Early Life
Lauderdale was adopted by Kerby Roy and Linda Sue (Mikesell) Lauderdale. In 1972, the family moved to Indiana, where his father was pastor at Eel River Church of the Brethren. After church services, Lauderdale would go to the piano, and try to replicate the hymns he heard. His parents bought an upright piano at an auction and he began his formal musical studies at age six with Patricia Garrison of North Manchester, Indiana and later, Joyanne Jones at Indiana University/Purdue University in Fort Wayne.
In 1976, his father resigned from the ministry and the Lauderdale family opened a plant nursery near North Manchester. The family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1980, after his parents divorced and his father came out of the closet. In the 1990s, his parents went on several talk shows – including 20/20, Oprah, Jane Whitney, and Christina, to talk about what happens when a spouse comes out. Kerby returned to the ministry, and is the first openly gay pastor in his denomination. He performed the service when his former wife Linda remarried in 2000.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Lauderdale
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