The “Why I Believe” Devotional That Made a Believer Out of Me

Featured Image, left to right: Bob Collins (2nd Counselor in Hurst Stake Presidency), Barry Dick, Ken Walton, and Hurst Stake President Chandler Growald. Photo courtesy of Patsi Jensen.

It was a regular once a month Sunday night at the Hurst Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The chapel had just been filled with an audience of around 200 faith seekers. The event was the “Why I Believe” Devotional that had just ended, and I had been changed inside — I hoped forever. Reflecting on the speaker Ken Walton’s story of triumph over adversity, my resolve was to do my best and to never complain but look “out of the box” at what I used to see as an infirmity. That night I learned of one family’s “superpowers” because of their faith in God, despite their afflictions.

I first saw and met Ken Walton at the Hurst Texas Stake Youth Pioneer Trek. He and his wife, Lisa, were working non-stop each day loading and unloading the logistics rental truck to make the youth trek experience the best it could be. He grew up a hard worker, as one of his first jobs was carrying “hod” (mortar) for bricklayers to earn money to go to school. Ken met Lisa in 1977 at a Young Single Adult activity in Ogden, Utah. They married soon after and raised eight stalwart children. Little did I know five months after Trek we would be serving together again on the stake high council.

Ken’s Story:

Tina Lou Daniels, Ken’s mother, was born in 1927. Tina Lou (pronounced with long “ī” like Dinah or China) lost her sight because of an eye infection.  As she got old enough Tina Lou attended a boarding school for the blind where she lived without her family during the school year always looking forward to vacations! To the surprise of many onlookers, though blind from birth, she developed many artistic talents. By high school, she was an accomplished pianist, cellist, and singer.  She also wrote poetry and later authored a couple of novels.  As her natural schooling skills matured and refined, she attended and graduated from Brigham Young University in just 3 years.

Ken’s father, Robert Walton, was born in 1922 and became motherless at a very young age when his mother died unexpectedly. Robert’s father remarried a woman who soon turned out to be the template for the “evil stepmother” of all fairy tale stories. She would sometimes put little Robert out of the house to stay in the backyard shed.  When he was 5 years old, Robert was struck by a motor vehicle and began losing his sight shortly afterward. Fortunately, he had a loving Aunt Clara, his dad’s sister, who took Robert in and raised him. In spite of everything in his young life, he excelled in the public school system and eventually graduated from the University of Utah.

The two met at the Center for the Blind in Salt Lake City and had what was termed their first “blind date.” Robert and Tina Lou soon knew they were meant for each other! Although they did eventually marry they got a great backlash of discouragement and dissuasion from concerned family and friends about their “disability”, and Tina Lou was not allowed to marry until she graduated. 

The couple began to prove to the world what they had already learned from their childhood that opposition to their desires only fueled their faith and determination giving them strength beyond their own. They had six children together. Robert taught school for a time and then took employment managing a local diner in Salt Lake. Ken said he was always amazed as he watched his father organize and manage everything in that business by himself, undeterred by his inability to see.  His enhanced memory and senses brought amazing results.  Ken said, “My dad knew his way around town and without difficulty could get anywhere he needed to go.  At the local grocery store, he memorized where everything was located.”

Ken recalled reading about the famous Marvel Comic superhero “Daredevil”. Daredevil was also blinded by an accident, which in turn heightened his senses beyond normal human ability. Ken recounted how he then concluded that both his dad and mom did indeed have “superpowers.“

After his success working at the diner to provide for the needs of his family, Robert hurt his back… Too much heavy lifting! Without missing a stride, Tina Lou’s superpowers kicked in. She went back to school and obtained a job as a medical transcriptionist at a hospital, and without a pause, slowing down or distraction the roles reversed, and Robert became a stay-at-home dad. 

Ken’s mom and dad were always striving to improve their situation and took advantage of an opportunity to purchase a telephone answering business that would allow Robert to work from home and augment the family income.  They moved the family to Ogden and Tina Lou obtained a job at a local Hospital there continuing her work, while Robert operated the answering service in the evenings, and he continued to excel as a stay-at-home dad.  They eventually sold the Answering Service, as they became partners in a very successful Medical Transcription Businesses they ran from their home in Ogden.

Ken next related that in 1984 when they were expecting their fourth child, his job required them to move far away to the state of Georgia. Ken could not endure the fact that his children would grow up not having a close relationship with their superhero grandparents.  Ken convinced his parents to retire, sell their home in Ogden and move to Georgia. His parents did so. Ken and Lisa’s children were able to witness firsthand the remarkable spiritual and temporal success of their grandparents without sight as Robert and Tina Lou fulfilled church assignments and lived self-reliant lives with them in Georgia.

Ken and Lisa Walton’s children observed, as I did through Ken’s story, how Robert and Tina Lou let nothing stand in the way of doing what sighted people do and how they never complained or let themselves believe their blindness was a handicap. Living proof that in “Christ Jesus” we can do all things.