When Wayne received his draft notice, he registered as a conscientious objector and was allowed to work at a participating Goodwill Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for his alternative military service. Milwaukee was about a 5-hour drive from our farm. I had never been to Milwaukee, but knew it was a large city.

Wayne was the third child born to our family. Larry was the oldest, then my sister Doris and then Wayne. Wayne was born in 1947 so it was probably 1965 when he left home. It was strange and a bit frightening to see Wayne drive away to live in Milwaukee for his military alternative service. He rented an apartment and worked at the Goodwill Store. Most weekends he would come home late Friday night and drive back on Sunday.

Wayne would regale us with stories of his experiences. Cranky customers, good bosses, bad bosses and sights he saw while driving to and from Milwaukee.

One Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of music in the basement house. This had never happened before, and I couldn’t believe my ears! Wayne had bought a portable record player and had two gospel music records. One was an LP of the Chuck Wagon Gang and another of the Crossroads Quartet.

The Crossroads Quartet album had a song “The Fourth Man” It was the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The Old Testament book of Daniel tells about three Jewish men who were thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon for refusing to bow down to the King’s image. 

This was the music I heard that Saturday morning as I was still laying in bed. The rhythm, instrumentation and the southern drawl of the voices was magical. It wasn’t long before I knew every word to this song. As I write this in 2024, I still know every word to this song. When Wayne was home on the weekend he would bring his player and Pa would let him play the gospel music recordings.