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Here are some excerpts from my book, Happy’s Way. It’s a 320-page book about
a lifelong journey toward recovery and grace. It began in horror and abuse, leading into
alcoholism, crime, and violence.

But the real story is about what turned this dark journey toward the light of Grace, Joy, and
Forgiveness. Telling the story, without sugar coating, was part of the healing.  There’s much here
that simply needs to be told. And for every reader there’s something here that needs to be heard.
“But there were those who said he couldn’t tell it”!

This is not a story of abuse and regret! It's a story of understanding, overcoming,
and finding God’s marvellous grace.

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As a child Bobby suffered horrific abuse. Not only was he an alcoholic at 13, he was nearly
killed, and spent nine days in a coma at age 17; and he spent much of his early life in crime,
dissipation, and despair. He lived with two shameful secrets for 45 years, until the love of
Jesus set him free.

I was born two months prematurely on April 4, 1935, and my beautiful mother died two hours
after my untimely birth. Way back then, without the technology they posses today, I weighed
only two pounds. My father beat me frequently when I was a child, telling me I had murdered
his wife. Naturally, I believed what my father kept telling me. Worst of all, I was sexually abused
at the age of ten. At 13, still just a child, I was already an alcoholic!

"Because I was afflicted with dyslexia, I was only able to complete Grade 6, and I dropped
out of school at the age of 14. The first time I tried to kill myself was when I was 19.”
Obviously, these early life experiences left Bobby with deep wounds that he struggled with for
many years. Now 74 years old, he knows without a doubt that only God could set him free from
despair and brokenness. Born Robert Charron, he legally changed his name to Happy Ness
— 46 years ago at the age of 27, to reflect his new outlook on life after he
accepted Christ.

Robert was born in a farmhouse in southern Ontario, Canada. When his mother died in
childbirth, his despondent father lapsed more and more into alcoholism. He increasingly
blamed Bobby for the death of his wife, and subjected the hapless child to physical and
mental abuse.

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