In 1977 I was single and stationed at the Pentagon with the USAF having just come back from assignment in Korea.

I was being mentored toward knowing Christ by the late Ken Smith who as a lawyer had helped me through the difficulties of a divorce. I spent many hours with Ken and we became good friends. I wanted to know all there was about accepting Christ into my life. Ken was the leader of the Singles Group at Truro and since Joe Kitts was the advisor to the Singles Group I got to know him.

One day in October of '77 while at work I got a personal call from Joe. He told me he wanted to talk to me. We arranged to meet at my house where I lived alone. My first reaction was that I was in trouble and somehow he had found out about my past and the kind of person I was. As we talked, Joe said I needed to accept Christ now. I told him I had a lot of issues in my past to deal with, that he didn't know who I was, and that I wasn't ready. He said, “You'll never be ready, you need to pray now." I said OK Joe go ahead and pray. He said “No, you pray." Well I'm not sure what the prayer was but Joe hugged me, prayed with me again and I have been a new creation ever since.

A little over a year later Joe officiated at my marriage to Diana Hilgartner, who I met through the Singles Group at Truro. She was my best friend then and still is today. We named our first son Andrew 'Joseph' - in honor of Joe. We call Andrew 'AJ,' but Joe always called him 'A.Joe.'

The world will miss Joe Kitts, but Heaven is now a much better place. I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

 Dave Boyd