohol and drug services for our mentally ill. The agency was in trouble. There were accusations of several unethical and illegal things happening that caused a great deal of concern for my director and the board of supervisors. My boss, the director, confided in me that the board of supervisors was cancelling the contract with the non profit and the county would assume responsibility for providing mental health services for the county. My boss promoted me to the post of Deputy Director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services and asked me to take charge of the clinic. Talk about a challenging job. I have been reminded almost every day how much I do not know about this job but I am learning and am very happy doing it. That was in 2004. I have been in the deputy director position since that time.

Dana and I are very happy in Mariposa. It is a wonderful place to live and to celebrate 39 years of marriage in (which we do at the end of August, 2007) We often joke that coming home is like coming to a bed and breakfast. We have deer and other wildlife running through our yard on a regular basis. Dana also has two (2) hummingbird feeders that keeps her busy filling them with sugar water. It is a very comfortable life and we have become quite good at being mountain folk. We even like to sit out on our front porch and watch the beauty of God's creation. In act, the environment reminds us a lot of Colorado, We have also found a small church in town that reminds us of our first church where we began our ministry.

Since our three children have grown up they have also spread out. Out oldest daughter, Hiedi (Witcher), is married and lives in Bakersfield with her husband and daughter. Her husband’s name is Mark and their daughter’s name is Abbi. Hiedi works as a principal for a grade school in a small town called Shafter (about 20 miles north of Bakersfield). Her husband is an accountant and works for a dairy. Abbi is 8 years old.

Our middle daughter, Jennifer (McDermott), lives in Fresno with her husband, Rich, and their four (4) children. Jennifer is a homemaker and Rich recently graduated from National University. He is to begin a career in teaching this fall. Their children are Airiana 11 yrs old. Richard and Johnathan (twins, 8 years old), and Caleb, 6 years old.

Our youngest child is John (named after his father). He lives in the Denver area in Highlands Ranch with his wife Robbie and their 2 children Elijah (3 years old) and Brookelyn (11 months old). John is a high school math teacher in a new school in Castle Rock and Robbie is a veterinarian in Denver.

We hope all is well with each of our classmates and that life has been good to all of you. Life is a gift and Dana and realize that more every day. May God richly bless each of you and your children in your life pursuits.

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