What About Bob and Verla? A Perspective on the Lives of Robert & Verla Lewis

1. What About Bob and Verla?A Perspective on the Lives ofRobert & Verla Lewis Parents of The Hearts Center Founder and Nine other ExtraOrdinary Children! April 4, 2009

2. Robert Odell Lewis • Born April 4, 1923 in Hammond, Indiana • An only child. • Bob’s parents—William (Johnny) and Mary—attended services in Chicago of the I AM Movement during its heyday. • Played the harmonica at age 12 during an I AM Christmas pageant/program in Chicago. • Grew up in Oak Park, Illinois.

3. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob’s dad was an educator, public school principal and later a university publisher’s textbook salesman. • Bob’s mom was a nurse, owned a dress shop and was also a hair stylist. • As part of their spiritual pursuits Bob’s parents were also interested in health food, gardening and natural living with a vast library on all these subjects.

4. Robert Odell Lewis • Was a high jumper in college and cleared the high bar at his height of 6’1”. • Served in the Army Air Corps during WWII during which he met Verla Jeanne Schneider in Waco, Texas. • Bob and Verla married August 6, 1944. Bob was 21 and Verla was 20 at the time. • Bob studied meteorology as part of his wartime work in the Army Air Corps. He operated radios in airplanes but never served in actual combat missions in Europe. • Earned a master’s degree in Radio/TV Broadcast Journalism and graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston—a northern suburb of Chicago.

5. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob and Verla had homes in Oak Park, Lyons, Hinsdale and Carbondale, Illinois. • Bob worked for WGN Radio/TV in Chicago and wrote the scripts for the original Garfield Goose children’s TV program. • Bob worked for various advertising agencies, including Darcy and Leo Burnett, producing television commercials.

6. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob and Verla brought ten children into the world with birthdays from 1945 to 1967—Greg, Steve, Jim, Connie, Nancy, David, Tim, Marsha, Andy, Matthew. • All are still alive and living in Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Illinois, New York and North Carolina. • The Lewises were Catholic from the mid fifties until the mid-seventies.

7. Robert Odell Lewis • Was a the Democratic Precinct Committee chairman, involved in promoting local candidates in the western suburbs of the Chicago area for many years. • Bob’s family moved from Chicago to a farm near Carbondale in 1973 during the “energy crisis.” • Hosted a radio program there called “Country Living” during which he interviewed many local folks on topics related to natural living—organic farming, gardening, beekeeping, etc.

8. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob became interested in beekeeping and tried it for a time. • When David found the teachings of the ascended masters in 1974 Bob was initially skeptical, but was later very supportive and moved the family to California to live near “Camelot.”

9. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob attended two levels of Summit University, joined the Church and fell in love with the teachings of Maria Montessori as taught by Elisabeth Caspari. • Bob was impressed with and developed a life-long friendship with Madame Caspari, whom he considered his personal guru. He attended her 100th birthday celebration in Bozeman, Montana.

10. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob volunteered in the A/V department at Camelot and audio-edited many of Mark Prophet’s lectures as well as presentations by Edward Francis. • He loved Mark’s teachings as presented in what became the 2-cassette albums on his Sermons for a Sabbath Evening and Discourses on Cosmic Law.

11. Robert Odell Lewis • While living in California Bob worked at Pepperdine University as an events coordinator and an adjunct professor and often drove others to and from work from the Valley or from Camelot. • Bob looked a little like Ernest Hemingway and his stately appearance (white beard and mustache) was captured in a few photos of various Church publications.

12. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob loved to play Santa Claus during the Christmas season, partly because of his white beard and mustache but also because he loved children and loved to make them laugh. • Even when not “in uniform”, after doing a double-take, children would occasionally come up to him and tell him what Christmas gifts they’d like that year!

13. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob and Verla moved to Lawrence,Kansas a few years after the Church Universal and Triumphant moved to Montana. • Two and eventually four of Bob’s sons and their families moved to/lived in Lawrence. • Bob worked in the University Relations Department at K.U. doing public relations work, producing promotional videos.

14. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob joined the Unity Church in Lawrence and served on their board for many years, attending services faithfully every Sunday. • Bob volunteered as an “audio reader” for the blind, as an usher at the Lied University (Performing Arts) Center for all kinds of events and in many other capacities throughout town. He received numerous accolades for his constancy in service to others.

15. Robert Odell Lewis • Bob loved playing the harmonica, the jew’s harp and with yoyos. His specialty license plate for many years spelled “YOYOMAN”! • Bob loved calling to Archangel Michael and his angels when driving and to K-17 to secure parking spots wherever he drove! • Bob ended all his emails with Madame Caspari’s favorite quote, “Love is the Key.”

16. Robert Odell Lewis • When Verla’s health deteriorated so she could no longer walk or be on her own, Bob faithfully visited her daily at a local nursing home until he passed on. • Bob died of esophogeal cancer on April 22, 2007 at his home in Lawrence, Kansas surrounded by many of his loving children.

17. Robert Odell Lewis • After Bob’s transition, David was shown that he had qualified for his ascension but had chosen to wait until his beloved wife and twin flame, Verla, passed so that he could ascend with her. • This is SO like Dad/Bob. • So, that’s what’s about Bob. Now, what about Verla!

18. Verla Jeanne Schneider • Verla was born in Jackson, Minnesota on October 19, 1923. • Verla had one brother, Irvin, and grew up on a family farm in south-central MN, doing all the various chores that were required throughout her youth, surviving the depression through hard work. • She attended a one-room schoolhouse.

19. Verla Jeanne Schneider • Verla was a great student and skipped two grades. (Bob skipped one grade!) • Verla attended Mankato State Teacher’s College for two years but because of the war she didn’t finish her schooling. • She and a lady friend traveled to Waco,Texas to work at Sears where she met Bob, and they were married soon thereafter on August 6, 1944.

20. Verla Jeanne Lewis • Verla gave birth to ten children as noted before from 1945 until 1967—Greg, Steve, Jim, Connie, Nancy, David, Tim, Marsha, Andy and Matthew. • Verla had many creative interests throughout the years, including macrame, knitting, crocheting, quilting, collecting shells and rocks, jigsaw puzzles, reading, birdwatching and praying for all her children.

21. Verla Jeanne Lewis • Verla was the first in our immediate family to show an interest in higher spiritual truths and introduced the family to reincarnation and karma through the Edgar Cayce books in the early ‘70’s. • Verla was an avid reader of many spiritual texts over the years.

22. Verla Jeanne Lewis • David found the teachings of the ascended masters through The Summit Lighthouse in 1974 and attended Summit University in January 1975. Verla followed suit soon thereafter, attending her first conference at Mount Shasta in July 1975, where she surprised David who didn’t know she was coming! • She then attended Buddha’s quarter of Summit University in Jan.1976 in Colorado Springs, CO.

23. Verla Jeanne Lewis • Verla’s devotion eventually sparked Bob’s interest and they moved to California in about 1978, bringing their two youngest sons, Andy and Matthew, with them. • Verla volunteered for many years in the file room of the Customer Services dept., working closely with Joyce Genis.

24. Verla Jeanne Lewis • Verla continued her spiritual pursuits through a loving and very calm, Buddhic presence throughout her life. • During her final months and years in a nursing home, she had a statue of Mother Mary at her dining table and would do the rosary weekly with other elder Catholics, naming and dedicating each state of the union to Mary’s immaculate heart.

25. Verla on Love • Following is something that Verla wrote during her last few years that I’d like to share: • From the love of my parents, I, Verla, came into the first quarter of this century. Learned perfect attendance and deportment and how to study my three R’s quietly in a one-room schoolhouse while seven other grades recited theirs out loud.

26. Verla on Love • Learned to herd cows along a country road in Minnesota, show calves at the county fair and stay calm inside while Midwest tornadoes did their work outside. • From the romantic love of my grandmother, my brother and I learned to spot the first crocus of spring, hear the geese honking overhead, identify birds and plants, hunt for duck eggs along the creek, can applesauce and bring in the crops.

27. Verla on Love • From the love of neighbors, 4-H leaders and relatives I learned to can corn, grind wheat, pick blueberries, cut out a pattern, make buckwheat pancakes, take care of babies, crochet and herd goats among the chamomile.

28. Verla on Love • From the expansive love of my husband I saw castles in Spain, spoonbills in Florida, bridges from Liberty’s torch, mountains in Canada, Michigan Avenue from the Sears Tower, bullfights in Mexico and heard music in the Hollywood Bowl. • With him I have changed diapers in 14 states, hid Easter eggs in seven back yards, ridden thousands of miles on the freeways of the country, rocking and nursing babies.

29. Verla on Love • Ten children’s love has shown me sweetness, devotion, single-mindedness of purpose, forgiveness. Love showed me the snow of Shasta and Oberlin’s causeway to the top of the mountain. • The earth slipped out from under me on Michigan Avenue because of improper shoes, in Hinsdale because of ice on the street, in Kansas City because my knee went out of joint, in California during frequent earthquakes.

30. Verla on Love • I’ve rocked my first grandchild on the porch swing, held a minutes-old granddaughter, watched a grandson climb to the top of a tree, identify his first cardinal and work his first macramé knot. • What more can love do?

31. Verla Jeanne Schneider Lewis • Verla passed on early in the morning on Spring Equinox, March 21, 2009. • Shortly after her passing, David was shown that she had balanced 88% of her karma in this life, partly through her selfless service to her husband, to her family and to all life. • Verla is truly a “Buddha Mother” herself.

32. Bob and Verla Lewis • Both El Morya and Bob Lewis share the same birthday, April 4th, today. • Bob and Verla, under the guidance of their sponsoring masters, have decided to make their ascension today, April 4, 2009 at exactly noon Central Daylight Time from an ancient retreat of the Goddess of Light over Chicago, Illinois.

33. Bob and Verla Lewis • El Morya would have us meditate now on the ascension currents of light as we are transported in consciousness to this inner retreat over Chicago to participate in a sacred ceremony for Bob and Verla. • I will share what I’m shown now. Please be still and focus on your Divine Presence.