Kent Dickinson

From the smoky backrooms of Chicago's underworld to the humble service trucks of the Salvation Army, Kent Dickinson has lived a story that could fill ten lives. His latest book, Forever TImeless, unravels the extraordinary path of a man who once walked alongside mob crime figures an now walks with God.

Born in 1950 with a severe cleft palate, he started life as a medical anomaly. But intelligence and determination propelled him forward first into college, then into his father's movie theater and eventually into the dark corridors of Local 110, one of the most feared unions in Chicago's history.

In the 1970's his quest for independence drew him into the world of movie projectionists, a profession that turned out to be the front line of the Chicago Outfit's "legitimate business." Over two decades, he rose through the ranks as a "working slug" to "union consigliere." But "success" came with a moral cost. "I lived two lives." he admits. "A family man on Sunday, and a union soldier by Monday."

For years, he balanced a life of contradictions: a devoted husband and father by day, a trusted consigliere by night. "It was loyalty, a little power and money until the night of 2001 when God made me choose" he recalls. "The boss had asked me to do something I couldn't do and God was telling me to do something I didn't want to." On the drive home that night he made the choice. "I decided to serve one master." he says. "The right one."

One week later the FBI came knocking. Faced with a 20-year RICO charge or the chance to tell the truth, he chose redemption.

After a three-year federal prison term, his new calling wasn't power or money it was service. Behind the wheel of a Salvation Army food truck, he fed hundreds daily, turning a supposed penance into a defining purpose.

Today, as he and his wife Joyce approach 50 years of marriage, Kent writes not for fame but faith. "God took me from crime to compassion," he says. "And I'll spend the rest of my life telling that story."