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The Jeffrey Journey
by Helen Baldwin
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About the Author...
Helen Baldwin and her husband, Randy, both originally from Fort Worth, Texas, live in the mountains of North Carolina, with occasional guest appearances by their college offspring. Randy is a high school health/physical education/weight training teacher and whiz of a football coach. He’s also amazingly proficient in the areas of cooking and construction, and he’s become quite proficient at waterfalls. However, one of his most stupendous achievements was his plunge from legitimate computer illiteracy to mastering complicated football software and figuring out how to do elaborate football DVDs for training, scouting, and entertainment. After enduring the miracle of that process, which included Randy’s sending his very first email (of three), Helen retains hope that winning the lottery is still a possibility.
Their son, Matthew, graduated in the spring of 2010 with a master’s in education on the same day their daughter, Katie, graduated (elsewhere, of course) with a major in photography. Jeffrey’s spirited presence is everywhere. Always.
Add a stubborn lab, goofy retriever, C-A-T, pond critters, and assorted wildlife to the typical challenges of an old farmhouse in a serene, rural mountain setting, and life stays entertaining in its own way. Their simple but inspirational surroundings encouraged them to add a small cabin, which is available for rental (shameless plug here, with more info at angel-mountain-cabin.com).
Helen is the daughter of an elementary school teacher and principal, the late Elton Derden, and a retired piano teacher and extraordinarily gifted composer, JoAnn. Her brother, Paul, a physician, co-founded Crossroads Medical Mission (crossroadsmedicalmission.org), a mobile medical unit for underserved families in the rural crannies of southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee. Paul is married to Jaymie, an exceptional dynamo in children’s ministry programs and eager community volunteer. Their son, Jonathan, is a pilot, and their daughter, Bethany, is set to graduate alongside cousin Katie with a degree in psychology. She must figure she has plenty of subjects readily available.
For several years in a previous life, Helen taught young children with orthopedic and multiple handicaps in Columbia, South Carolina. She then retired happily to the status of ‘just a mom.’ Ha.
Not overly fond of writing until she quit being graded, Helen handled newsletter duties for the family’s former lodge and collaborated with her mother, JoAnn, on Tips for Making Music Fun & Easy! as part of their work with the Smart Start program in North Carolina. Tips will undergo a mini makeover and be released again at some point.
Stepping way outside her comfort zone, Helen finally accepted primary responsibility for her own websites, keeping brudder Paul on speed dial for whatever she perceives as an emergency. She is most grateful that Paul’s doctor skills, including compassion and patience for the lesssmartexperienced, extend to tech stuff.
Thanks to a moment or two of insanity in 2009, Helen and Cindy Schaefer, good friend, fellow SMA mom, and Foreword writer, dived collective nutty heads first into the world of blogging. The primary focus is on SMA matters, with a steady dose of ‘normal’ madness tossed in. If you dare, visit The Suite Life of Lucy and Ethel.
The Jeffrey Journey is Helen’s first solo book.
About the Composer(s)...
JoAnn Derden, the author’s mother, received her classical training as a pianist at the Fort Worth Conservatory of Music, North Texas State University, and Texas Christian University. She enjoyed her many years of teaching and public performance, but a favorite pastime was always just ‘makingstuff up.’
With the incredibly advanced technology of keyboards and recording equipment, JoAnn has finally realized that she wants to continue doing just that ‘when she grows up,’ taking advantage of her fancy keyboard - a Korg O1W ProX Music Workstation. She says it makes her sound better than she really is, which makes it even more fun!
She has recorded several other albums, but Dreams for Jeffrey (available at thejeffreyjourney.com) is one of the closest to her heart. While her inspiration for this album was her very special infant grandson, the tunes are soothing for souls of all ages. Be sure to read her verses accompanying the CD (p. 275 in the book)!
JoAnn and Elton, who remained her favorite critic even after 53 years of marriage(!), moved down the road from Helen and her family in the mountains of North Carolina only a few short months before Elton (‘Papa’) passed away. Confidence abounds, though, that he is still enjoying her music as much as the rest of the family; with his spirited inspiration, JoAnn has produced some of her best work ever!
Her latest release, truly inspired from Above, is entitled Grief: Loss and Recovery. It is a masterpiece, particularly powerful when it’s realized that she just sits down and starts playing. It is currently available thru thejeffreyjourney.com and will gradually be joined by other CDs of her original compositions. (Snippets can be heard here).Paul Derden, the author's brother (who balked in his younger days at the offer of piano lessons from Mom), contributed the melody for 'Paul's Song For Jeffrey,' which Mom then turned into another beautiful lullaby... of Jeffrey's final earthly dream.
About the Other Contributors...
Ravelle Whitener graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, where she studied art and computer programming and majored in dance. Years later, during some time ‘off’ to care for twin sons, Robert and Adam, she and Helen met and co-coached Odyssey of the Mind, where creative wackiness flowed effortlessly. She then started her own commercial art business, setting it aside to deal with the immediate success of a plastic films manufacturing company she and her husband, Rob, founded.
They were in the process of selling the company and envisioning a little free time when Helen burst that bubble with news of the original book and a desire for Ravelle to work her magic on the cover. Well, okay, Helen may have begged just a little. While Ravelle is not one to gloat over her work (which includes A Tiny Angel), Helen will happily gloat for her. Her contributions on The Jeffrey Journey have been simply perfect, and while the cover for the reissue is new, the inspiration came from Ravelle.
With this project completed, Ravelle was eager to renew some old interests... until all the boys in the family took up race car driving, requiring her to don her photographer’s hat for a while. When that stint ended, Ravelle could think of nothing better to do than to renovate their lake house and move the family.
With an unlisted phone number.~
Katie Baldwin, the author’s daughter and illustrator, has possessed unmatched wit and more than a few glimmers of creative genius since, well, birth. She was almost always a step ahead of her mom and provided spunk of some sort every day (there may - or may not - be a correlation between spunk and someone else’s gray hair). She is on the brink of a college diploma (photography) and looking forward to seeing and shooting the world... and earning a living while doing it. She could not have been a better big sister to Jeffrey, although Matthew might balk at her little sister skills in the early days....
Bethany Derden, Helen’s niece, has excelled in all endeavors, also since birth (these gals are something else)! She was a wonderful cousin to Jeffrey, doting on him as much as possible from her home two hours away. Her decision to write of her memories of him (I Remember Jeffrey) was encouraged and welcomed. Like Katie, she is a college senior, quite adept at photography (particularly babies and children!) but majoring in psychology... like her favorite mountainbilly aunt.
Watch out, world. These two are comin’ through.
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