Those Who Made a Difference 1

By Terry Bosgra

Some people live that touch only a few, while others have an impact that reverberates throughout the world for decades and even centuries. ­

Those Who Made a Difference features inspiring stories about extraordinary people. While there are plenty of vill

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writers Branding LLC
• Release date: Dec 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781639453221

Terry Bosgra

TERRY BOSGRA, a native of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, grew up in Germany occupied most of Europe. He has traveled to or lived in about fifty countries. This book features 141 people, including dozens who have been in his home. He lives in Hawaii and can be reached at [e-mail]

Book preview

Introduction

Some people live a life that touches few; others live so that someone will be forever different whether unintentional or deliberate.

Sometimes by being an example, others go deliberately out of their way to improve and inspire all they contact.

My school teacher touched my life in a way that made me a different person, although I was young, it affected me a lifetime.

It may be a parent, teacher, neighbor, or just a friend, that reached out to make your life better;

Some are gifted to change entire communities or nations. And in these pages, we only feature those who improved life.

This book is not intended to honor people like Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, or Fidel Castro and others.

There may be disagreement about some; I know that the public will negatively react on having Mikhail Gorbachev in this lineup, who was head of the "evil empire", but we must look at the big picture, willing to see past our own bias, and learn the whole story, we hope this book will do that. There are likely enough names to fill two more books.

All information in these pages have been compiled from public media such as Newspaper, Magazines as well as personal visits of about thirty or so individuals in personal interviews, and/or visits in our home, or their home or national meetings. The Purpose of this book is to inspire every reader to make a difference.

Terry Bosgra

About the Author

Terry Bosgra was born in The Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1935 and grew up in a family of seven siblings during the cold winters when Germany occupied most of Europe and every family had to live on ration cards. For our parents, it was not an easy time, but children are resilient, and we came through it with few scars. There were no toy stores, meaning we became innovative and made our own from scraps we found in the fields rummaging through the trash heaps of the soldiers. We always found treasures there; for us, it was more fun to make and invent our own toys.

The soldiers were everywhere, but many families lived in the country and were willing to take in an extra Jewish child.

Communication and news-media was outlawed during WW-II, therefore information about the concentration camps, was not known, and we only heard rumors or listened to a secret radio in the basement. In 1945 General Eisenhower opened all the camps to the media, saying, "I want film crews, reporters, and all media to go in first, and document these atrocities so that none of this can be denied later."

In Amsterdam, the Jewish parents were concerned with the seriously increasing dangers. Soldiers and traitors were always on the lookout for Jewish adults and children who were destined for Hitler and his bloodthirsty minions, eager to fill the trains that were headed for Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald, and any of the thousand-plus concentration camps. At the trial of Nuremberg, it was clear that there were many guilty besides the key Gestapo leaders. Evidence surfaced that Hitler told Himmler, "It is not enough for Jews to simply die; they must die in agony." Few were willing to stand up to the evil forces of the Reich; all lived in fear of their own safety. The guilt cannot rest on Hitler alone; all of Europe is guilty. No one man can murder more than 6 million Jews. Hitler and his cronies had unchecked and absolute power.

At that time, children, as well as the parents, lived with a fear, (not so much of the soldiers; many were evil, but some were kind). The real fear for us was the traitors among us eager to please the enemy; people in this book such as Corry ten Boom, Anne Frank, and many others became victims of such evil people.

After WW-II, I joined the Marine Corps during the Korea War but as the hostilities in Korea and in the South Pacific were winding down, we were temporarily parked in the West Indies of the coast of Venezuela. Actually not a bad place to serve for three years, I was planning to discharge there and move to Nicaragua, but Dad called: (Mom suffered with MS) and said, If you want to see mom, before she die, you better head for home. I did as Dad suggested and was happy to see Mom before she passed on. I stayed and worked driving small tours through Europe. During that time tried to immigrate to the US, but could not get in, due to an over subscribed quota. Not wanting to live in Europe anymore, I moved to New Zealand. There I fulfilled my lifetime dream of becoming a pilot, went to flight-school, and got a license. I found and married Pamela there, who became my life partner (now longer than sixty years). We moved to California, and later to Honolulu. I triedworking at Pan-Am but needed more flight hours, so I went to work in finance, building my own financial business with great success. After forty-five years, I sold it and retired at age seventy then went to work with my friend Hal in Geneva doing humanitarian relief work in the Middle East and Africa. I got active in politics and am still running a daily commentary by internet running in about sixty to eighty countries. Hal (my amazing partner) recently died, and the virus has kept me home in Honolulu.

In order to not get bored and with no expertise, I began writing these two books about people who have inspired me.

During the 1970 I wrote the book Abortion the Bible & the Church and it did sell out 4 to 5 times but my business really was finance.

This topic: "Those who made a difference". Every person in here has been an inspiration to me, and I hope they are to you.

This book has really two volumes of "Those who made a difference"; (three soon, and many more more to come) ,Titled book 3,4,5 etc. Each book contains a one-page story of about two hundred or less people that have gone the extra mile to make this world a better place. All information is gleaned from the public information pages. Read wisely and please help and join me to make our world a better place. God bless.

Terry Bosgra

Sun Yat-Sen (001)

Sun Yat-Sen was born November 12, 1866. He was the first president and Founding Father of the Republic of China and is commonly referred to as the Father of China. He moved to the Kingdom of Hawaii there he attended and graduated from Iolani School in the days when Iolani still was a predominant Christian school. He learned English, math, science and while there, embraced Christianity. Sometime later, he also attended Oahu College, a name that was later in 1934 changed to Punahou School. He learned English so fast that King Kalakaua honored him with " The outstanding Achievement award . At age seventeen in 1883, his brother became concerned that he might embrace Christianity, and indeed he had done so. Upon arriving back in Hong Kong, he was baptized by American missionary John Kerr. Then he studied in the college of medicine and graduated as a medical doctor. He loved medicine, but his heart was not in that. He really wanted to reform his beloved China. And in 1891, with likeminded friends in Hong Kong, he made it known that they planned to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. To follow through with that in 1894 he wrote an eight-thousand-character position to Viceroy Li. did that work? No! It got him exported back to Hawaii. Then in 1895 China got defeated in the Indo China war, and Sun Yat-Sen was exiled back to America and later Japan and then to Canada and from there to London. In England, he continued his efforts to free China and raised 187,000 pounds to do that. In 1917 he returned to a (now-divided) China and figured this was his opportunity to lead, and free, China, but unfortunately his health began to fail. On some of our three trips to China, we discovered that he is spoken of by all with great respect. At the school named after him in Guangdong, the teacher gave me the floor in the classroom, and I asked the children (through an interpreter), Your founder Doctor Sun Yat-Sen went to school in my home in Hawaii, how many of you would like to visit there?" All hands with no exception went up. We found, as we asked people about him, he is spoken of with great reverence. We also discovered that it was one of his goals to change China into a Christian nation, but at this point, China claims about 80% folk, which is really no religion, and about 10% Buddhist and a little over 2% is Christian. Dr Sun Yat Sen was very popular (even today) and inspired millions around the world, and he did all he could. But then on March 12, 1925 he died of liver cancer and was only aged fifty-eight. Christianity has been growing fast in China, but now the government has stepped up the persecution again, and it seems that persecution is the seed of the church. We will have to wait and see what happens to China. There is a sculpture of Sun Yat-Sen on the campus of Iolani and on Punahou School here in Hawaii.

Robert Grant (002)

This is a continuation of the chapters in the book: Those who made a difference If I mention Robert Grant, u might ask: Who is he? Well he was born in 1779 in the British Commonwealth of India. There he became a lawyer and got elected to the British Parliament serving three terms, at the very same time as did William Wilberforce; actually the two of them were close friends. I love to listen to the Parliament sessions and sometimes wonder if some actually could be friends. Grant & Wilberforce each worked on a very special project, some of you might remember that Wilberforce the entire time that he worked in Parliament in London, worked feverishly to abolish slavery and Grant tried to change the law so that Jews could become British citizens, which was near impossible at that time, because the law stated that for a Jew, or anyone else to become a citizen they would require membership in the Church of England. No membership? No citizenship. That was so in the 1700’s and Grant pushed his bill through Parliament to get rid of that ridiculous requirement, each time passing it, only to have it rejected in the upper house, which did not yield till 1858; that was long after Grant had returned to India and 20 years after he had died. So unlike Wilberforce, Grant never did see the success of his project. After his 3 rd term in Parliament, Grant returned to India and in 1832 became Judge-Advocate-General. Then 2 years later he was appointed Governor of Bombay, while there he received the knighthood title making him Sir Robert Grant, (an honor bestowed only by the King, Queen or Bishop for special accomplishments. The name Bombay had a bad connotation for the Hindu’s; it reminded them of the colonial times of the British Empire which was originally named by the Portuguese in 1507. So in 1995 the city was officially renamed as Mumbai, which is closer to the Hindu gods. Robert Grant died at age 59 in July 1838, Think of this: Robert Grant was born & raised where only Hindu gods are honored, and India is a place where 330 million gods are worshipped. This should give us a greater appreciation for that majestic hymn that he wrote: O worship the King all glorious above O gratefully sing his power and His love; O tell of His might , O sing of his grace: and 6 verses testifying of Gods glory & His might. Just think that this was Robert Grant’s history & home-life; that amazing hymn was later set to music by Michael Haydn. I visited Bombay in 1963 and taking in the history where Robert Grant was born & raised who made a major difference, not only to Jews but also to all of us who have benefited by walking in his footsteps.

Douglas Mac Arthur (003)

Douglas Mac Arthur was born 26 January 1880 in Little Rock Arkansas and became an American General of the US Pacific Armed Forces as well as Field Marshall of the Philippine Army. He was valedictorian of the West Texas Military Academy, graduating at the top of his class. In 1937 he retired from his military career, but his retirement did not last very long. Mac Arthur was recalled to active duty after a series of attacks on US Forces, culminating with a major attack on the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His leadership talent had been clearly recognized after leading the Pacific Forces in the beginning of WW-II as Supreme Commander. After fighting 2 years in the Pacific, Mac Arthur became known for his signature promise while he was in Australia: I shall return.

By summer of 1945 it was a foregone conclusion that WW-II was winding down and on 2 September 1945 on the decks of the USS Missouri (Referred to as the mighty MO), in Tokyo Bay with 250 allied warships anchored out side, it was clearly evident that he had returned and accepted on behalf of President Truman the official surrender of Japan. Other countries who signed with the US were: Great Britain, The USSR, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Netherlands, and Admiral Chester Nimitz signed for the United States; Foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on behalf of Emperor Hirohito thereby officially representing Japan, after the short ceremony the 1940 – 1945 Pacific-War had officially ended. But Mac Arthur did not immediately go home; he stayed on and oversaw necessary sweeping Economic, Political, and Social Changes for Japan. He suggested that their gods had dismally failed them and began to invite religious groups, Protestant & Catholic to sent missionaries to Post War Japan; the country was living in a spiritual vacuum; its invincible military was not invincible, its divine emperor was not divine, nor its thousand years believe, that the land of the rising sun, would rule the world. Even though Mac Arthur was a tough military warrior, and as Allied Supreme Commander he was also a compassionate man and realized that the real need for Japan was spiritual, they had experienced a complete and total collapse of faith, and as a human being, he saw a need in Japan that other military leaders did not see. He then proceeded to help missionaries rebuild their schools & churches. After spending 52 year in military service Douglass Mac Arthur died on 5 April 1964 at Army Reed Medical Center; he was 84 years of age. He was more then a great military leader he made a major difference, and in 1971 America issued a postage stamp with his picture in his honor.

Dwight L. Moody (004)

Moody was born 5 Feb, 1837, and may not have been a great scholar, but accomplished more then most did in a lifetime. In spite of the fact that British Intelligentsia accused him of butchering the English language; perhaps his life proved, that it takes more then a degree from Oxford or Cambridge to make a difference. He was one of seven siblings. His father died when he was only four. There was no welfare; instead of school, he had to work and help his mother to keep food on the table. When Dwight quit his job complaining that he did not get enough to eat there; his mother checked and promptly sent him back when she found he got all he needed , may be not all he wanted . In April 1855, at age 17 he converted to Christianity and moved to Boston in search of work. His uncle hired him to work in a shoe store on condition that he attends worship services every Sunday; there he volunteered helping in church. Someone said: I heard him read the story of the prodigal son; he had to skip many words due to the fact that he was unable to pronounce them; nevertheless he decided to be an Evangelist and began an Evangelism school that grew into an attendance of 650 with 60 volunteers. It became so popular that President Lincoln began attending. From 1873-1875 Moody made many Evangelism trips to England. Due to being a Quaker he could not serve in the military, but faithfully served in the YMCA, and made nine visits to the battlefront soldiers of the Civil War. The growing ministry became a church, referred to as Moody Church. While on a business trip to Chicago I was blest to attend a Sunday morning worship service. Coming from Hawaii it was a very large church; we have little that size here. DL Moody left behind a Church, Bible College, and Theological Seminary; he felt a good Bible Education was needed. He once said: If kids will steel nuts & bolts from the train; after u educate them with no moral principles, they will steel the entire railway. He was not well with an undiagnosed illness, but it is believed that he died from congestive heart failure. He preached his last sermon on 16 Nov. 1899, & died 22 Dec. that year. He was a world-changer.

William Cowper (005)

William Cowper, (Pronounced: Cooper), Grew up in a small town in England about 26 miles (or 42 km) NW of London, in the 1730’s. It is the same town where most noted: William the Conqueror had defeated king Harold’s Anglo Saxon’s Army referred to as the battle of Hastings in the year 1066. William was about 6 yrs old when his mother died, resulting in him being placed in a boarding school. As a small child with no mother he became a target of the older boys who relentlessly bullied him; this had a lasting affect that stayed with him through his entire life battling serious depression and mental illness. He tried law but failed, he tried hanging himself but the rope broke, He tried drowning but the river was too shallow; He never overcame it, but learned to live with it; we included him in the book in the hope that the seriousness of bullying is recognized. Children and adults often have no idea how serious and sometimes lasting the effects of bullying can be. At age 34 he met John Newton in Olney England and together they wrote the Olney Hymnal each writing a lot of poetry, contributing many poems; this helped him recover some self esteem, but William never got over it. Did he make a difference? Yes; he contributed about half of the 64 hymns. After the unsuccessful attempt to drown himself in the Ouse River; he wrote: God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. He plants Hid footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. He left us a lot of beautiful hymns, all born out of personal & tragic experience; he died at age 68 on Apr. 25, 1800. Did he make a difference? Upon a study of his tragic life the answer is absolutely yes.

Linda Brown (Ruby Bridges) (006)

Linda Brown, did she make a difference? Yes she did; but at age 6 she did not know the major impact she had made, nor would make in the years ahead, she was too young. So who was she? She was born Feb 20, 1942 in Topeka Kansas, and as a young child walked across the railroad track to a bus stop, from where she rode the bus to school to an area where she did not live and only white children were schooled. In order to force a change in the unjust law against black school children, the organization; Advancement of colored people had asked black children to enroll in all-white schools. 13 families responded and made the daring and courageous attempt; Brown was alphabetically at the top of the list, so she became the test case at a time when tensions were very high; there were guns in the streets. The aim was to overturn a court ruling of 1896, Plessey v Ferguson . The Brown family could not afford legal counsel and were supplied a competent young black lawyer by the name of Thurgood Marshall, who later was nominated by President Kennedy to the US Supreme Court where he served 24 yrs till he retired, & later died at 84 in 1993. I can vividly remember that pretty little black six years old Ruby Bridges in her school clothes climbing the steps between two sheriffs on her first day to her new school; that picture was so vivid, it is, and has been, forever engrained in my memory. By the time the high court ruled (May 17, 1954), in a 9-0 unanimous decision on the historic case; her father had died, and the family now lived in Springfield MO and Linda was in Jr. High School; (in 1979, 25 years after the ruling) the ACLU argued that schools were still not desegregated, however; thanks to the Brown Family and the unanimous Supreme Court Ruling, this little girl made a major difference, about black children being able to get educated in any school which is the way it should be. Due to all the public fanfare about the case, she was compelled to deal with the issue her entire life; however three new schools were built as part of the integration effort. Linda lived to age 75 and past away in March of 2018. Her life has made a major difference, especially in the African Communities throughout America. Those who had, or still are, experiencing discrimination, whether that be by law, by skin-color, by customs, being left handed, by culture, or by prejudice, a victim may suffer throughout his/her entire life, and & sometimes carry it to the grave. Linda & her family made a difference, benefiting thousands; but in the process the winners or losers always pay a high price, and so did Linda Brown.

Norman Rockwell (007)

Norman Rockwell was born February 3, 1894 in New York. He became known for his paintings which was a reflection of American Culture. He is famous for the cover illustrations on the Saturday Evening Post Magazine for nearly 50 years. In his lifetime he produced more then 4,000 original works, most of them are in public collections. He was commissioned to illustrate more then 40 books. He illustrated paintings for President Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Some contemporary artists do not consider him serious, evidenced by the fact that he was dismissed by many art critics who did not think he was a serious painter, but considered him overly sweet. I am not an expert on art, but am a fan of his works and have displayed his annual calendar in my business office for more the 40 years and each year gave away many thousands. He painted images for Coca Cola, illustrations for books, posters, it seems obvious that the Saturday Evening Post was of the opinion that he represented contemporary American life and the culture as it was. He had one brother called Jarvis. His first major artist job was being hired as a staff artist for Boys Life Magazine, and then went to Saturday Evening Post. His portrait subjects were mostly people in regular contemporary American life. I would see my self in much of his work. His success on the Saturday Evening Post, began in 1916 and led to many other covers after that. In WW-1 he attempted to enroll in the army but was rejected for being underweight. He was 140 pounds and 6 ft tall. However many of his paintings were used in WW-2 by the Army. In 1969 he was asked to illustrate the