Toledo, Ohio, is where Jay and his wife, Connie, spent their childhoods. Following college, he obtained a Master of Divinity degree from a seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Jay then spent forty-four years in Glasgow, Montana, pastoring and teaching in a growing church. Besides he and his wife raising a family, Jay enjoyed the people of the church and were blessed to participate in many short-term mission trips. His ministries included teaching Bible and philosophy of Christianity at a one-year Bible college, two decades as a fifth-step counselor and lecturer in an alcohol/drug treatment center, leading and participating in small groups, counseling individuals, and teaching grief classes at a hospital. Hobbies included reading, hiking, golf, racquetball, hunting, and traveling Montana with his family. Married over 57 years, he and his fun to be with wife are retired, now living in Michigan to be near their two married children and seven grandchildren.