JONGEWAARD: Well...
INTERVIEWER: Go ahead.
JONGEWAARD: We went to...we went to the Tab [Union Gospel Tabernacle in downtown Wheaton] where he preached, and I often sang for him there. And we got to be really good friends. And he... my husband wrestled and he wrestled with Billy, often as a wrestling partner.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of wrestler was he?
JONGEWAARD: [laughs] Not much. [interviewer laughs] He was too [tall]. [laughs] I don't mean that uncomplimentary.
INTERVIEWER: No [laughs].
JONGEWAARD: He was more interested really in baseball, but I think he was taking the wrestling for strength-building.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of preacher was he at the Tab? What do you recall about...?
JONGEWAARD: He was excellent. My mother recalls my first mention of him. He had come during our sophomore year. He wasn't here the freshman year. And I remarked about him and I said, "He's gonna go somewhere." And she...she recalled that I had said that in one of my letters.
INTERVIEWER: What made you say that? What was it about his preaching that...?
JONGEWAARD: Well, just the [pauses]...the gift he had for catching everyone's attention. It was simple but it was...it was so basic. And he was so convincing. And he was really preaching the gospel and I just ate it up. We all did. In fact, the Tab was always full to...to breaking. You know, the Tab was...was what met at the [interviewer coughs]...the Masonic hall and it was downtown. And in those days as far as our church affiliation, we were tramps [interviewer laughs] You know, we'd go one place for Sunday school, and another place for church. And we'd go to the [Wheaton] Bible Church for Dr. Wuest's Sunday school class. And then we'd go on down to the Tab for church.
INTERVIEWER: It met in the evening, the Tab?
JONGEWAARD: Both morning and evening. And Billy preached both morning and evening. And he had a prayer meeting, I believe. I never got to the prayer meetings. But it was a heavy load for him, because he was student council president and he had a lot of other offices. He was in another class. He was in...we were in the anthropology class together too.
INTERVIEWER: You mentioned that he was able to communicate very well. Can you recall an example of that?
JONGEWAARD: Well, just his illustrations and he just presented the gospel so plainly. Anything...any Scripture that he chose to preach on he...he made it very plain. He wasn't com...as I say, not complicated at all. I think of different preachers at the time. Billy had his own particular style and it hasn't changed a lot. I think he's very much...of course, he's matured, he's improved and all that. But we've treasured our friendship with him. We've seen him periodically. We hope we'll be able to see him this weekend [recorded during Wheaton College's 1993 Commencement Weekend, the 50th anniversary of the Class of 1943 of which Jongewaard and Graham were a part], briefly anyway.