TOWARD THE LIGHT
~ Monday, 6 November 2006 ~
Joanie Thurston’s
life began precariously in October, 1944 in Brentwood, California. As a
three-pound 'preemie' taken by an emergency caesarean operation, it was
predicted that she would be dead or, if alive, would be blind and prone
to catastrophic illnesses. She yelled all the way to the incubator.
This was her entry into Survival School, which she attended for the
next 52 years. Then she hit a light pole at 45 mph and died. For those
years Joanie deserves a Ph.D. in Survival.
She had arrived as an unwelcome guest in a dysfunctional family. Joanie
was sexually molested and physically abused by her father starting at
age three. He was afraid of heights, so she found safety at the top of
the tallest trees, on the roof, in the crawl space under the house and
even in the storm sewer in the street.
Joanie was nauseous in the presence of her father at the dinner table.
She couldn’t eat, even though she was hungry. (Her mother called her 'Bones', and she was known in Catholic grade school as, 'Boney
Joanie'.) She lived on wild berries, fruit from the neighbours’ trees
and titbits from their garbage cans.
Animals, all animals, were her best friends. They could be trusted.
Even her stuffed animals guarded her in bed at night. Later, as an
adult, Mrs. Thurston was the 'animal lady' of the neighbourhood. She
also worked in several pet stores and became an expert in the care of
pets.
During
her childhood, a loving grandmother provided funds for eight weeks of
summer camp at Friendly Pines. She escaped from home every summer from
the age of five to sixteen! She continued to escape from home by
attending Orme, an excellent college preparatory, residential,
co-educational high school. It was also a large working ranch near
Mayer, Arizona. The students were ranch hands.
Rather
than return home after graduation, Joanie attended a women’s college in
Denver. After the rigorous academics at Orme, she found it extremely
boring. She escaped again, this time into a marriage that her
grandfather predicted would last six months. She struggled to be the
perfect wife for 20 years, then her husband put an end to the misery.
After ten more years with another partner, an attempted suicide, a
psychotic break, and several changes of jobs and residences, she hit a
light pole and died. Many miracles were involved. Again, Joanie
survived! On the other side she was directed to 'tell her story'. She
did just that in her book,
Possible Fatal.
William Wallace Johnston
was born on a Nebraska farm in 1921, the sixth of ten children. He grew
up in Lincoln where he attended Jackson High School, the University of
Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan U. He returned to Wesleyan after serving
in the military from 1942-47 as an instructor pilot in B-25’s. He
completed his baccalaureate degree in physics and math in 1948 then
spent three years as high school principal in Stromsburg, Nebraska
before he was recalled to the US Air Force in 1951 for the Korean
conflict. He served the next eight years in the Strategic Air Command
(SAC) as a pilot and Aircraft Commander of B-29’s and B-47’s.
After three years in business and two years as the Superintendent of
Schools in Sisters, Oregon, (1962-64) he attended the University of
South Dakota, completing the MA and Ed. D. in Educational Psychology in
1967 before taking a position at Winona State U. as a counsellor
educator. He stayed at WSU until 1980. In 1978 Wally entered private
practice as a Licensed Consulting Psychologist at the Center for
Effective Living in Rochester, Minnesota.
In 1984 he retired and moved with Ardis to Gresham, Oregon to be near
their three sons. They have six children, twelve grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren.
After retiring, Wally wrote and published
Take Charge! A Guide to
Feeling Good. He has kept busy reading, writing and attending meetings
of such organisations as the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), the
International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy
Medicine (ISSSEEM), the International Association for Near-Death
Studies (IANDS), and the International Association for New Science
(IANS). Wally’s main retirement hobby is trying to fit together the
pieces of the cosmic jigsaw puzzle. In 2004 he co-authored and published
Possible Fatal, the story of Joanie Thurston’s near-death experience (NDE).
