HOT SPRINGS — Dee Wynn is a retired disabled veteran, one of many who have come to live in Hot Springs because of its temperate climate and lifestyle that is accommodating to older adults.
But there are many subtle differences in Wynn’s life that make one wonder how she came to be in this place at this time in her life. She was born and raised in Hot Springs, with a brother and a sister who are still there.
Her family was Southern Baptist and she was devoted to her faith. Her grandmother was a great influence on her.
“I learned to love the Lord from the time I was 5,” she said. “My grandmother never used the word ’prayer’, but ’You just talk to God all the time’ was what she would tell me.”
In 1957, while a master instructor with the Air Force, she was asked to escort some new recruits to Sunday Mass. Sgt. Wynn had never been in a Catholic church before, but she went with the students and she sat in the back of the chapel, which held about 1,000 people.
“The Mass was in Latin, the priest’s back was toward me, and I had no idea what was happening, but when he held up the host, I dropped to my knees. Somehow I knew that I was in the physical presence of God.
 ’The Witness’ Click here |
She immediately went to talk to a Catholic chaplain, but it was 1964 before Wynn completed her instructions and was conditionally baptized in the Catholic Church and received the sacraments.
“I met with six different priests before I was finally completed the requirements for baptism,” she said. “I would start with a chaplain and the Baltimore Catechism and either he would get transferred or I would get transferred before we completed the program. Then I would start over again with a new chaplain. But I didn’t mind.
When she retired from the Air Force in 1977, Wynn returned to Hot Springs. After moving around so much, she wanted a permanent location and a permanent parish.
While in the Armed Services, she was trained in human relations, counseling and human behavior. She had been a conference speaker for the Air Force and, after retiring from active duty, the Department of Defense. She spoke to groups that were primarily male, usually squadrons where there were problems. Her program dealt with how to get people to work for you.
“People just want to be noticed and appreciated. I talked about how to give people what they needed,” she explained.
One day, after returning from a DOD assignment in Las Vegas, she realized that God was calling her to “retire permanently” from paid positions and to do his work as a volunteer.
Wynn has never done anything half-way. If she was going to work for the Lord, she was going to give it all she had. She got involved in similar training with the Diocese of Little Rock in the 1990s when the late Sister Yvonne Lerner, OSB, asked her to join the “core staff” for the diaconate formation program. Wynn was trained in the Air Force as a spiritual director and her primary focus with the diaconate program was spiritual development.
It was through Sister Yvonne that Wynn became familiar with the Benedictines from Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro. Wynn took her vows as a Third Order Benedictine in the mid-1990s. Her calling is mainly to prayer, in praying the liturgy of the hours.
At St. John Church in Hot Springs, she is active in Scripture study, working with a group of “snowbirds” that come to Hot Springs from colder climates during the winter months.
She also is the coordinator for the altar servers at her parish. She loves working with children and has more than 100 men, women, boys and girls that serve.
For almost 25 years, Wynn has been involved with “The Witness,” an outdoor musical/drama presented in Hot Springs. “The Witness” is the story of Christ in contemporary language and music as told by the Apostle Peter.
A chorus of fellow Galileens supplements the story line. The cast and crew of “The Witness” numbers more than 100 individuals, all of them volunteers. All are members of 70 different churches from the central Arkansas area. Each sees their participation in the production as a way of “witnessing” to their belief in the story they are telling.
“Anyone with a servant’s heart can find a place in ’The Witness’ — we endeavor to match people’s talents and gifts with areas of service. They can participate every weekend or occasionally; we try to work around their schedules,” said 26-year ’”veteran” director of the troupe, Judy McEarl.
She is also Wynn’s sister.
“Dee and brother were teens when I was born, so they basically ended up raising me,” McEarl said. “Our relationship today is tied deeply in our love for Jesus.”
Wynn said prayer is her strongest asset, and she is considered the leader of the “prayer warriors,” a contingent of the cast and crew.
Prayer is an integral part of the preparation before each performance. Cast and crew all pray in small groups, but the prayer warriors’ particular mission are to attend the performances and sit in the audience. Their job is to pray for the cast and crew as the performance takes place.
When the cast and crew pray before each performance, Wynne is sometimes the only Catholic, but she feels “the greatest witness a Catholic can be (to non-Catholics) is to love Jesus. Catholics have the Eucharist and their love of Jesus through the Eucharist comes through in their daily lives.” She added, “being raised Baptist, I understand the confusion many Protestants have about the Catholic Church.”
She said with a laugh, “Maybe that’s why I took six years to go through the Baltimore Catechism, so I could answer others’ questions.”
Perhaps this is also why Wynn is so devoted to the spirit and the story of “The Witness” — because she is a witness to what Christ has done in her life.
’The Witness’
In its 26th season, “The Witness” is performed in a 1,000-seat open-air amphitheater at Panther Valley Ranch on the eastern outskirts of Hot Springs.
Performances are offered every Friday and Saturday evening through Oct. 7, beginning at dusk, which is approximately 8:30 p.m. After Labor Day, performances begin at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are $12 for adults, $11 for seniors 55 and older and $6 for children age 12 and younger. Group discounts are available for groups of 15 or more. For ticket reservations or for more information, call (501) 623-9781 or visit the Web site www.witnessproductions.com
