John Denver's music was played loud and often in our house when I was a teenager in the 1970s. His songs appealed as much to me as they did to my parents; a rare occurrence when two generations agreed on what was spinning on the turntable.

In April 1978, I was a high school junior with one year under my belt on the monthly news magazine, Talon, and that afforded me an exciting opportunity to meet John in person.

John was halfway through his "I Want To Live" U.S. tour, playing 57 cities in 61 days, when he graciously spent time on one of his few days off speaking with members of The Detroit News columnist Charley Manos' Student Press Club, of which I was a member.

I know that I attended other club gatherings, but to be honest, John's is the only event I remember. That has a lot to do with John's genuinely kind and down-to-earth personality and the way he treated us all like professionals instead of giddy, starstruck kids.

Before the interview, we were all given tickets to his Friday night performance at Olympia Stadium. It was my first live concert and even though the seats were near the rafters, it was a magical experience. John sat on a stool on the stage that was filled with trees and plants. It was like he was playing in a forest.

Two days later we met him at a local club where he spent an hour or more answering questions and laughing with us, and sometimes even at himself.. It felt very surreal to be sitting just a few feet away from the man whose records I sang along to at home and watched on television.

John's sense of humor was apparent as he explained that he was very self-conscious about seeing himself on the big screen in the hit film "Oh, God!" and that he believed he would never live down his trademark phrase "Far out", which he said began as a nervous conversational response when he first guest-hosted on The Tonight Show.

Despite being a busy star, he wanted us to know that the most important thing to him was his family, especially his children, and how difficult it was to be out on the road, away from home.

As the press conference moved along, I felt less intimidated by his star power and more inspired by his life journey. He told us about being an average high school student and a college drop out. That lead him to realize that he wanted to be more than average. It inspired him to find something that he could excel at, and that turned out to be music.

"What I want to do with my music is to share my experiences as honestly as I possibly can. I want to do more than entertain audiences. I want to touch them," he explained.

John's words have stayed with me all these years. I graduated college and I've continued with my writing, both professionally and for my own enjoyment. As the years have gone by, I understand what he meant by the desire to use your talents to touch people by telling stories and sharing personal experiences.

Today when I hear a John Denver song on my car radio or play one of his CDs, I still turn up the volume. His songs make me happy and positive, and the lyrics make me think about life. He will never truly be gone, for me, because he is a part of the person became after meeting him. Thank you, John!