Uncommon Relations (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781461091028)

J. Allen Reed was born in Texas and raised on the streets of the Fifth Ward in Houston. He is of Italian descent, whose maternal grandfather and grandmother were from Sicily, Italy. He quit school in the ninth grade and quickly went to work at a feed store on East Houston Road. He quit his job there and enlisted in the Army, with the consent of his parents. He had his nineteenth birthday in Korea as a combat medic with King Company, 35th Regimen, and 35th Division. He returned home at the age of 20 and married his childhood sweetheart. He then took her to Temple, Texas, where he enrolled her in Temple High School, here she finished school while he finished his enlistment at Fort Hood, Texas. Mr. Reed then got a barber license and a beauty license. Shortly after getting out of barber college, he opened a barber shop on the north side of Houston, on Laura Koppe Road, which was noted for its "gangs." He ran a poker game for five years in a back room, located in the rear of the barber shop. Later, he owned and gambled on race horses. He was also a well-known hairstylist among high-class call girls who worked the Shamrock and Rice hotels in Houston, often working all night getting them ready to meet their next client. His client base also included office girls, housewives, lawyers, policemen, judges and movie stars. After his wife threatened to leave him, he fought and overcame an addiction to prescription drugs. It was Tim Lee who said the magic words that Mr. Reed needed to hear. Evangelist Tim Lee was a marine who had lost both legs in Vietnam. Mr. Reed told his wife later that it was like Tim was looking right at him when he said "he had ran from God 'til God took his legs.'" That's what Mr. Reed told his wife he had been doing ever since he left Korea. He asked his wife, Sue, if she would walk with him and she gladly took his hand. He walked up and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Anyone who knew Mr. Reed before he was saved will tell you the man has completely changed. He is a member in good standing at church and attends a men's Bible class. He often travels in and out of state with Evangelist Harold Clayton, who has contributed much to his walk with Christ. Mr. Reed is the father of three grown children, has seven grandchildren, and, as of September 2011, has been married for 59 years to his childhood sweetheart, Sue. This book in many ways reflects his life.