June Ann Fry
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi My name is June Ann Fry. I have been married to my husband David for almost 29 years. We have three amazing adult children (Kaitlin, Joshua and Jared). I was born and raised in the state of Maine on the Canadian border of New Brunswick Canada.
Do you have any favorite childhood memories?
I grew up in a home that loved Jesus. I have a couple favorite memories that stand out to me. One was raking blueberries every summer for a couple of weeks to earn money for my school clothes and other things needed for school. This was hard work usually from 7am-3pm. The best thing was that I got to swim after. We had a lake just down the road from where we lived.
I also worked at a summer Bible Camp on staff for a few years when I got older. This changed my life. Working together with great staff and I loved getting to know all the different ages of the campers. During one campfire night, one young girl wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. I had the opportunity to lead her to Christ.
What is your favorite Bible verse?
My favorite Bible Verse is Hebrews 13:5b “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I know that I am never alone and that Jesus Christ is always with me. This brings great comfort.
What are you doing these days?
I work at Serenity House Network (Medical Patient Lodging). I have the privilege of meeting Mayo Clinic patients and their caregivers from all over the world. I like to be available for them to call me when they need someone to talk to. I pray for opportunities to pray for them in person or over the phone. I am blessed!
What is your favorite way to exercise?
I enjoy walking! It is a great time to talk with Jesus or walk with some lifelong friends that I have!
What is something you enjoy spending money on?
My favorite thing to spend money on is going out for tea/lunch/dinner with my family and friends individually. It is a great way to see how we are doing and what God is doing in our hearts and lives.
Darci Block
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m married to my husband Adam for 20 years. We have two children, Liam (13) and Jayna (11). We’ve lived in Rochester for 15 years and our kids attend Schaeffer Academy. We’ve had the pleasure of attending Calvary E Free for the past 2-3 years, becoming members this past year.
Do you have any favorite childhood memories?
My childhood was pretty simple by today’s standards. I grew up on a farm located on the border of western North and South Dakota near a town called Lemmon. My parents farmed and ranched on the family land that my ancestors homesteaded in the 1800’s. I have many core memories of working cattle, shoveling grain, summer fallowing, and running the combine during harvest time for 14+ hour days. One job I did not complain about was hauling hay. We didn’t have far to go from our hay fields to the stack yard where all the hay was stacked to use to feed cows through winter. My dad put hay sides on the 1965 Chevrolet farm truck which if you were careful could haul 9 round bales per trip. One Christmas break, it might have been while home during college, there was a lot of hay that wasn’t hauled so I did my best to catch up before real winter arrived. I want to say I made 100 trips over the break. It was probably a lot less, but regardless, I moved a lot of hay and felt quite accomplished! I enjoyed this job (more during the summer because the heater did not work in my truck) because I never did the same thing for very long. By the time the truck was filled, I’d drive it home, dump the bales, and boogie back to fill it again. And I could do it all by myself. The logistics of which 9 bales I’d load and where I’d park to minimize wasted steps and time made me the strong logistician I am today. I also helped in our garden and helped rebuild an engine so we had a spare vehicle which could be my own vehicle to drive.
Do you have a favorite class you’ve taken?
My favorite class in school was chemistry which I enjoyed in high school because I had an amazing teacher that made the class interesting and engaging which grew my confidence as a scientist. I was so interested and confident, I decided to major in chemistry when I went to college at Jamestown College in Jamestown, ND. My confidence shook a little as I witnessed a lot of people failing out of chemistry, so quickly decided I’d study chemistry until I failed. By the grace of God, I managed not to fail, and having no real career options with a bachelor’s degree in science, decided to continue studying chemistry at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND ultimately leading to a PhD. This was the day of my graduation. You can tell by my surprised look, I wasn’t always so confident 😊
I love chemistry because it helps me understand, explain, and appreciate all God has created, and a process to pursue understanding that which we still do not fully know. I’m very fortunate that a career as a Clinical Chemist found me with only the timing God can orchestrate, where I can combine science with patient care and serve as a clinical laboratory medical director at Mayo Clinic.
Have you tried anything new lately?
In the past year, I started doing something I hadn’t done in a very long time. As a child I took piano lessons. I don’t like the word hate, but I’ll say I had absolutely no love for piano from about year 2 on. Consequently, I practiced minimally but despite my protests, my parents insisted I continue. When I eventually stopped taking lessons, I also quit playing for many, many years. As one for nostalgia, the piano we had at home was a family heirloom nearing 100 years and going strong. Somewhere along the way I had expressed interest to my parents in maybe taking the piano … someday. They kindly delivered it the 650 miles from Lemmon within months of us closing on a house in Rochester. It seems they
couldn’t get rid of it fast enough! And there it sat, another decade until my daughter, Jayna, started thinking about taking lessons. She was a little hesitant at first. To be a little encouraging, I decided to explore restarting lessons for myself. Adam also had a desire to use the piano for more than a habitat for dust bunnies. After more than a year, I’m getting close to the skill level I ended with and importantly I enjoy playing piano for probably the first time in my life. It is an incredible feeling to create music that is enjoyable, which right now includes learning to play familiar hymns. This is a picture taken at a local senior living home where I get together 4 times per year with my fellow adult students and play our ‘recital’ pieces.
What are 3 things you highly value?
The three things I place a lot of value in this world on are thoughtfulness and consideration by others. I feel a tremendous amount of love from people who are good listeners and do and say thoughtful things. I also value humility. I am always working on my humility and how it plays out in my everyday interactions, and I appreciate when others are doing the same. It draws us closer to Jesus! And finally. Coffee. I value coffee. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but I like to taste it and have at least 2 cups per day. I’m scared to find out what would happen to me without coffee. Upon further reflection, it sounds like more of a need than a value!