Jim's Campfire Story: Connection in the Face of Dementia
Good Faith
Good Faith
4.8 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Power of Presence: How Connection Transcends Cognitive Loss
Show Notes:
Good Faith's series of Campfire Stories invites listeners to hear how ordinary people are living out extraordinary faith in complex times. In this episode, In this episode. Jim, a devoted husband and caregiver, shares moving stories about his wife Carolyn's vibrant life and their journey through her frontotemporal dementia diagnosis. Inspired by Curtis and Good Faith guest Professor John Swinton, a theologian and former nurse, Jim explores the theological significance of being remembered by God, and the enduring value of personhood beyond memory.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm My name is Jim and this is my campfire story. |
| 0:31.6 | My wife Carolyn, she could play all kinds of things on the violin, |
| 0:40.0 | but what she was just really good at and just loved doing was just, I guess she'd call it fiddling. |
| 0:48.7 | Turkey in the straw, Arkansas Traveler or whatever, |
| 0:52.7 | we'd clear out the kitchen and do our best to have kind of a |
| 0:56.9 | hoe down while Carolyn fiddled. My wife is beautiful and fun and adventurous. Carolyn, she wanted to go to Michigan. |
| 1:12.9 | We took all the seats out of our minivan, |
| 1:16.2 | through a sleeping bag in the back, |
| 1:18.3 | and went all the way up to the Canadian border. |
| 1:23.1 | I remember calling our two adult children at the time, |
| 1:26.4 | and they said, wait, what? |
| 1:28.0 | Where are you? |
| 1:29.9 | But it was just a blast, yeah. |
| 1:36.6 | Welcome to the Good Faith podcast. |
| 1:38.7 | I'm your host, Curtis Chang. |
| 1:42.3 | I think I first started listening to Good Faith. |
| 1:46.7 | I think it was in the lead up to the election and all that. |
| 1:50.3 | So I think I started there. |
| 1:52.5 | It speaks to real issues in my life. |
| 2:00.7 | Carolyn was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia and has been on home hospice since |
| 2:06.5 | 2023. |
| 2:07.7 | And I remember the doctor said you're at the start of a 10-year journey. |
... |
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