Chris was our pastor at River Of Life Fellowship. He was young, creative, brilliant, fearless, and a great musician. That church was what

I thought a church should be. It was charismatic and alive. I was a fairly new believer. I knew Chris from Suncoast Cathedral, where we both went before he and Theresa went out and started River Of Life. We got involved with pro–life and defending the unborn. We had a coffeehouse outreach, Koinonia, where I played frequently. One time, Doyle Dykes played there, but I didn't know about him and I missed everything but the last minute of his set. It only took a minute to see how world-class he is. I saw him do quite a few Taylor guitar clinics later on. Don Oja Dunaway played there as well. I have a small history with him. Randy Mathews and Scott Roley were two of the bigger names to play Koinonia. Poet and funnyman, Burt Rosenberg aka Jive Time Jackson, was the most memorable for me. I have a video, but it's too silly to post. You had to be there. He became a friend and invited me to play at Jesus 89, a music festival with a lot of big names like Sandy Patti there. I admit I was star-

struck when I was in the trailer with Harvest, one of the best duos of those years. I have a letter from Jerry Williams on my Memorabilia page.

          But back to Morningstar. Bill Proffitt was a great friend. He was a cop and ended up being the spokesman for the St. Pete Police Dept.

You'd see him on the news at the crime scenes. He and I had birthdays

one day apart, except he was younger. I had first seen his name before

I knew him in a birth announcement for his son, Seth. My daughter. Julia. was listed right next to Seth. We might have paced the floor in the waiting room together, who knows? He was a good guitar player too, and I have a piece, Billy & Me, which is my half of a duet we worked on together for a long time. After Bill retired, he moved to Manatee County. Sadly, we lost him a few years ago, so I guess our reunion will have to wait. I found the one photo I've got of Billy & Paula and Seth in my drive-

way by the jacaranda tree at the house onYale St. That's Alden & Julia on the right, and on the left is Harmon Bentley, who was renting a room from me.

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          Before there was Osborne & Thomas, there was Morningstar,

which was Chris & Theresa Osborne and Bill & Paula Proffitt. I guess

I weaseled my way into the band with the bass. It just rounds out a folk-rock style; it's pretty much irresistible. Chris & Bill both played acoustic guitars and Theresa had a little Yamaha synth which I end-

ed up buying from her much later. I'm still lookiing for a photo of that. I'm guessing Paula played tambourine or something, but I don't know.  

Everyone sang. Chris wrote a lot of the songs and they knew all the praise & worship songs ever written. We played a few places, I think, but the thing I remember most is making a recording at Brent Woody's home studio in Seminole. Nightshift Productions, I remember, near AAA. Young Kent Bradley sat in on lead guitar for the recordings. You

know, after having written all this and listening, I'm thinking that Chuck Moore played drums with the band too. He was the church drummer.

Chris & Theresa when they visited us in 2012. Anne-Marie and I were

living in the mobile home park. But Steak&Shake was across the street!

          Another creative element that Chris brought into our church was the drama team. It was eye-opening to see the power of a skit. They could be funny too. Chris had me create this track for the Bible Brothers skit. The synth is cheesy but it has some good moments too.

          Chris & Theresa visited us in 2012. They live out in the

desert near Los Vegas. I'm not sure about the desert part, but

they're up there. They said they were going to be coming to

Florida again last year, I think, but then Covid hit, and well...

who knows? We stay in touch on Facebook.

          Back in those days, I played on Jim Gates' Good Night Alive TV

show a couple of times. Jim had been a DJ on Christian radio and was wired. He had all the important verses of the Bible memorized and was exuberant in expressing his love for Jesus. He was very kind to me and

I think he really did appreciate my gift. I was working at the State Uni-

versity System Extension Library then, I remember. And, I remember my co-worker, Amy, was a very sweet person but a raging atheist. When our library closed, she went to the St. Pete Times and worked with my good friend, Joe Fish. And I found out she's now a strong Christian!

          I have a few poor-quality clips. We only had rabbit-ears on our TV. Chris would usually ask me to accompany him when he was on.