Alaska had yet to gain statehood status but was commonly known as a territory when Doug Dial arrived on the 27th of August in 1955. The Dial family, living in Anchorage, would be completed the following August when the third boy joined the three girls for a family of eight.
Tragedy struck this young household on the 23rd of November in 1957, reducing that number to seven. One terribly stormy night a horrific airplane crash into the dense woods near Gustavus, Alaska claimed their father’s life.
After moving to Texas following the death of their dad, David Osborn Dial, they settled in Presque Isle, Maine, the hometown of their mother Dorothy Evelyn Wilcox Dial.
Fatherless and unbelievably directionless, Doug grew up with far more questions than answers about life. While attending high school he joined the hippie movement and imbibed and ingested every substance he could find to drown out his loneliness, anger, and rage.
In the autumn of 1972, while utterly inebriated, he plowed a friend’s vehicle into a tree that fractured his pelvis and landed him in the hospital. After reading a Four Spiritual Laws tract, he was convicted of the sins of his lifestyle and asked Jesus Christ to his Lord and Savior.
Upon graduation from Presque Isle High School, he felt a calling to further his education at a Bible school where he would meet and marry the love of his life. On January 8, 1977, Doug and Tisha Liquori tied the knot.
Doug earned his bachelor’s degree in theological studies from Faith Bible College International, (formerly FST) in Charleston, Maine.
Over the years, this couple have been involved in a variety of church and church-based ministries while working full time. Doug recently retired from over forty years in the trucking industry and is now employed at The Home Depot in Neptune, New Jersey as a sales associate.
Doug and Tisha have one daughter and four grandchildren.
He thoroughly enjoys writing and has written and published seven inspirational stories and poetry books and co-authored two more.
In 2017, Doug and a friend launched a group on Facebook entitled “5 Minutes of Hope.”
A few years later that expanded to a blog website on WordPress also known as http://www.5minutesofhope.com.
Daily, Doug attempts to share the hope we have in Jesus through Scripture, song, poetry and words of encouragement.
He does a weekly podcast on the topic of marriage labeled “Love Above the Sheets,” “Getting the most out of your marriage.”
He also shares a 5 Minutes of Hope devotional on WLPV 97.3 FM, total Christian radio Lighting the Pioneer Valley.
Doug has friends around the globe and is currently in touch with numerous brothers and sisters in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya, Nepal and India. They pray together and he shares the Word of God with them on a regular basis.
Doug and his family have attended the Abundant Life Church of God in Freehold, New Jersey for many years. They are involved in the prayer ministry of the church, the choir and hope to soon lead a group of married couples in strengthening their relationships.
He can be contacted through email at dougben4given@yahoo.com
Check out his books listed on the “Books” page.