JUST AN ORDINARY AMERICAN EXTRAORDINARILY BLESSED

About the Book

This book is about the journey of a lifetime of just an ordinary American who was extraordinarily blessed with life altering opportunities to grow and serve in the highest levels of Government, the Church, and elsewhere and lived to share these stories.

The author is extremely grateful for the successes he has enjoyed in life and for the “doors of opportunity” opened to him. His desire to encourage others by sharing his experiences from a humble beginning in the foothills of North Carolina to the highest levels of Government, the Church, and travels to ancient cities of the world is the reason for this book.

It is a book appropriate for all ages – children and young adults who need inspiration and encouragement; more mature persons who are in their parenting and working years; and senior citizens who will be blessed by a stroll down memory lane as they recall their own life’s journey.

About the Author

John Thomas Reeves is a former Senior Executive in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). By the time he retired in 1987 from the USDA, he had been awarded several Certifi cates of Merit and the coveted Superior Service Award for his leadership and management accomplishments. He holds Masters Degrees from NC State University and George Washington University. He is also a graduate of the Department of Defense National War College in Washington, DC. During his retirement years, he became heavily involved in ministry work with the United Methodist Church. He developed a keen interest and devotion to ministry with men and was elected to a 4-year term in 2000 as President of the Virginia Conference United Methodist Men. He had a deep love and commitment to family, God and country as well as to his native state of North Carolina. This is refl ected by his being awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the then North Carolina Governor Dan K. Moore which is the highest honor a North Carolina Governor awards to citizens. The author is a double cancer survivor, having successfully fought malignant melanoma in 1984 and acute promyelocytic leukemia in 2004.