(Photos shown are of Kathie Adler with her clowns at her factory sewing machine in 1991 and Kathie with Madeline Balletta, founder of Bee Alive Royal Jelly health products, after Kathie interviewed Madeline on her radio show in 1987).
As a young girl, Kathie was always talking. But being loquacious would pay off years later. Kathie's English teacher (her favorite subject was English and writing) wrote in Kathie's 1964 high school yearbook, "To Kathie, who talks incessantly, but has more than enough charm to be excused." From a father who did not have the utmost patience with her, this compliment was a breath of fresh air and gave Kathie a confident feeling about herself that she couldn't get from anywhere else. Kathie had one sister, Patricia, (3 years older) and one brother, Anthony (10 years younger) who have both passed away. Kathie's brother was born with CP, cerebral palsy, from loss of oxygen due to a doctor's mistake. He was never able to walk or talk, but having a disabled brother created compassion in Kathie and her sister, and her brother was a joy to everyone that took care of him.
During the 1960's, Kathie and her sister, Pat, would go to Jones Beach. often riding in her father's 1950 Chrysler Town and Country car with white wall tires. It was a woody her father was proud of. (Photo example, not actual car).
Growing up, Kathie's father was an alcoholic who drowned out his severe back pain from serving in World War II, having had six spinal surgeries, until he found Jesus in the 1960's. He never touched a drop of alcohol after that. Because of his wife, Mary's, modeling of Christian character, he found Christ. Kathie's grandmother greatly influenced the family with her love and godly example, and Mary came to Christ first, then Kathie, then her father, and finally her sister, Pat.
PIANO: Kathie began taking piano lessons when she was about twelve years old. She continued lessons with her Uniondale High music teacher, Mr. Mendelsohn, and after getting married in 1972, Kathie took lessons from a concert pianist in Stony Brook who often played Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. From there, Kathie took lessons from Larry Pearlstein, a band leader and innovative music teacher, who taught her a bit of jazz and how to play by ear since Kathie could only use sheet music to play her classical pieces.
MODELING: Kathie attended modeling school during her twenties and modeled for a brief time and enjoyed wearing classy outfits from various designers.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Being a Long Island girl who loved the ocean and the beach, Kathie Adler and her sister, who also taught Kathie cheerleading, lived at the beach every summer during high school! After high school, Kathie began to dabble in photography using a small Instamatic camera and later started her own photography business after seeing what her husband's 35 mm camera could do! Her photography business was called Dimension Photos. Kathie went on to do portraits, weddings, and still loves photography and photos.
CULT MINISTRY: Around 1978 or so, Kathie had a Bible study in her home, and thereafter, due to the death of a friend of hers, she joined CARIS and the Help Jesus Ministry from California which ministered to those in the cults. She then went on live radio on Saturday mornings for two years from 1979-1980. Kathie later incorporated a Christian ministry called Narrow Way Ministries with her grandmother, mother, and a close friend of hers. In 1984, Kathie's mother, Mary, passed away at a hospital due to malpractice. This was a terrible tragedy in Kathie's life. But after two years, Kathie went back on the radio, this time for thirty minutes per night, five nights a weeks, and that lasted for four years until October,1988.
JONESTOWN MASSACRE: Kathie did radio shows on the tragic Jonestown Massacre (Nov. 18, 1978). Many people today do not know about Jonestown. On that fateful day, 909 followers of the Rev. Jim Jones, leader of People's Temple formerly located in Ukiah, California, committed revolutionary suicide in the hot jungles of Guyana, South America. They drank a mixture of Flavor Aid laced with cyanide. Many of Jones' followers were murdered by Jones' henchmen either by gunshot or forced injections of the poison. Congressman Leo J. Ryan went to Jonestown just days before along with 17 others to visit the paranoid cult leader. Stressed that followers were disowning Jones, Leo J. Ryan was shot and killed along with five others as they tried to board a small airplane with twenty-five of Jones' followers who wanted to escape. "The dead at the Port Kaituma airstrip were Congressman Leo Ryan, photographer Greg Robinson of The San Francisco Examiner; cameraman Bob Brown, and reporter Don Harris from NBC; and Temple defector Patricia Parks."
https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35346
Kathie used National Public Radio's cassette tapes by permission but was only permitted to use ninety seconds of their tapes, "Father Cares, the Last of Jonestown." . Sadly, the Jonestown Massacre broadcasts were Kathie's most popular radio broadcasts. This terrible tragedy affected Kathie Adler and encouraged her to continue helping cult members find God and escape the control of a cult.
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/jonestown
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Ryan
Kathie also taught on other cult groups such as the Moonies, the Way International, and Satanism. She taught over radio on the basic Christian beliefs and how to recognize the common traits of a cult. Kathie was invited to speak in many churches on Long Island (she sang at her seminars) and was invited as a guest speaker at Blue Mountain Christian Retreat Center in New Ringgold, Pennsylvania, sharing her expertise on cults at the annual convention on cults. Kathie was well-respected by her peers, cult research apologists, and authors such as Dr. Robert Morey, Professor James Bjornstad, and Bill and Joan Cetnar, all of whom are now with the Lord. Kathie Adler has written literature and fliers on many cults and has three short books for kids on the cults (created as allegories), and also a one-hundred-twenty page book on the New Age Movement.
Saying that Kathie Adler was always talking as a kid is an understatement. But it means her ability to speak has been used by God in her ministry as it indicates speaking was useful for radio. And that is all God's doing. Kathie's husband and she have two children and one grandchild, and of course, her two cats are their kids!
Kathie and her husband were doll manufacturers in the late 1970's to the late 1980's, manufacturing all types of hand-made cloth dolls and bears with ten people working in a cottage industry out of their homes. Many doll shops across Long Island purchased Kathie's line of dolls from Huntington to Port Jefferson to Glen Cove. A few companies wanted t manufacture them overseas, but Kathie and her husband declined. Kay Adler Dolls were sold and shipped across the country even to gift shops on Rodeo Drive in California.
Kay Adler Dolls created well-made dolls out of the best-quality fabrics. Although Kathie no longer manufactures or sells dolls and bears, you can view them online at the website Kathie created. It is often easier to access the doll website from a cell phone. Let us know if you are able to log onto: www.KayAdlerDolls.com
