CHANGED FOR GOOD

About the Book

A Chronicle of a Persistent Change Agent The book attempts to piece together some significant parts of my life, to convey the experiences I’ve had in my journey for finding meaning in the pursuit of my goals and a purpose that could endure to my journey’s end. The book is also an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of my life as a whole, made greater than the sum of its parts, after experiencing God’s love in a spiritually intense turning point in my life. Some of us have a lot of stories with meaningful experiences, i.e. experiences that reveal the kind of people we are, the kind of world we are trying to build, and the journey we have been on. My childhood stories show the joys and challenges of life that I have lived through during the Nazi occupation of Greece, the Communist insurrection in Greece and from surviving in times of famine, fear and hazard in a culture of mystery, magic and miracle. My experiences of moving a lifetime from one continent and culture to another is unusual enough, but it becomes a metaphor for an explorer’s resilience, when it is followed by the pursuit of widely diverse careers achieved by work in pursuit of goals, and a strangely manifest providential help. As I reach the later years of my life, I continue to reflect on how I “ended up” where I am, and the work ahead We all know that life is a hodge-podge of success and failure, studded with unknowing and mystery. The book is intended to show that the persons we are at first, and the persons we choose to become, using our free will and following God’s, guidance, can move us closer to an enduring purpose, which, for those who have faith, is closeness to God.

About the Author

Apostolos “Tolly” Kizilos was born in Athens, Greece and studied at MIT, receiving B.S. and M.S. degrees and later, an MFA from the Writers Workshop of the U. of Iowa. He married Betty Ahola Kizilos, B.S. degree from MIT. Both worked for research organizations at Honeywell Inc., Betty was a Computer Systems Analyst and Tolly a senior research engineer. After a decade long practice Tolly won the Bush Leadership Fellowship, changed his career and started writing fiction. In a providential way, he added a career, eventually becoming the Director of Organization Development at Honeywell’s Systems and Research Center and helping to build a transformative organization based on enduring human values. He helped to create many organizational systems which promote participative management with consensus decisions, ethics and compassionate work relations. The thriving human climate he helped to establish with other enlightened managers, contributed to the creation and development of some of the most successful technology achievements of the company. Tolly was Adjunct Professor at the MBA Program of the U. of St. Thomas and taught O.D. for several years. He and Betty continued their transformative efforts after retirement, creating new ways of Adult Education in Churches, aimed at “Thinking the Faith.” They presented topics from a variety of viewpoints on Science, Religion and Social Justice issues, so that learning could proceed without advocating a single point of view. Tolly and Betty have published eight books each. Their sons pursued academic disciplines and received two PhD degrees and a JD. The family now includes seven grandchildren, all in high school or College. Betty Ahola Kizilos died in 2017 and Tolly is active in spreading the message of love, truth and beauty as it applies to socio-political scientific and humanities domains, guided by the transformative power of Jesus Christ.