Sam & Barb Klemm

Keeping On

Sam & Barb Klemm are some of those people who, once you've gotten to know them, inspire you: not necessarily to try the impossible, or to accomplish tremendous feats. To be grateful. To be content with simpler things. To take a difficult life and make the most of it. To just work at keeping on.

 

♦ ♦ ♦

 

The unedited audio version of this interview is available below. To play, just click the play arrow (➤). If you prefer to download the file, click on "menu" and then click "download." (If you want to listen to this on an iPhone, this direct link may work better.)

 

 

♦ ♦ ♦

 

 

brad:  I've known you guys for a long time, so I know something about your life and your story, but there's also a lot that I don't know. For a lot of people at Harvest who may not know you well, everything you tell them will be new.

 

sam:  They might say, oh, I didn't know that about him!

 

brad:  Yeah, or, I didn't know he was like that!

 

barb:  Right.

 

brad:  So, Sam, for a living you drive truck for...?

 

sam:  ABF Freight Systems.

 

brad:  And that's not long haul, right?

 

sam:  No, it's just local.

 

brad:  So most of the time you're home at night?

 

sam:  Every day. I'm not going to say home at a certain hour, but I'm home every day.

 

brad:  Barb told me on the phone that last week you didn't get home one night until about eleven o'clock.

 

sam:  Yeah, that was a long day.

 

brad:  That's just the way the schedules work out sometimes?

 

sam:  Hauling freight is a job where you can never tell what's going to happen. You're not in control.

 

brad:  So, when something has to be taken care of, you're the one who has to see that it gets done?

 

sam:  Right. Customers are first.

 

brad:  And how long have you been doing this?

 

sam:  I've been driving for 30 years, but I've been working for ABF for 23 years.

 

brad:  Wow, that's a long time!

 

sam:  Feels like a long time, too!

 

brad:  How did the two of you meet?

 

sam:  At her sister's wedding.

 

barb:  During her wedding reception.

 

sam:  Yeah.

 

barb:  He came up to me -- it's very funny. I was sitting at a table, he comes up to me and he asks me how old I was. I told him and he says, oh, you're too young to take out. So he takes a quarter out of his pocket, and he says, "Listen, when you turn a year older, call me up," and he hands it on over to me. Well, for some reason, I took that quarter and I kept it. I stuck it in my pocket and I stuck it in a dish of mine, I did. I didn't tell him that my birthday was only three or four days away because he was a stranger.

 

brad:  How long ago was this by the way? How long you been married?

 

sam:  Oh, my gosh, it will be 27 years this year. Anyway, Barb had the quarter, and she put it away just like she said, and so I'm over helping Kenny and Theresa (Barb's sister and brother-in-law) move into the house we live in right now. That night they said they were going to have pizza. I found out that Barb was a year older now through the grapevine, you know, so then I went and called her up and asked if she wanted to go out to have pizza, and that's when it took off.

 

brad:  So finally she was old enough for you to take out?

 

sam:  Well, she was old enough anyway, but sometimes you come up with these crazy things, you say, well, when you get a year older I'll take you out.

 

brad:  So you went out for pizza 27 years ago and the rest is history...

 

sam:  Yeah. In September of '84.

 

brad:  And your life has just been easy and...

 

sam:  No! No way, Jose!

 

brad:  Barb, I know that you've had a lot of health problems throughout your life.

 

barb:  Yes.

 

brad:  What are the main issues?

 

barb:  Yes. Well, as you know, I have had epilepsy and diabetes and a learning disability basically, I do. And those problems, I mean, I don't know where I would be at without this man, though.

 

Because, God bless him, thank you Jesus, and I say thank you Jesus every single day. When I see this man pull out of the driveway, and I mean this, when this man pulls out of the driveway I say thank you Jesus, and that's not a joke.

 

sam:  He's gone to work!

 

barb:  I'm thanking the Lord because I do not know where I would be without him.

 

sam:  I just want to say one thing.

 

barb:  What, sweetheart?

 

sam:  I'm not a person who wants to be put in the spotlight.

 

brad:  If this was TV right now, everybody would see Sam kind of cringing...

 

barb:  They would.

 

sam:  And my face is as red as an apple, a delicious apple.

 

brad:  But let me say this, Sam, and not in a way to embarrass you or anything like that. There are people in your life that you learn from, right? We all have people we learn from. I know I can speak for a lot of people at Harvest who have learned a lot from you. With all the challenges that Barb has had, some men might have gotten angry or impatient. I'm sure you have your moments, but, overall, you seem to demonstrate the fruit of the spirit, you know, the gentleness and the kindness and the patience and the long-suffering.

 

And love in its true sense, not just love that works when things are good and rosy, but works when things are not so good. I don't mean to embarrass you with this; it's just true, you know?

 

barb:  Yes.

 

brad:  And of course, while we're talking about Sam's patience and all that, Barb, your attitude has always been so positive. Vera and I were just talking about it this morning before you guys came over. Vera's been going through a difficult time, health-wise, for the past few weeks and she's mentioned you several times.

 

barb:  Uh-huh.

 

brad:  I know you've got to have your times when things get discouraging and depressing, but in general, you seem to be a pretty up person. Are you?

 

barb:  Well, I try to be. I try to look at things in a positive way, I do. Because I try to look at it this way: That my life could be a thousand times worse, you know. Look at things in a positive way. I try to look at it this way, you know, it's like hey, just be thankful and grateful to God for what I've got, you know?

 

brad:  Kind of like, if you had your choice, you wouldn't chose these things, but you can look around and see others who you wouldn't want to trade places with?

 

barb:  Right.

 

brad:  And then just be grateful for what you do have.

 

barb:  Right. I'm grateful for Sam and that, you know, we have a roof over our head, that the Lord blessed him with a wonderful job.

 

sam:  With long hours!

 

barb:  ...and good benefits and everything and, you know, that we have food on the table. I don't have to have a luxury home. I don't have to have a luxury like a Mercedes Benz, or whatever, you know?

 

sam:  Just simple.

 

barb:  Right.

 

brad:  Simple life...

 

sam:  Simple and basic. The more you get involved in—I do have things that I like—it seems like things are just things.

 

barb:  I'm just thankful and grateful to God for what I've got. I'm just thankful and grateful to Jesus Christ that He's blessed me with what He's given me, and we should be thankful for what Jesus Christ has blessed us with. We don't have to have all this luxury stuff.

 

brad:  It doesn't really fulfill you is what you're saying?

 

barb:  Right. Right. It doesn't fulfill me. We should be thankful for Jesus Christ, for what He has blessed us with. And for how He has pulled me out of the fire, like how he got me out of this mess with all these seizures that I had when I was just in the hospital here just recently. I mean, that was a mess. Oh, that was a mess. That was a mess.

 

sam:  You're telling me.

 

brad:  It sounded like things that were already a big challenge suddenly got a whole lot worse?

 

sam:  Yeah.

 

barb:  Yeah.

 

brad:  For at least a week, right?

 

sam:  Yeah, about two weeks. And she didn't have any idea where things were, like she couldn't remember stuff, and that was a week after I brought her home and I had people staying with her, so her friend, June, stayed with her and took care of her for a few days. Mom came down for a couple days...

 

barb:  I mean, I was a mess. I was. I even talked with Paul and I was even a mess talking to him.

 

sam:  But I think she's pretty good now that the meds are back in balance and she's not having as many seizures now.

 

barb:  I mean, I'm pretty much all back now to myself, I am, but..

 

brad:  I'm sure you have your moments, Barb, but how do you keep from getting bitter? You know, how do you keep such a good attitude?

 

barb:  I just keep on saying thank you, Jesus. I just keep on. I guess it's just through the Lord, I do it through Jesus Christ. It's just through Jesus Christ it is.

 

brad:  So that's the anchor that keeps bringing you back.

 

barb:  Right. I have a lot of strong faith, I do, for the Lord, I really do. I know people look at me like I'm a nut when I say that. People do. But it's the truth.

 

brad:  I think people admire it.

 

barb:  Ever since I've been a little squirt, I have been praying that I would be blessed with a good man. I was. Sam, this is no joke. I was praying that I would be blessed with a good man and God answered.

 

brad:  Though it makes you uncomfortable to talk about this, you can appreciate that, right Sam?

 

barb:  I don't mean to embarrass you, honey, but it's the truth.

 

brad:  When someone has gifts that complement their spouse's needs, that's a good thing.

 

sam:  I understand.

 

barb:  When I was a kid, I prayed about that every night when I went to bed. I prayed that the Lord would bless me with a good spouse that would accept me, you know, for who I was and, you know, that could pick me up with my health problems.

 

brad:  Your health problems go back to childhood?

 

barb:  Right. They all started back at childhood. I started praying for a good husband way back then and look what I got!

 

sam:  Oh, Lord!

 

barb:  Thank you Jesus!

 

sam:  You know, I got to say this...I don't like to be in the spotlight because I'm not that way. I guess I just don't like it, I can't help it. I just never wanted to be the center of anything.

 

brad:  I don't really think of what we're doing here as being in the spotlight. I know that, when people come into difficult times, that's when they look at others and see how they make it. Then, they're in a position to draw encouragement. Maybe, before that, they don't need the encouragement because everything is fine.

 

sam:  Uh-huh.

 

brad:  But when they come into times of trouble, that's when people need encouragement more. So I don't see this as putting you in the spotlight, Sam, as much as it's just drawing encouragement from people who've learned something from life's experiences. That's all.

 

sam:  I understand.

 

brad:  And I see it like that in the church in general also. We're not a bunch of superheroes. We're all just a bunch of ordinary people, each having our own skills and talents as God gave them, you know? And it is a very good thing that God put the two of you together.

 

barb:  Yeah.

 

brad:  So, when someone is healthy and everything is going just fine in their life, they have dreams. I want to do this some day, I want to climb this mountain, I want to make this trip, I want to make a million dollars, whatever...

 

sam:  Yeah.

 

brad:  Do you guys have some dreams?

 

barb:  Well, we went to Australia.

 

sam:  That was a dream of Barb's.

 

barb:  Mom and Dad were already over in Australia and I have some cousins over there. My sister, Mary Beth and Kevin, her husband, and Sam and I went to visit. We went to Indy, then Chicago, and then California and then over to Australia.

 

brad:  Quite a trip!

 

sam:  Yeah, it was all right.

 

barb:  It was.

 

sam:  I don't know if I would want to do it again. It was a lot of flying.

 

barb:  It was.

 

sam:  I was so tired of planes. I thought, good grief, get me out of here. So when they put you on a plane, you fly like 26 hours round trip. That's enough of that!

 

barb:  Yeah. And we were there for three weeks, we were. It was a fabulous time.

 

brad:  Yeah. Something you think about for years to come.

 

barb:  Plus my sister and my folks were there. We had a great time.

 

sam:  Yeah. It was all about family. And all them Macedonians. They're a tight-knit family.

 

brad:  Sort of behind the scenes at Harvest, I appreciate how, for many years, you've made coffee at the church. Probably not a lot of people know that you've done that for so long. Again, a great example of someone just applying their skills and their gifts in a quiet way, with no fanfare, just doing what you do, going through your life and making life a little nicer for other people.

 

sam:  Yeah.

 

brad:  To me, those are valuable things. How long have you guys been at Harvest?

 

sam:  Since '86. It was called Living Word then. We were meeting at the Crossroads building on Beacon Street back then. Each Sunday, we were setting up chairs, setting up a dividing curtain, putting up the stage, putting up chairs for the stage, you know. We had to set all that up, and then made the coffee when we're doing all this, too. We had a janitor there that helped us for a long time, but then he died, so we had to mostly do it all ourselves.When we moved to the church out here in Leo, it was kind of a relief to not have to do that anymore.

 

brad:  Yeah. I remember setting up all the equipment for the band every Sunday and tearing it all down again.

 

So, back to your health issues, Barb, are they kind of stabilizing? Was this most recent trouble caused by the meds getting out of balance?

 

sam:  Well, sometimes doctors do some things that will make you have problems, and that's what happened this time. They reduced her meds, and then she started having seizures, and when she started having seizures, they found her outside laying in the grass, passed out. And then they gave her Ativan to take care of the seizures, and I don't think it's friendly to Barb. But she's relatively stable now.

 

barb:  See, this right here, this is like all the medicine, see, like what they have me on (shows me a sheet listing all of her current meds and schedules).

 

brad:  Wow, that's a lot of meds!

 

barb:  This is all what they have me on. In the morning I take these two and then I eat, and then I take all this after I eat. Then before I go to bed I have to take all this. This is like five -- five, six, seven, eight, nine -- yeah, ten pills.

 

brad:  There's kind of 2 sides to the meds, isn't there. On one hand, it's too bad that you have to take all this. On the other hand, we can be grateful that meds have been developed to help people with their issues. It's easy to be critical of all the medicines and all the money that gets made on the medicines and all that, but at least we can be grateful that there have been advances to help control some of your symptoms.

 

sam:  One thing I've got to say, if you think you've got it bad, just look around the corner.

 

barb:  Yeah.

 

brad:  Yeah, there's always somebody you don't want to trade places with.

 

barb:  Exactly. That's how I always look at it. There's always someone a thousand times worse off. Because I had a girlfriend that had cystic fibrosis, and that poor soul...

 

brad:  You wouldn't want to trade places with her?

 

barb:  Never.

 

sam:  She died at 18.

 

barb:  Yeah. I went to school with her and the way the kids treated her was horrible. Sam and me went to her graduation party, and when she saw us, she broke down and started crying. The reason was because Sam and me were the only two people that walked into her party that were not blood related. She couldn't believe there was actually somebody else there that cared for her that was not related to her. It was just so sad. When she died, some of the students showed up. I wanted to say to them, where were you when she needed help? I would carry her books for her because she always had an oxygen tank that she had to carry. So I would carry her oxygen tank and her books. She had a horrible time getting around, you know. So it was just so sad, you know. That's what woke me up is what I'm saying, things like that.

 

brad:  As I get older, one thing I realize is that the hope that I have for eternity is a big part of my faith; the fact that, in Christ, we not only have hope here in this life, but we have eternity with him without the influences of all the evil that's in the world, without diseases, without death, without the same kind of suffering that we know now, without war, hatred...

 

barb:  Yeah.

 

brad:  And I know that there are some people who feel like we shouldn't talk too much about the future because we need to just live where we are now, and we shouldn't try to escape the life that we're in. So how do you guys deal with that? I know we have to just live the life we're in, and to live it with as much joy and with as much peace as we can, and to serve the Lord in the best way we can, but, the fact that eternity's waiting...is that something you think about a lot?

 

barb:  I do think about eternity. It means a lot to me.

 

brad:  It's part of the hope you have now?

 

barb:  Right. Exactly. So it's one thing I do think a lot about.

 

brad:  I think anyone who really thinks about the meaning of life has to consider what happens when life on earth is over.

 

barb:  Right.

 

brad:  Because none of us is getting out of here alive.

 

sam:  No, zero. That's one thing that's certain.

 

brad:  There are not a lot of things in life that are certain. But I can tell you this, you guys certainly are a blessing to a lot of folks. People look at others who have had difficulty in their life and the way they've dealt with it and—especially when it's been done with a certain amount of joy and hope—it's a very encouraging thing for people to witness.

 

barb:  Yeah.

 

brad:  I appreciate that, and I appreciate your work at Harvest. So, if you were standing up in front of the Harvest people right now, is there something you would want to say to them, to challenge them with?

 

sam:  Probably one word would come out of my mouth. "Help."

 

barb:  Sam..!

 

sam:  And that would be real faint because I couldn't talk. I guess what I might have to say is, you know, stick with your family. Families hang together, you know. Family is it.

 

brad:  Yeah. I know what you mean.

 

sam:  Yeah. You've got to have family and stick together and love each other, you know.

 

brad:  Put up with each other.

 

sam:  You'll have your hard times, you know, it ain't going to be no piece of cake because everybody's got their own ideas.

 

barb:  Yeah.

 

sam:  I think most of the time you can stick together. Sometimes there's some difficulties, believe me.

 

brad:  Yeah. And Barb, any advice that you would just give people if they were listening?

 

barb:  You know, you've just got to think positive. I mean, I just look up to Jesus, I do. Then, sometimes, people say, "Well, when you look up to Jesus, Barbara, how can that help you?" I just give myself to God. It's just Jesus. I ask the Lord just to take hold of me and help guide me.

 

sam:  Can I say one thing?

 

brad:  Yeah.

 

sam:  Barb has got resilience.

 

barb:  What do you mean resilience, honey?

 

sam:  She pops right back.

 

brad:  She jumps back when other people wouldn't do that, right?

 

sam:  Yeah. Bam. She's there.

 

brad:  Yeah...

 

sam:  I mean, it's amazing. Maybe it's the Macedonian personality.

 

brad:  I don't know exactly what it is, but it's sure noticeable because we all heard about the terrible time you were having, and then you were back in church like a week later.

 

sam:  Well, she was back in church, but she was still kind of out of it. It took about another week and a half before she really came back to reality. You know, she goes to the doctors, and they're trying to get it all straightened out, and, finally, I think, got it solved so she's pretty much back. She still has them little seizures that mess with her a little bit, that make her kind of forgetful and not completely back.

 

brad:  Yeah.

 

sam:  It's just, sometimes you can get upset because things aren't going the way you want them to, but you still go on. You're not going to throw in the towel, you know.

 

barb:  Yeah. Because, like Monday, I had two seizures, I sort of get aggravated, I do. But then I think, okay I had two seizures, big deal, let's get on with life.

 

brad:  Do you have them every day?

 

barb:  No, I don't.

 

sam:  Usually every week. The seizures seem to be related to hormone changes, but it's pretty tough to try to figure it all out.

 

brad:  Well, it sounds like a huge over-simplification, but just know that there are a lot of people who draw a lot or encouragement from you guys.

 

barb:  Really?

 

sam:  Tell them we're not perfect, because I'm telling you, we're way out there sometimes. I'm going around the house pulling my hair out, I'm telling you.

 

brad:  Yeah, but people assume that. You'd hardly be human otherwise. Thanks for sharing a little bit about your life. I appreciate it.

 

sam:  It's kind of fun! I really don't want to sit here all day though...

 

brad:  So are we done now?

 

sam:  Okay. Goodbye.

 

barb:  Oh, Sam!

 

 

♦ ♦ ♦

 

photography: Brad Wieland

 

Written by Brad Wieland, this story is part of a series called Spotlight on the Harvest Fellowship website. As new stories are added, you can check out other people's stories on the archive page.

 

published 07/01/2011