Living Waters for the World Honors John Gramling

From the beginning of Living Waters for the World, John Gramling has been there. He helped birth the mission project of the Synod of Living Waters in the office's storage/work room when the Synod's Hunger Action Enablers held their first meeting in December 1992. He participated in installing our very first systems and has continued steadily through the years. At 82, the seasoned elder from Bowling Green Presbyterian Church is still jumping into the middle of it all, spending countless hours around the meeting tables, traveling the world — studying, praying, building, envisioning — because he says, "there are still so many new opportunities."

John Gramling

In our most recent video — 'Faith through their Eyes' — John's title is Senior Project Engineer and as true as that is, he does so much more. Oh the stories that can be told about 'Dr. John', our senior partner in this grand adventure. It is completely safe to say that without the Holy Spirit and John, Living Waters for the World would not be all it is today. It would not become all that it can be in the days and years ahead.

An electrical engineer by profession, his voice is one of deep experience coming from a lifetime of hands-on, up-close work with a wide variety of things. Through all of LWW's creative and at times seemingly chaotic process of learning how, where and what it is God wants us to be doing, John's clear-eyed understanding of things technical and human, matched with an unimpeachable integrity helped us navigate our growing up years.

To know John is to know of his deep and wonderful love for his dear wife, Vera. Over six decades now these two have been deeply loving and blessing the world. No more perfect than any of us, their faith and commitment to be compassionate disciples of the Risen One is everywhere evident. Long have they devoted themselves to the Gospel call to live lives of justice and righteousness with and for all of God's children wherever they may be.

Bryan Anderson and John Gramling with a friend from
Iglesia Presbiteriana Principe de Paz at the installation in Chajabal, Guatemala.

A few facts and stories have to be told. The first LWW testing lab was at the Gramlings in rural Kentucky. There, various pieces and configurations of equipment were built and tested as we began figuring out the art and science of small-scale, community-based water purification systems for our brothers and sisters in need.

Our first warehouse and shipping center for the hard-to-get equipment began in a small storage building beside his garage. The first solar operated purifier was built at the edge of the field in front of his house. It was John who helped lead us through the joining of first and third world electrical systems without killing ourselves in the process!

During one of our earliest installations in Reynosa, Mexico, the team was elbows deep in pumps, filters, pvc pipe, solvent and glue when John casually remarked "congratulate me, today is Vera's and my 50^th wedding anniversary." To our astonished gasps, he quickly assured us their children had already booked them a later-in-summer cruise to the Aegean islands, so he was here with Vera's blessing.

Thank you John for the blessing you continue to be to us all!

It's been said "the cure for boredom is curiosity; there is however, no cure for curiosity." Thank you so very much John for your life-long caring, challenging, compassionate, calling, curiosity touching so many of our lives and helping open the flood gates, so that one day clean water may flow for all God's children.