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| Started singing at age ten Ramona began her journey in the entertainment field at 10 years old when she sang at the Municipal Auditorium for the March of Dimes Review. At the age of 13 she sang with a jazz trio. At 16 she traveled the United States and Canada with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (under the direction of Warren Covington). |
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| Moved to New York After leaving the Dorsey band Ramona lived in Manhattan, New York, attended the Betty Cashman School of Drama and Speech, took dance at Carnegie Hall, and sang with a high society band. After her roommate attempted suicide, her mother, Evelyn Dodrill, whisked her home to Charleston, West Virginia. Marriage and a child Ramona married, had a child, Daniel Lee, and then Hollywood beckoned her after a divorce. She and Daniel moved to the famous city. Again, she attended drama workshops, Jocelyn Ryan School of Modeling and Commercials, had a season of runway modeling, and appeared on various television shows. The New Christy Minstrels After auditioning for a position with the New Christy Minstrels, Ramona was chosen to be one of two girls in a group of eight from hundreds around the country and Canada. She traveled the world, appeared on the Joey Bishop Show, performed on radio and television, and entertained hundreds at the World’s Fair in Kyoto, Japan. During the Viet Nam war, the group entertained troops. NCM took a three-day R&R in Camron Bay where they were mortared and rocketed. It was an experience that caused her to feel a small portion of what our soldiers felt. She and some of the other members of the group visited and performed in the intensive wards. NCM saw men, women and children mutilated and deformed from the ravages of war. Ramona was never the same. Drugs and depression Ramona loved singing with the group, but most of the group began using drugs. Experiencing the drug scene plummeted her into a deep depression, and the travel finally took its toll on six of those in the New Christy Minstrels. They decided to resign, form their own rock group, and live together in order to prepare their music. She experimented with other drugs. Eventually, after the rock group had no success, they broke up and went different ways. Ramona then started singing with Vin Cardinal’s group (Rock group with a Trinidad flavor). Jesus revealed In 1971 a friend took Ramona to see Kathryn Kuhlman at Melodyland in Anaheim, CA. People were singing with lifted hands. She saw faces glowing with joy. She never went to church or to anything religious "stoned." But after being there a while, the air in the auditorium had an amber hue as if the air was "liquid air." She knew she wasn’t high. Later she learned that it was the shekinah glory of the Lord. Ramona was given the Living New Testament and told to read the Book of John. As she sang with the rock group, as she smoked pot, she continued to read the Gospel of John. One day she fell to her knees and cried out the only sinners prayer she knew, "Jesus, help me!" The next day, she said she saw the sun in sunny California for the first time. The dark veil was lifted and the eyes of her heart were enlightened to see Jesus – not as a name, but as the Savior of her life, as her Lord and Master. Her desire for drugs diminished. Her desire for the things of heaven increased. She searched the radio stations to hear someone telling about Jesus. To express her excitement and new joy and love, she wrote her first Christian song. She continued to release her experiences and feelings through song writing. New location Ramona and her son, Daniel, moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended a great church (Mt. Paran) and sat under the ministry of Dr. Paul L. Walker and Dr. M. G. McLuhan. First Christian album release A producer, Bobby Hudson, heard Ramona sing one of her compositions, Nobody Cares Like Jesus, at church one Sunday. He told her he wanted to produce her. Two weeks later, she was in a Nashville studio recording her first Christian album with Benson Publishing Company (Impact Records). She was thrown into ministry with Christian music greats like the Gaithers, Dallas Holms, Doug Oldham, The Imperials, the Downings, The Rambos, etc. Her new album release, Good Morning filled the bookstores.. She was a fresh new face and voice in the Christian music arena. People were buying five and six albums at a time. Robert Benson told her it was the best selling album of an unknown artist they had ever had. Her second release, The Children, was recorded in London with a portion of the London Symphony Orchestra. Ordination In 1981 Ramona married again. She is now ordained, and she and her husband, Howard Chadwick, are Co-Senior Pastors at The Living Cornerstone (TLC) in Port Orange, FL. They have four children: Daniel, Paisha, Chad, and Chanda, and seven grandchildren. As Ramona travels to speak and sing, her seminar, Confession, Repentance, and Forgiveness, has touched the lives of many and brought freedom for the soul. After 34 years of ministry, the experiental knowledge she has gained, the wisdom and total reliance upon the Lord, have prepared Ramona for the most powerful time of being His vessel. Her intimate relationship with the Most High brings freedom and peace to the attendee of her seminars or the listener of her music. Her desire is to lead the saints and unbelievers into His presence that they may realize the joy of knowing how to let it all go and live the moment. DIVINE LOVE • Words For Life • Home • To Contact Ramona © MMIX Ramona. All rights reserved. |
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