I was born to a mother whose lack of ability to see led her to be raised as blind.

She went to a school for the blind, read braille, listened to audio books long before they were trendy or commonplace, and was the picture of tenacity and strength in my youth.

And though she was technically blind, as science and technology advanced, she was eventually able to see well enough to sew for family and friends and became a talented quilter in her latter years.

Her spirit of pushing through adversity was a norm for me, and honestly could not have prepared me better for the decades that were ahead of me.

I've been honored to live shoulder to shoulder with a woman as strong or stronger than anyone I've ever known – my wife.

Born with a club foot deformity, Dorothy's parents knew her strength early on. Though she endured multiple surgeries, was relegated to braces and formative footwear for much of her early life, she chose to be an achiever over a victim of circumstance.

Her ability to ever walk was in question when she started school, but she never relented in her pursuit of a full life, to the point of even becoming a cheerleader in high school.

The Bible makes much of strong women. In Proverbs 31:16-17 it says, "She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong."

That passage offers a clear view of the woman I've walked and worked with for more than 40 years. In all honesty, it can feel simultaneously like both a blessing and a curse to yoke yourself with someone willing to tackle problems head on, and never stop at the point of 'good enough.'

In the final equation however, it's admirable. The tenacity it took to literally climb the stairs in a leg brace as a child has been applied to one adverse situation after another, virtually turning what might seem like dead ends to some into mere obstacles on the course for Dorothy.

From incredibly humble beginnings, her unwillingness to stop at any level of mediocrity has led her to rise from retail clerk to multi-store buyer, and from administrative assistant to company owner. All the while raising children and grandchildren and leaving no stone unturned in her quest for the very best she can offer.

Dorothy DeBruler is currently one of the owners of Grander Vision Media, the company which operates local Christian radio station WCLN-FM.

Her day-to-day efforts enable the life transforming message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach thousands of daily listeners through radio and several digital platforms.