Talk:Dan Ronsisvalle

working on the draft below when i can... I anticipate it being over-inclusive. Open to edits if needed.sagefats (talk) 13:23, 30 August 2021 (PDT)

Early Life and Education

Early Years

Daniel Ronsisvalle was born in 1936 in Maryland, the tenth of twelve children, to Sicilian immigrants Benito "Benny" Sebastian Ronsisvalle and wife Josefina (née Castro). Benny worked in construction, ultimately becoming a master terrazzo mechanic and artisan. Consequently, the family moved frequently to wherever Benny could find work, from Massachusetts to D.C. to Maryland. Eventually, the family settled in the greater Washington, D.C. area in Hyattsville, Maryland. In 1923, they began attending a local protestant pentecostal church in northeast Washington, whose congregation was largely comprised of Italian-Americans.

In the 1930's, Ronsisvalle's family faced numerous hardships exacerbated in part by the Great Depression, including all of the able-bodied Ronsisvalle children having to find work, the death of Dan's brother Jimmy at the age of three, as well as Benny's struggles with alcoholism. With the advent of World War II, the family's standard of living improved as more members found gainful employment. As a result, the family was able to purchase a home in Washington, D.C. It was during these years that Ronsisvalle and his siblings developed an interest in music, and developed their talents singing and playing music. Ronsisvalle himself learned to play the steel guitar.

In the 1940's, three of Ronsisvalle's older sisters formed a group called The Italian Gospel Trio, and they performed at churches and revivals throughout the United States and Canada. Ronsisvalle would eventually join his sisters providing accompaniment as a guitarist and vocalist. Ronsisvalle became a born-again Christian in 1948, while performing with his sisters at a revival in Florida.

High School, Music Ministry & College

In 1949, Benny Ronsisvalle and several of Dan's siblings found employment in Florida and inevitably, all of the Ronsisvalle family had relocated to Florida by 1950. Dan attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, where he became a standout running back on the school's football team, all the while working in construction as an apprentice to his father as well as still performing with his sisters whenever he had the opportunity.

In the fall of 1952, feeling pressured to assuage his mother's concerns that his secular pursuits were hindering his spiritual life, Dan reluctantly decided to forego his senior year and join The Italian Gospel Trio's tour full-time. It was on this tour that Dan decided to pursue Christian ministry as a permanent vocation. Dan continued to perform with his sisters and work as a terrazzo mechanic through 1955. That year, Ronsisvalle completed his high school equivalency degree and enrolled in Southwestern Bible College (now Southwestern Assemblies of God University or SAGU) in Waxahachie, Texas in the fall of 1955. While a full-time student, Ronsisvalle also worked 40 hours a week at the Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company ("TEMCO") in Dallas and as a part-time music minister at the First Assembly of God in Garland Texas. In 1958, Ronsisvalle left TEMCO for a teaching position at Oak Cliff Assembly of God. Ronsisvalle graduated SAGU in May 1959 with a bachelor of science in theology, with a minor in Christian education. He was ordained as an Assemblies of God minister in June 1959.

Career

Traveling evangelist....

In 1961, Ronsisvalle was hired as the pastor of and independent church in a fast-deteriorating section of the Garden District in New Orleans, Louisiana called the Gospel Lighthouse. In his first year, he oversaw the church's construction of a new campus in New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood, its transition to a new name, Lakeview Church, as well as its move to become a member congregation of the Assemblies of God denomination.

Personal Life

Ronsisvalle married Violet Fern Tidwell of Downsville, Louisiana on June 8, 1956. They have two living children, Sheree Fern (b. 1961) and Kenneth Daniel (b. 1968). The Ronsisvalles' second child, Diana Faith, was born premature and passed away 28 hours after her birth in 1964.

Awards

• Brother Bryan Award for Christian and humanitarian service in Jefferson County, 1976.

In Media

Ronsisvalle was the subject of a 1979 book, It's Me, O Lord, by biographer William Bradford Huie. The title was derived from the African American spiritual "Standing in the Need of Prayer." (See Johnson, J., Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925; see also United Methodist Hymnal (1989), Nashville: United Methodist Pub. at 352)