Gary Brock,= Ph.D.
When I arrived at SMN during the early part of my juni= or year, I had just moved from southern California. Everything was different--Kansas C= ity was cold, no beaches, and no lifelong friends. I wasn’t scared but I was lo= nely and found solace in music, sports and French.
I immediately enrolled in choir and found a niche. The tenor section was very recepti= ve and I remember many conversations (when we should have been listening to Mr. Oldham) and singing the German lyrics instead of the English. Then, during = the cold, dreary winter I went out for track and discovered there was an indoor season; I’d never heard of that.&nbs= p; My first running experience in downtown Kansas City at the arena was trying to manipulate the sharp turns, banks, and elbows of the other runners. It was a new form of running. I made friends durin= g the track season and went on to compete at state finishing second in the 180 ya= rd low hurdles.
My senior year was memorable. I now felt involved and connected.= Great football season, horrible tr= ack season because I was injured, great music season in Chorale. French was exciting with Mrs. Baldwin, especially the banquet where I was dressed as L= ouis XIV. My senior year in choir = was a joy with the Chorale members as we sang madrigals, performed around the Kan= sas City metropolitan area, and ended the year with dinner on a boat on the Missouri River.
After SMN I met a beautiful girl, Judy, who became the= love of my life. We’ve been married 45 years, raised 2 daughters, now have 2 grandchildren, and our youngest daughter has adopted twins from Ethiopia.
I went to college, graduate school, eventually earning= my Ph.D. in Sociology. After ser= ving in fulltime ministry for 18 years, I spent the remainder of my career teach= ing at Missouri State University. Because of my academic career we’ve been able to travel around= the world and live abroad while I was teaching. That’s been one of our pleasures—just last year we spent nearly a month wandering through Scandinavia and a couple of weeks in China. We love to travel!
I have lots of great memories from my 1 ½ years= at SMN. Although it was a radical change in my young life, and I haven’t stayed touch with classmates, = my experiences at SMN helped me grow up and prepare for the next phase in life= .