Donna Whelan

Ever since that time I have been enthusiastically involved in Urantia Book study groups, conferences (both local and international), projects and activities encompassing a wide range of what I would term Urantia Book outreach and ministry. I do believe that this book with its teachings and revelations has the potential to change the world in a profoundly positive way.   I believe it is what spiritual seekers the world over have been looking for and that it will satisfy much of their deep inner longings and fill the empty part of their spiritual bellies when it is taken in and given the time to digest.

I think I probably inherited some of my father’s ‘way with words’ and love of the English Language as well as ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ philosophy of life.  My father was once co-owner and publisher of a small local newspaper – The San Gabriel Sun. He also, later was a proofreader for the L.A. Times and much earlier when he was an officer in the U.S. Navy, he was a war correspondent. In any case, spelling, vocabulary and an ease with words has always come easily to me. I was also an early lover of reading, poetry and a well-turned phrase or story.

Prior to my finding The Urantia Book, the 5th Epochal Revelation, I had been an active member for over twenty years in a church that I had found as an answer to my search for a church in which I could enthusiastically believe and also raise my two children. This church had also been founded as a result of more current day revelation.

So, going back, I sort of divide my life up into four phases, so far. The first phase was growing up in Temple City, Calif. and graduating from Temple City High School and then working at my first full time job at the Santa Fe Railway in Los Angeles. When I left the Railway, five years later, I was the Secretary of the Manager of the Industrial Department.  

The second part was marrying a man named Tony Brown, thus my former last name of Brown. Though we met at the Santa Fe Railway, while I was working there, he later became a Fireman and worked in that capacity for the City of L. A., while I was a fulltime housewife and mother. We had two children; a daughter and a son.

The third phase was my returning to school for college when the children were older and my earning an Associate’s Degree at Pasadena City College and then a Bachelor’s Degree at Calif. State Polytechnic University in Pomona in Behavioral Science and, finally a Master’s Degree at Loyola Marymount University in L.A. My Master’s Degree was in Marital and Family Therapy with specialized training in the art therapy modality. All of this education was in pursuit of my goal of becoming a psychotherapist in order to help people with their various life problems. 

While I was going to school, my husband and I divorced.  There had been long-standing problems which we were unable to resolve.  

Included in this third phase of my life was a very rewarding and fulfilling career as a Marriage and Family Therapist. My work began at a state hospital as a rehabilitation therapist using art therapy with the patients. I was part of the treatment team which included a psychiatrist, psychologist, nurses and psych techs as well as other rehabilitation therapists using art (myself), music and recreation to help these people regain some health and stability in their lives. I worked there for two years and then moved on and out into the outpatient field working as an MFT intern at Eastland Counseling Center in Covina, CA. While at Eastland, as an intern, I also saw some young patients in the local hospitals as well as seeing individuals, couples, children and various family groups in this private practice setting. After becoming licensed in 1990, I was asked to work part time at two girls’ group homes in the area. This was in the capacity of a therapist doing individual and group therapy with the girls weekly. The girls ranged in age from 12 to18 and they were in the system, having been removed from their homes for various reasons. 

Eventually this career evolved into working only out of my own home office in Temple City. At this point my clients/patients came from referrals from several of the large Health insurance companies.

Next came the fourth (current) phase, which I would say overlapped with the third as well. This section goes back to 1993 when I first found The Urantia Book and began to be involved in as many activities as I could which revolved around learning more about this book and also socializing with other readers. Then in the year 2000 I met Larry Whelan who was living in Ventura, CA. He came over to our group in Arcadia to introduce himself. To make a long story short, Larry and I really hit it off, fell in love, and were married in the year 2002. Thus, my name is now Donna Whelan.

As a part of this current phase of my life I have become even more interested in serving this Urantia Book outreach along with my new partner and husband Larry.  In order to have more time I have put my license on renewed but inactive status as an MFT. Larry and I have explored and are now doing outreach in several different ways, which I won’t go into in this short biography.  But one of the ways I have decided to ‘help’ is by volunteering my proofreading services to Halbert for this UbtheNews project, which we both feel is very worthy of supporting as best we can.

So now you know Who I am and I hope my services add to the worth and success of this exciting outreach endeavor.  

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