Fingerprints of God
Jim Needham has lived countless lives throughout his 81 years. The retired Ball State professor, broadcaster, world traveler, scuba diver and author can trace every twist of his extraordinary journey back to one thing: the unmistakable fingerprints of God guiding him through each chapter.
His new memoir, God’s Still Calling…Finding God’s Fingerprints, came about when his grandchildren started asking questions about his life. In answering those questions, he realized he had enough stories to fill a book.
Needham’s life began with a jolt—quite literally. At age 4, he was rummaging through his father’s fishing tackle box when he fell backward into a bucket of boiling water his mother had set out to sterilize diapers.
“She grabbed me out of it, but the hot water stripped my skin right off,” he recalls.
It was the first of many trials that would shape his stubborn resilience.
“I was a strong-willed child,” he says with a laugh. “Still am.”
Needham entered Indiana State University as a physics major, but after landing the lead role in a production of Daniel Boone, he realized he would rather be on stage than in a laboratory. He switched to drama, then psychology, then speech, eventually weaving all three disciplines into a career that would take him across North America.
He worked at Channel 10 in Terre Haute before accepting a job in Ontario. Just one week into the position, his manager went on vacation and left him in charge of 26 employees. Drawing on his psychology background, Needham led a team that initially threatened to quit unless he addressed 18 workplace issues. He solved 17 of them.
From there, he moved to Kentucky as a television producer, juggling news programs, public affairs shows and even a film about saving South African bee colonies. His biggest break, however, came one afternoon in 1969 when his manager announced, “Needham, you’re going to work for the president.”
Needham assumed he meant the university president. Instead, he was assigned to a special White House project under President Richard Nixon documenting hunger and nutrition across the country. He learned to operate a 120-pound portable video recorder, traveled to the third sub-basement of the White House and received a letter from the president’s special assistant guaranteeing he would not be arrested for civil offenses while on assignment.
He never used it—but a colleague did after being pulled over for driving 110 mph in Arizona. The officer read the letter, apologized and escorted him to the airport at 120 mph.
Needham’s unit director on the project was Verna Fields, who later won an Academy Award for editing Jaws. She became his mentor, even pounding on a hospital door at 4 a.m. to demand treatment when Needham came down with food poisoning.
Every chapter of his life seems to come with a lesson attached. He once forgot to turn on the sound recorder during an interview with the head of the Kentucky Census Bureau. Rather than panic, he called, explained the situation and was given permission to repeat the interview.
Along the way, he met Doc Severinsen, best known for leading The Tonight Show orchestra under Johnny Carson. He filmed singer Karen Carpenter when she was 19, produced documentaries, hosted talk shows and eventually fell in love.
Before marrying his wife, Linda—a widow with three young children—Needham went through what he jokingly calls “the approval tour,” meeting her friends and family. One summer day on the beach in Grand Haven, Linda’s 10-year-old daughter handed him her retainer and said, “Dad, will you take care of this?” It was the first time she had called him “Dad.”
He wrapped it in a napkin—and promptly lost it.
Instead of panicking, he prayed. He and Linda walked hand in hand along the shoreline for more than 30 minutes until they spotted a clear pink piece of plastic glinting in the sand.
“When God answers your prayers,” Needham says, “you tell people about it.”
Needham is a vegan, scuba diver, teacher and world traveler. Now, thanks to his grandchildren, he is also an author whose memoir blends adventure, humor, heartbreak and faith. What propels the story is his unwavering belief that God has been present in every season of his life.
The book’s cover features his wife gazing at a cross dating to A.D. 1450 on the Scottish island of Iona. It is a fitting image for a man who has spent his life following God’s fingerprints.
