My life without Christ

My life without Christ (1928 – 1981) As the hymn tells us “He was there all along”

My mother, Minerva (Woodbury) McCauley, developed cancer soon after I was born and subsequently passed on when I was 2 years old. My father, Robert A. McCauley eventually married Grace Darlene Drake who had cared for and loved me beyond any of her 5 children. Without doubt she was one of the first miracles to come into my life.

My life story begins at the time I left home, age 18. (I reserve the opportunity to share some stories of my childhood at a later time if my energy permits) Prior notes tell that I had the mumps when the tests were given to graduate from the 8th grade. Since the school permanently closed at the end of the year due to lack of students, technically I did not graduate but was allowed to enter high school in the fall. I attended one year, however, since I did not make good grades my father took me out of school so that I could help on the farm. I did not attend for 2 years but later attended for two more years.
1946 – Reaching 18 yrs of age. I enlisted into the Army Air Corps as a Pvt. Following basic training I was trained as a Photo Lab technician, specializing in aerial mosaic processing. When WWII ended the need for mosaics ended.

In 1947 I was assigned to the Historical Division of Tactical Air Command. My duties were to safeguard the classified 76 unit histories that had to be submitted on a periodic basis. This office had 2 PhD civilian historians whose responsibility it was to write the composite for Air Force headquarters. One of these was Dr. J. J. Lichman, Chief Historian ,who took me under his wing and groomed me for adulthood. During this same time I met a precious young lady who I dated exclusively for 2 years. We were very much in love but I did not think I was ready to get married. She asked me to pray about it but I thought that was a foolish thing for me to do since I was not acquainted with God.

In June 1949 I was discharged from the military. I returned to KS and farmed for 2 yrs. The first year my Dad and I disagreed on the split of the revenue, I went on my own the second year. I cash rented 450 acres of land, planted it to wheat and went to work nights for Kansas Soya Products, now Bunge Corp. in Emporia, KS. I was initially employed by a pipeline company installing a cross-country gas line and later on by the Santa Fe Railroad At harvest time, June 1951, this area experienced the greatest flood in over 100 years, my entire crop was lost.

On August 5, 1951 I married Maxine Marie Tatman at the Grace Methodist Church. Later that year we moved to Newton, KS. I was first employed by the AT&SF Railroad store department, and later by Beech Aircraft on the evening shift

In late August, 1952 a co-worker, Milas Brink, encouraged me to take an occupational guidance test. The cost was $300. I could not afford to take it and he convinced his dad to pay the fee for me. Another early miracle. Results of the test – I should be a large animal veterinarian. I started to school that fall in Pre-vet/med at Wichita State University and never looked back. In 1953 we moved to Manhattan and I was subsequently accepted into Veterinary School in 1954.

1956 – My first taste of politics. Was elected Mayor of the housing district named Hilltop Courts. This was a ‘makedo’ housing facility of 200 barracks that had been used to house Japanese immigrants living in the U.S. who were taken into custody at the start of WW II. These buildings were 25 feet wide and 100 feet long and placed on cement blocks 6’ apart. Each building was divided into 4 units (25 x 25) by a 2x2 studded wall having sheet rock on only one side. Talk about privacy, we had it! The greatest part of this experience was that the rent was $29.00 a month, bills paid!

In May of 1956 I received a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences. This diploma was the very first I had ever received from any institution. As a result of this degree I received a commission in the Army (National Guard) the last month prior to my 28th birthday, the last day I could be eligible. Another miracle as I look back.

In June, 1959 – Graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, and moved to Tyndall, SD and in August, 1960 having worked for Dr. Glenn Duncan for a year, he offered me the opportunity to buy into a partnership with him. This did not work out for a variety of reasons.

In August, 1961 I bought a practice and moved to Wakonda, SD, a small town in SE South Dakota. I enjoyed a very active predominantly large animal practice with hours 5 to 9 twice a day due to the fact the clients were mostly row-crop farmers and in touch with their animals only during chore time, unless for specific or appointed activities. In 1964 the major feed companies that manufactured and sold protein supplements to cattle, hog, and sheep feeders in the area made a major financial move. They offered contracts to delay payment of their feed bill until such time as they sold their animals in exchange for their exclusive purchase of feed, feed additives, veterinary biologics, and all animal care. These contracts had a significant negative impact on revenues that would normally be directed to my practice as I could not afford to wait to be paid for this length of time. After suffering this negative impact for several months, I made an effort to abandon my practice with intent to be gainfully employed elsewhere.

In 1967 I became gainfully employed by the federal service. USDA – Meat Inspection and moved to CO – Served as relief Veterinarian then later accepted a permanent assignment in Loveland CO. In addition to my regular duties, I was elected to be the Regional Representative to the National Association of Federal Veterinarians. I was responsible to represent the concerns of all federal veterinarians in the 9 north-western states. Every quarter we traveled to Wash DC to meet with the Administrator, discuss relevant issues and report back to constituents. In discussing the problems associated with the protocol for handling inspected products being exported, it was noted that frozen product in production plants was inspected in a much different way from that stored in cold storage warehouses. To make a long story very short, I discussed this with the Plant manager who agreed to enter into a contract if I should build a facility near by. I did the math on revenue and then invited a preliminary cost from my architect friend, Keith Titus. The margin was huge. I proceeded to pursue the options and made application for funds to build the facility. I knew that once I was in the process of building, I would have to quit working for the government due to having a conflict of interest.

Just before the loan was finalized, I was informed by the lender, Metro Bank of Denver, that we needed more ($400,000) operating capital in case of a delay in revenues. After consulting with my accountant, Silas Halliburton, he advised me to form a LLP, however we only had 43 days to get it finished before the loan commitment expired. The law required that no one may invest more than 80,000, nor less than 20,000 and none could be relatives, nor partners, nor could any of them be relatives of one another. Then the Lord got involved and I still didn’t even know him at this time. Because of the shortness of time, I went to Boulder, CO where my daughter was attending Colorado University. After careful consideration, I started with the professional listing of people who had the most money. At this time I did have 3 investors (one 40 M) and 2 (20 M). I could not have more than 16 more individuals. I got on the phone and contacted 21 Orthodontists for a personal chat appt. Within the next 3 days I sold the entire 400M with 120 more possible in case anyone backed out, and only 16 individuals… and never met any of them face to face. The following night I contacted each and picked up their check with no one backing down. As soon as the paperwork was approved by the state, the checks were cashed. The Lord had to be looking over my life. The building was started after we obtained a contract with Monfort of Colorado for their products to be frozen and stored. Three months later it was built and ready to go. 180 x 300 and 36 feet clear inside. Capable of holding 2.4 million pounds of meat products. Blast freezer capable of freezing (50 degrees to –30) 8 truck loads (320,000 lbs) every 24 hours. This project had a final cost of 1.7 Million Dollars. From the time the refrigeration was started until all the building was slowly brought down to –20 it took 8 days. It had to be done slowly to prevent cracking the walls or floor.

In 1978 - The plot thickens – The very day the engineers said it was cold enough to receive products, we made preparation to notify Monfort Packing we could start on Monday. About an hour and a half later they called me and said their workers had gone on strike. It is worthy of note they stayed on strike for almost 3 years. Their meat packing operation was moved to York, Nebraska where they purchased a plant. The cold storage facility in Omaha served their needs. We were able to serve a number of smaller operations but never to the extent it would allow our operation to break even financially. We slowly approached the end of our operating capital. I probably made a thousand phone calls trying to generate business from anywhere but we were not in a strategic place for any other packing operation. We had it partially filled with potatoes, crab, vegetables, etc but conditions were not as lucrative as meat. I laid awake many nights trying to come up with a way to redirect the business operation so not to loose the plant. Finally, I decided to put a ground beef manufacturing operation in a part of the building that was used for chilled storage. We could purchase the beef from other small operations that stored beef with us and resell it to the Denver grocery market. I quickly cornered that opportunity and put it under contract. Now to remodel a portion of the plant and get the machinery. It was determined that we would need another $350,000. I had my accountant put a Performa together, he did and it looked very attractive. Very profitable. Sufficient margin to pay both loan payments. All I needed was a lender. I must have presented that Performa to 10 banks within the next week. Every one turned it down for a variety of reasons although it did look attractive to them. My personal banker gave me the name of a young man who had inherited 27 independent gas stations. I was told that he was a multi-millionaire and enjoyed investing in speculative ventures. I called him to look at the facility the next day. He did look at it and then wanted 2 other associates to look at it who could develop the market with him. 3 days later they all toured our facility and loved it. This principle member said he would get back to me in a couple of days. On the 3rd day he called me and wanted an appt with me. I told him he never needed one and to feel free to come anytime he wanted. He said he would be out at 1100a. I thanked him and told him I looked forward to meeting with him. He said “Don’t get your hopes up, I am not going to invest.” And then hung up.

This was Nov 13, 1980
Billy Fogelman (the potential investor) brought the news to me.

He sat across my desk from me. A young man about 35 or so, big smile, braces on his teeth, and conservatively dressed in western jeans, etc. He told me that he and his relatives had discussed the situation and agreed that it was a worthy venture, a great building, and plenty of profit margin. However, when he prayed about it, he said the Lord told him not to invest. I was furious and heart broken. (I had been praying every morning as I come to work and I thought the Lord had given me an indication that He would help me) Remember now that I was a Methodist with no personal relationship with the Lord. I was sitting at my desk, elbows on the desk, and my head in my hands at this point. Speechless. After some time I calmed myself enough to look him in the eye and asked (somewhat sarcastically) “What did the Lord say to you?” He said “The Lord told me to tell you that if you would give your life and this business to Him, you would not need my money.” I told him “I didn’t tell you I did need your money.” And he said “The Lord did!” Believe me, absolutely no one knew my financial condition except myself and accountant at that point and neither of us was a Christian. After regaining my composure from knowing that it had to be coming from some source other than people, I said to him “ What else did he have to say?” He said, “The Lord told me to pray with and for you, if you would let me.” After another period of silence, I looked up at him and said “ You had best get started. I am at the end.”

My financial advisor was there with me and we both knelt down and gave our life to the Lord that day.

I had been receiving one to 3 phone calls each day from creditors (8 major) demanding money. We had some money, however, my advisor said we needed to keep most of it to file bankruptcy if we had to. So I put them off. After giving my life to Christ, I never got another call demanding money. I never said a word about anything to anyone. Five months later when we were in front of the Court at the bankruptcy hearing, all 8 of my creditors appeared and supported my plan and efforts of reorganization. The Judge said he had been on that bench for 28 years and had never seen that happen before. Within just a few days I received interest from people I never met, or heard of, to purchase both my home and the Cold Storage Plant. Both sold. All creditors received their monies as did the investors. No one lost money except me. The court would not allow me to receive a portion. After we received a contract a liquidation hearing was necessary. A lawyer, banker, and accountant from each of the interests were at this hearing, plus my wife and I. It was necessary to set aside enough monies to pay each of those who had an executive part in the distribution. Each indicated how much they needed for their activity and sufficient money was available. The necessary documents were prepared as a contract and delivered to the bankruptcy court.

Following this most stressful meeting, as an act of kindness, my local banker, Norman Rarick, invited me to have dinner at the Black Steer Restaurant near by, along with others who would care to join us. Before we dispersed from this meeting however, he wanted to make an announcement to the group. He stated “If ever I wanted to start off again, he would like me to know that he would be there for me.” I would like the world to know that he handed me a $100.00 bill to keep me from being penniless. Here started a ‘Walk with Christ’. I plan to write about that walk in another portion.