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Founder's Story
She Found His Notebook After He Died—What Was Inside Changed Everything | Ep 304 with Jo Ann Brechtel
00:21:08
In this episode of Founder’s Story, Daniel speaks with author Jo Ann Brechtel about her book A Messenger of the Light, created from the artwork and spiritual writings of her late son, Warren B. Hohmann Jr. After his unexpected passing, Jo Ann discovered a collection of drawings, quotes, and “light” teachings that revealed a deeper side of him and became the foundation for a book meant to comfort, inspire, and help others through dark seasons.
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- [00:02]
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- [01:05]
Interviewer
So Joanne, I always love talking to authors. Being a recent author myself, I know how hard and challenging the process can be and it can take a very long time and people don't realize how hard it is. And and I know you have a recent book that has come out A Messenger of the Light and it is about your son Warren and its artwork and thoughts from him. And I'd like to understand what was the journey like for you writing this book, knowing how challenging it could be, yet in the end how powerful it could be to others?
- [01:44]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Well, let me just take a minute and say this all began when I received a notice that my son had died and this was unexpected. He lived in California, he worked with KTLA TB doing weather and traffic many years and he underwent surgery recently and we thought he was recuperating and preparing to come home for Christmas when I received this notice. I can't explain the immense pain, the thoughts, the memories, the feelings that come to you and it brought back so many memories of Warren when he was a child. He started with a lot of creativity. We were in Germany at that time and he would be two and a half I'm looking for him. He's laying under a Christmas tree, gazing up to the whole length of the tree, the tall watching the twinkling lights instead of from the outside. As he grew, he just kept producing movies and stage shows in his grandma's garage and then he went on to he wanted to write stories and develop films, and he did this. He graduated from Loyola. He worked with ktla, like I said, for a number of years. He loved this. I'll take a minute to say. Warren was a beautiful person and a wonderful son. He showed his love and compassion, especially for his friends and others. It just radiated from him. And I realized I had to go to California to look through his remaining personal items in his apartment and close it out. At that time, I found a whole notebook and collection of his artwork, and I found some of the words. He talked with me daily, and I knew he wanted to do stories that would help others. And he always believed that the. That some people have a light within them. And he felt like a lot of his friends and himself were chosen by the light. And I even found a handout that he did describing the characteristics of the light that shines within us. And I found many other meaningful words and thoughts. He believed that we were the eyes of Christ and that he. He followed us. If you had the light and saw what was happening on the earth, he had many words. So in the midst of feeling like this, so much pain, you had to do something. I said, I cannot just throw this away. So I felt I had to do this. I had to get his artwork and his personal words and his. Anything I found that was of importance. The handouts that he would have there, I took them. And I decided at that time that I would try to compile this in a book. I'd never had written a book before. So needless to say, I was very nervous and scared because I thought, wow. I was a social worker by my trade. I did a lot of interventions, but nothing like that. And so I would use prayers. And I talked to my husband a lot, and to my family, which included sisters who were still living and two friends, and to Warren. And I would just pray for guidance. And what I did was I compiled. I put sections together using his artwork. I chose some of his art, and then I put together some of his words. Like, he believed it, that God made us all to contribute something back to this world. And he believed in the light. And his. His words led me to the title of it, A Messenger of the Light. And that came from his words, but also his coloring. This is part of his artwork. He used certain colors, really beautiful colors. And this is for. He did a lot of artwork for your imagination, but it is the wings of an angel. And he used this in his artwork, and they put it together on his book. But it's a beautiful coloring. And with that I, I looked, well, okay, what do you do with this once you compile this? I took it to a copier printer. They did some typing for me. Then I knew nothing about publishing. I looked for advertisements. I looked for anything I could find of someone who might help me to get this out to the public. And with that I found that in addition to having this desire to share this with others, you had to have a lot of money also to get you to this point. So with, with prayers and with using some of Warren's deserved money that he, he got for working so many years at ktla. I was lucky to use the publishers in and find them to help me. And with that it came down to advertising it and eventually to your podcast. But he believed in his friends and others and he believed that we're all chosen to the light. And he wanted to help primarily with this book. And that's what I tried to cover in this. The obstacles that I came across. A lot of fear in myself, a lot of self doubt. Not having done this before, I didn't want to appear to. I didn't want to waste his money. I felt bad about using it. I didn't want to waste it. So there are a lot of fear. I relied so much on prayers and talking to war and I think I got guidance. I feel I really did. And I had people who were very interested, the publishers, they guided and helped. And his friends were very supportive. And I know that he loved them very much. And for them I wrote this also because I wanted them to have some remembrances of war. And he had so many good friends. He never knew a stranger, I think, and he loved the people we worked with at kla, so they were included in that. I wanted to give them all something to remember him by. But with that, I think his own artwork, his thoughts, they were just. He dated his art and he, he signed it and of course I've done artwork, but nothing like that. A little pit leave here, here and there. But his was so pronounced and so thought through. He. He'd even given a title like Creation. And he used a lot of his thoughts to combine with the spiritual thoughts of how we were created in the scientific manner. Space was always there in the back of his mind. At third grade he did a space colony. So with this book, his artwork shows a lot of his spirituality at the development of us in the relation to the world we live in and to our spiritual beings that we have in our heavens. And with that, I'll stop here and see if I'M I'm just.
- [10:11]
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- [11:12]
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- [11:42]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Going on and on too much or if you have other subjects.
- [11:45]
Interviewer
I mean what an, you know, what a sad story. I remember hearing about Warren by the way. I remember hearing this a couple years ago. So you know, sorry that you had to go through this. I'm sure it's one of the most difficult things any parent could go through. Knowing all of this. Did you feel like for other people that maybe are going through something similar or going through their own challenges writing this book? Did it feel therapeutic in the sense of going back through the memories, making sure you, you know, think about all the positive things versus the obvious negative thing that he is now gone?
- [12:24]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Oh definitely. I felt for any parent that lost a child or a loved one, it's a very difficult. It's like this, this book. The light. There are times when we all need a light within us and this represents that. A light that we can have to help us through dark times. And anytime you have obstacles. What I learned from Warren was they're meant to be removed. Don't let your fear or that you can't do it. Your depression. The writing can help, definitely. It helps because I felt like I just couldn't keep it inside of me. I would just shut down things. And that helps. It helps tremendously. If you're ever in a position like that, write, because it does help to get this. And your words are. They can accumulate and you can remember things from your loved one. So I would certainly encourage others who are going through this to maybe think about it. You have loved ones who have things that you know are good. They're. They're all good. And we just have to appreciate them. And I do believe that's what he wanted. And what I want is that we appreciate that everyone has goodness in them and that you just need the strength to bring it out. And one of the things Warren would say is, you're not at fault if you don't do something right the first time or the second time. But don't give up, because if you don't try that, it's the worst thing that can happen in room life. And know that you never tried to strive for something that you thought maybe was possible. Keeps driving. Keep telling yourself you'll get through this. And he told me it's in this book. He would call me, and after his surgery, I was concerned because he's in California, I'm in Texas, so I couldn't do much except verbal and. And just show him how much I love over phone and text. But he would tell me, mom, don't worry. He said, mom, Grandma taught me a long time ago to say the rosary and to ask the Blessed Mother to help me get through this. And he would say that he asked them to pray for the doctors even that were trading it. And he said, mom, I'm going to be all right. So I have to remember that wherever he is, he's all right. And I must say, going through the memories and the words that I read, because all of these are his quotes or his words and definitely his art, but I did. It did help me. And I think they're. They're mean to help others because there is a lot of times in life when you have to face darkness. And at that time, you have to remember to call on the light within you. And if this book helps you, then by all means, enjoy it. He had more artwork. I picked out some that I thought went with sections that I could start with, but it came from a need to share this because that's what he intended to do when he stopped work at ktla, he had even bought this expensive camera, and he started writing stories, and that's what he chose to do. All his life, he enjoyed bringing laughter or friendship. Even on the new show, he would do that with the anchors. And the humor helped. I know. So he was that type of person. In fact, I told my husband, we never knew he was really sick because he wouldn't complain. He just kept telling me he didn't want me to worry. I know, but I know that he was trying to. He just would accept it. And I think I never realized how deep war and spiritual faith was until all of this when I read his notes. And maybe because as a child growing up, you know, you tell them, okay, we're going to go to church. And, you know, okay, sometimes it's accepted, sometimes it's not. But when he was out on his own, I had no idea how important his spiritual belief was and how important his grandma was to him. So I appreciate that.
- [17:27]
Interviewer
So you learned a lot. You learned a lot about him and things you didn't even know. So I'm curious. And I mean, that. That's great that you were able to go through this and. And have these feelings in such a difficult and challenging time. What's been the. The word of other people? Is it resonating with them? Maybe, you know, people that around you, did they also learn something? How about people that maybe didn't even know him at all or maybe barely knew him, you know, how. How are they. What are they saying about this book?
- [17:57]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
So far? They're saying that they really loved it and they. They didn't know. Warren had so much artistic ability, which likewise, I knew he drew, but not to that extent where he combined it with his spiritual thoughts about creation and why we were here and how the world was and how it was developed. That. That was what shocked people the most. They knew about his work at the hla, but we were aware, I think, of his artistic. And all this time, he started like in 87, he had collections of this, and then in 90, and he wouldn't brag or show he was collecting it. I think for a time, when he wants to do it. And I'm just happy that people are getting to know this about him. And they think that they're just happy they got to see more of him and know more about his beliefs, his. His words and his friends. It meant to be lot to them. A. A lot of them said, it's so special. I love it. And it makes Me happy because his friendship, when you were his friend, it radiated with you. He'd help a lot of people. He had a, A, a way of listening to his friends. And I know if you asked them today, they missed that calling up or. And he talking with him because like I said, he was always sort of upbeat and like I said, I never knew he was even that sick. It took me total by surprise when he died. And I know he was surprised too. It was unexpected. I think overall people felt good about the way they got to know him and the way they felt after they saw the book.
- [19:58]
Interviewer
Well, if there's any positivity, it sounds like he touched a lot of lives and now you're continuing that here and really creating the lightness where there's dark. And I hope a lot of other people who are, maybe they're in a certain situation or similar, maybe not similar, just they feel down and out and they're going to read this and it's going to uplift them. So people want to get in touch with you. They want to, they want to get the book. How can they do.
- [20:25]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
So they can go to Amazon and they can order the book and they have the other one that you can put on your phone. But I recommend the book because of the art in it and I think it's a collection you can keep. Because if I do give more art, perhaps his art will be something that people want and you will have it. It's like something you can keep even available on your cocktail table where people come over and they're browsing or they're waiting for you or you are just talking. You can share and look at it and it's something that will keep you thinking and perhaps even bring out some motivation for what you may want to do or someone that you know to get the courage and the strength to follow their own goals. And I think it, it has helped that way with me especially because like I said, I've never written a book. And I thought, wow, I don't even know where to begin. And it's amazing. I used his concept of prayers and then of course, talking to Lord, okay, help me. And I do believe that I believe in heaven. And I believe that he was helping me as much as he could to inspire me. And I think your loved ones and those around you that know you, they can do that also encourage. But the book encourages you to take your time to try to expand or work on whatever you are intending to achieve in your life.
- [22:14]
Interviewer
Well, Joanne, I mean, thank you for sharing this. Thank you for being vulnerable. You are the author of A Messenger of the Light and it has all of your son's artwork, incredible artwork. Sounds like it has quotes and things about his life. And I can't wait to read the book and I hope everyone picks it up and gets inspired and impacts because it sounds like this is really a legacy. This is something, a passion, a legacy and it's something that you are doing to help continue the reach and further of your son. So thank you for all you do and thank you for writing this book and I can't wait to hear how many people are positively impacted by it. It looks incredible by the way.
- [22:55]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Thank you. I want to say one of the just one word, one sentence. Warren. Always believe that if your friends are someone that reads this or they someone around you says you make them happy when they're with you, remember that because that's important. You're doing that in your life and that alone helps others, especially your friends. So thank you.
- [23:19]
Interviewer
I love that.
- [23:20]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Doing this I appreciate.
- [23:21]
Interviewer
Yeah, no, thank you. Joanne, you are great.
- [23:25]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Thank you.
- [23:25]
Interviewer
Yeah, that was amazing. Thank you so much for joining us today.
- [23:28]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
Thank you for what you do. I appreciate it. You help a lot of people. Bye.
- [23:39]
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- [24:09]
Joanne (Author and Mother)
If you like the show, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.