Clyde M. Narramore

Dr. Clyde M. Narramore (November 25, 1916 – July 27, 2015) was an American author of more than 100 books and booklets, including the best sellers The Psychology of Counseling, The Encyclopedia of Psychological Problems and This Way to Happiness. He was the founding president of the first international non-profit Christian counseling and training organization, the Narramore Christian Foundation.

At the age of two he lost his father to the 1918 flu pandemic.

Clyde was educated in a one-room school house and attended the Palo Verde Baptist Church.

In his teens he showed an interest in music, athletics and public speaking.

After the Great Depression, he attended Arizona State University and the University of Southern California where he studied psychology, education, business and music.

During World War II, Narramore served as a U.S. Naval Officer at an anti-aircraft base in Long Island, New York and at a U.S. Naval Operations Base near Reykjavik, Iceland.

During his time in New York, he met his wife, Ruth Elliott, and they wed in 1946.

Clyde Narramore earned his Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.

He became a licensed Psychologist in California, and served thirteen years on staff at the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, where he co-authored two books used throughout the county's school system.

In 1953, Dr. Narramore, along with Benjamin Weiss, the Principal of the Los Angeles Metropolitan high School, co-founded the National Educators Fellowship now known as the Christian Educators Association International.

The purpose of the organization was to encourage, equip and empower Christians serving in public education.

In 1953, Dr. Narramore began speaking at Bible conferences.

He also rented the Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center grounds for his own annual conference.

However, Dr. Narramore spent much of his career leading and hosting lay seminars at the Narramore Christian Foundation's ten acre conference facility in Rosemead, CA. Seminar topics included morning devotions, psychological personality testing, presentations on Identity of Person-hood, Dealing with feelings of Depression, Anger and Guilt, A New Biblical Self-Image, non-defensive communication, healthy sexual relations, parenting, and Responsible Christian Assertiveness.

Each afternoon, conferees attended group therapy sessions and upon request, individual therapy with licensed Christian therapists.

Many who attended the seminars wrote to Psychology for Living and stated the seminars to be a "turning point in their lives."

One of Dr. Narramore's favorite seminars was called "Re-entry" and was designed to guide and support the sons and daughters of Christian missionaries who were returning to America to attend college after living abroad.

Narramore observed that "missionary kids" or "third culture kids", were above average in ability and intellect but often needed support adjusting to the major life transition of returning to the United States.

Dr. Narramore also accepted numerous invitations as a keynote speaker at Bible conferences, weekend seminars at churches, and such government institutions as the US State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, Pentagon, US Treasury Department, Justice Department, West Point, Annapolis and the U.S. Army War College.

In 1954 he and his wife, Ruth Narramore, began a daily radio broadcast called Psychology for Living, which was eventually aired on over 300 radio stations across the United States and abroad.

In 1954, Dr. Narramore and his wife, Ruth began a radio broadcast and a monthly magazine entitled Psychology for Living.

Dr. Narramore was the first licensed Christian psychologist to host an international radio show dealing with everyday problems.

In each 15-minute broadcast, Ruth Narramore read a letter from a listener discussing a personal or family problem, and both Dr. and Ruth Narramore discussed the causes and solutions based on a holistic framework that considered physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

The broadcast was aired for more than forty years.

The program accepted no commercial advertisements or endorsements, and the Narramores never asked for donations on the broadcast.

In 1958, Dr. Narramore founded the Narramore Christian Foundation, the first international Christian counseling and training ministry.

More than five thousand ministers and missionaries, business people, parents, educators, and the sons and daughters of missionaries, have participated in one, two and three-week seminars at the Narramore Christian Foundation's southern California campus.

Sensing a need to offer advanced training in psychology shaped by a Christian worldview, in 1970 Dr. Narramore became the founding president of the Rosemead School of Psychology, now affiliated with Biola University.

Born in Palo Verde, Arizona, Clyde Narramore is the youngest son of Homesteaders Edward and Emma Narramore.

He was born and raised on a rural ranch with his sister and five brothers.

In 1970, Dr. Narramore was the founding president of the Rosemead School of Psychology, where nearly one thousand graduate students have since received doctoral degrees.

His nephew, Dr. Bruce Narramore, was a co-founder and first Academic Dean.

The graduate school publishes the scholarly Journal of Psychology and Theology.

Dr. Narramore has spoken at The White House under three Presidential administrations and in 1984 served with John Ashcroft and others on the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence under the Ronald Reagan Administration.

He also served on the General Committee to produce the New King James Bible.

During his graduate school days at Columbia University, Narramore was influenced by the book The Art of Readable Writing by Dr. Rudolph Flesch, who taught writers the discipline of simple, clear and effective prose.

As Dr. Narramore started to write his own books, he strove to make professional psychology accessible to everyday people rather than writing scholarly journal articles.

During his time as a school psychologist Narramore became increasingly aware of the effects that neurological impairments and chemical imbalances had on human behavior and frequently made referrals to physicians of neurology and endocrinology.

Dr. Narramore was familiar with theories of psychodynamic, Rogerian and object relations psychology but he was more informed by his own clinical experience and practical observations of basic emotional and relational needs.

In some situations he also applied Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to challenge people's irrational and destructive thoughts.