Hi, my name is Dick Donohue. Originally from Portage, Michigan, after a 3 1/2 year stint in Washington state, I now live in Salt Lake City. I am a child of God, a humble follower of Jesus Christ, a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a musician, and an Information Technology Professional.
Humble beginnings
I was born a small white child. I don’t remember much about it. I was quite young at the time…. 😉 I’m told that it happened in Bethpage, New York on Long Island in 1961. I am the fourth of five kids. My family is now scattered across the globe. My brother, Mark, lives in Friday Harbor of Washington. My sister, Carol, my brother Paul and my little younger brother, Pete all live in Michigan. My mother lives in a memory care facility in Las Vegas with her constant companion: Alzheimer’s disease. My father (who is still one of the smartest men I know) lives in southern California. Needless to say, family reunions are pretty rare.
In 1969, my father, who was a marketing manager at the Upjohn Company, was transferred to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Portage (a suburb of Kalamazoo) was my home for the next 40 years. A whole new chapter of my life began in 2012 when God called me to go live in the state of Washington. In 2015, I moved to Salt Lake City. I’ve been here ever since.
The Main Thing is to keep The Main Thing the Main Thing
In all that I do, I try to keep God as the first and foremost influence in my life. This can be a difficult task, but I think that I am more successful than not. For ten years, I was active as founding member of the band at Southridge Reformed Church. Some of the best memories in my life are of times worshipping and making really great music with Kevin & Deb Brown at Southridge. Later, I was honored to be part of the Creative Arts Team at Kalamazoo Community Church. The people there are loving, accepting, and incredibly genuine folk who, like me, spend every day seeking God’s guidance toward “the next right thing”. In Washington, my faith grew even more. Now, for reasons that are still kinda a blur, I find myself in the middle of Mormon Central, Salt Lake City, Utah. But Jesus is here with me.
All’s Fair in Love and War
I was married in 1988. The marriage ended after she left me on Memorial weekend 1996. It took me a long time to realize it, but I was a pretty selfish jerk back then; her actions were totally justified. Fortunately, that marriage produced two beautiful children: Brian and Sarah. Both are now beautiful, intelligent young adults, each with a great sense of humor, still living in the Kalamazoo area. They are the both the light of my life. I don’t get back to Michigan to see them as often as I’d like; so I miss them both a lot.
Life moved on and just kept getting better. God put an angel in my life: Sherry – what can I say? She is fun, pretty, sensitive, caring, and loving. I am sure that this is who God had intended me to be with all along. So I had no choice: I asked her to marry me. And she said “Yes!” Can you believe it?! We were married on August 18th, 1999. We’ve been through a lot of good times and we’ve weathered some pretty rough times (and I’m sure there will be more!) But this is a Christ-centered marriage this time. We know that every day, we will be more in love and more committed to each other than ever.
Am I Working or Am I just Having Fun? (yes!)
Ever since college, I’ve been one of those lucky people whose career is the same as his obsession ..er..hobby! I’m a computer programmer (an application developer). I’ve worked at several different companies. I’ve spent a great deal of time working on a computer originally known as the IBM AS/400 computer. IBM has changed the name of the computer several times over the years. Today, it’s called an “IBM i” (but if you say “AS/400”, everybody still knows what you are talking about!). I think that a primary reason that I’ve stayed with “the 400” so long is that, despite years of truly abysmal marketing from IBM, it has always been the finest business computer available. In 2002, I took a leap of faith and became self-employed and Donohue Computer Services was created. That allowed me to do some web development and PC programming and I was able to extend a 1-year contract with Denso Manufacturing for 10 years. Then, in 2012, I took another huge leap of faith and moved to Washington to be a Change Management Analyst in the IT division of Costco Wholesale. It was a great job, but the cost of living in the Seattle area became so overwhelming that I was no longer meeting my bills. After six months of talking to IT Managers (all the way up to the CIO!), it became obvious that Costco wasn’t going to pay me enough to meet my bills. So… I hit the job market again and, in no time, I found a position in Salt Lake City with a software company that, after being acquired by a competitor, had no future. So just a year later, I landed a job as an Application Developer for Union Pacific Railroad Employes Health Systems (aka UPREHS). There, I work with some of the best people ever. In 2019, we rebranded and are now called Iron Road Healthcare. I’ve been doing a lot of php coding, connecting to the IBM i. That’s been (mostly) fun.
Whatever I am doing, whether I am working, at home with my wife, making music, or alone in quiet prayer. I know that God: my friend, my Saviour, and the Master of the Universe has always been with me and will never leave me. I am so truly blessed! (And this is why I wanted to share the stories and my insights with you in this blog). I hope you find some encouragement or something that just gets you thinking. Enjoy!