The Simple Lives We Live
Some of the most extraordinary stories don't come from celebrities or history books. They come from everyday people - your neighbor, your grandmother, the man who runs the corner store, or the woman sitting next to you at church.
On The Simple Lives We Live, we sit down with ordinary people to uncover the beautiful, hard, faithful, and fleeting moments that shaped their lives. Stories of love and loss. Of grit and grace. Of family, faith, and the simple days we didn't know we'd one day miss.
So please join me each week as we capture voices and memories that deserve to be heard and remembered. Because the truth is, ordinary people live the most extraordinary lives.
The Simple Lives We Live
Judy Ridenhower
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In today's episode, I interview Judy RIdenhower, 80, about her rural North Dakota upbringing with five siblings and life without electricity or running water. Judy recalls school in Sentinel Butte (graduating in 1963), small-town sports and band, family card games, chores, simple Christmases and birthdays, and hardships - including her brother's polio recovery and the theft of the family’s stored winter food. She shares about working at age 10, graduating from Dickinson State University in elementary education, and a 40-year teaching career in Dickinson, New Town, Poplar, and Beach - including 25 years in Title I. Judy also reflects on the changes she observed in parenting and discipline over the years. She talks about her faith, community service (church music, museum, library, cemetery, nursing home), extensive travel (visiting 48 states and trips abroad), her father’s death in 1973, her mother’s remarriages, and her own breast cancer journey.