James Wright - Resurrected: The True Story of a Modern-Day Miracle

Resurrected

The True Story of a
Modern-Day Miracle

James Wright

Copyright 2014 by James Wright.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014904203

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4931-8182-7

Softcover 978-1-4931-8183-4

eBook 978-1-4931-8181-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 03/04/2014

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Table of Contents

Hello, and welcome to my first book. In the following pages, you will discover many true storiessome much more serious than others, and some with substories hidden between the lines. Not to worry, though. All will be revealed as you read on.

Some names, dates, and other identifying details have been changed to protect the identity of individuals involved. But I assure you every word, every paragraph, are entirely true.

I would like to thank the following people for their part in the book: Sam, Lisa, Ron, Rhonda, Larry, Trudy, Mitsie, Stephanie, Richie, Marlene, and Andy.

I wrote this book to bring glory to God Almighty and his son, Jesus Christ, but also to enlighten every reader, Christian or not, with some very eye-opening revelations.

It was the early 1900s, and Fridolin and Mary Baumann immigrated to Canada to homestead on over ten sections of land near Vanguard, Saskatchewan. They were a young couple starting a farm and a family on the Canadian Prairies. They had to clear the land of rocks by hand and horse cart, but first they needed to build a house big enough to hold a large family.

On March 21, 1935, they had their sixth child, a girl they named Marlene Fay Baumann. Marlene grew up on that farm. When she was six years old, she started to go to Mountville School, a one-room school situated just north of Vanguard. Marlenes sister, her senior by twenty years, taught grades one through twelve all at the same time.

In 1945, Fridolin bought a large house in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, then moved himself, his wife, and his twelve children there. That summer, Marlene moved into the Catholic convent in Swift Current. When she was old enough, she attended Beatty High School. She worked at the supermarket after school and on the weekends.

Marlene saved up her money, and when she was sixteen, she asked her father if she could move to Calgary, Alberta, with her girlfriend. Her father gave her his permission but warned her that if she ever got pregnant, she could never come home. She understood completely and said, Thank you, Daddy.

Shortly after moving to Calgary, Marlene was hired on as cashier at Calgarys very first supermarket.

Marlene took to the big city like a duck to water. She worked hard and saved most of what she earned, but she did like to go out with her friends and have a good time. Marlene wasnt old enough to get into bars and nightclubs, but some of her older friends would often buy alcohol and party at home or go to a friends house so Marlene could drink and have a good time with everybody else. When she turned eighteen in 1953, her friends and coworkers took her out to celebrate that she could now legally go into bars and nightclubs.

Marlene was smart, attractive, and a very nice young lady. It wasnt long before she became head cashier at the supermarket where she worked. For the next four years, she stuck close to her friends and had a good time, mostly going to bars and nightclubs at night and working hard during the day.

She liked dancing with the young men in the bars and nightclubs, and from time to time she would go out on a date when a nice young man asked her out. But Marlene was raised to be a nice girl, and that meant she must be a virgin when she got married. Six years of going to parties, bars, and nightclubs with her girlfriends, however, could only lead to one thingshe became an alcoholic.

In the fall of 1957, the supermarket where Marlene worked hired a new meat department manager. Andy was twenty-six years old and very good-looking. He was also an alcoholic. Andy believed that the more whiskey a man could handle, the more of a man he was. That, and the amount of pain he could endure. On his chest, he had a tattoo of a bald eagle with its wings fully spread. It covered his whole upper torso. So if any man was showing off his tattoo, Andy would rip open his shirt and belittle him, because no one had a tattoo bigger than Andys.

At work, Andy kept a bottle of whiskey under the counter in the meat department. After lunch, he and the other meat cutters would start having drinks. The meat department was sealed off from the rest of the store with sliding glass, which meant that Andy and his staff did not have to set foot in the grocery store itself. To stock the meat, they only needed to slide a piece of glass and reach in. The store manager didnt even go back there. If he wanted to know something, he would just call Andy on the in-store phone system. So, Andy and his coworkers could drink undisturbed. They would not drink enough to be noticed by a customer or one of the staff.

It wasnt long before Andy asked Marlene out on a date, and she said yes. Marlene had a good time on this date, so when Andy asked her out again just a few days later, she accepted.

One night late in October, when Andy was driving Marlene home after a party, Marlene turned to Andy and said, Im yours. She was falling in love with him and had decided she did not want to date anyone else.

Andy turned to her and asked, Mine alone?

Yes.

I have never had something that was mine and just mine.

Marlene did not notice that he had referred to her as something.

Now that they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, Andy usually decided where they went and what they did. Marlene didnt mindshe was in love. She was giving herself to Andy. She was raised to believe the man is the head of the relationship, and she trusted him to do what was best for the both of them. They went to parties, nightclubs, and bars almost the entire time they dated.

One night late in December when Andy and Marlene were on a date, Andy asked Marlene to marry him, and as history would have it she said yes. But Marlene continued to live with her girlfriend up until her wedding day. As a Catholic, Marlene could not live in sin and had to be a virgin when she married.

In the following weeks, Andy and Marlene had a great many things to talk about, like what kind of wedding they wanted, where to get married, and who to invite. But first they must call and tell their parents the good news. After that was done, they needed to talk to their Catholic priest. Because they were Catholic, they had to have marriage studies with a Catholic priest. Only once this was scheduled could they settle on a date.

They decided they wanted a spring wedding. They came up with May 26, 1958. And it was going to be big. Marlene had eleven brothers and sisters, and Andy had ten brothers and sisters, not to mention their siblings spouses, plus all of their aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

There was so much to be done: reserving the church hall, ordering invitations and thank-you cards, choosing the best man and bridesmaids, and booking the honeymoon. Marlenes father, Fridolin, paid for the entire wedding.

During their marriage studies, the priest spoke with Marlene and Andy about almost everything that could happen in a marriage, including children, sickness, good times and bad, and growing old together.