Bob and Judy Priest are new Tilsley Village residents who seem to retain their contentment no matter how difficult their situations.
It’s not that they deny their hardships.
Rather, they do not let these misfortunes conquer their ability to appreciate the positive things that have come their way.
Their marriage in June 1961 was officiated by a United Methodist minister who instructed them in their religious studies at Asbury University in Kentucky as each trained for the ordained ministry.
Bob continued study in Dayton, Ohio, at United Theological Seminary then; after their children were older, Judy completed her ministry studies through the summer “Course of Study School” in Kansas City, Missouri.
Both Bob and Judy have played the violin and, Ohio born Bob has worked in violin repair in Marion, Kansas in addition to serving rural parishes.
The joy and mutual appreciation for music is reflected in mementoes displayed in their apartment, especially the two organ pipes Bob acquired.
Judy’s ministry integrated music wherever she served, including three years as a United Methodist Church missionary at a girls’ home in Algeria, North Africa, for the Methodist Board of Missions and further linguistic study in Paris, France.
Their adult children—Rachel, Stephen, and Miriam “Mimi”—and extended family and, of course, Mignon, their Chinese Crested dog certainly keep joy alive, a joy that does not negate life’s tough things and helps Bob and Judy to maintain hope in the midst of them.
Our community of Kansas Christian Home welcomes Bob and Judy saying with the psalmist, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices” –Psalm 16.9.