Doranne Laverne Searfoss was born on July 22nd, 1932, in Wilkes-Barre, PA to Victor and Mary Searfoss. Not long after, the couple separated. Mary took their two children and moved in with her mother. When Grandma decided it was too difficult to care for a 2-year-old and an infant, Doranne, who was only 3 months old, was sent to live with her father’s relatives. Then at 9 months, she was put in a foster home with the Walton family, good friends of her father. When Doranne was 10, they moved to Baltimore. This was a providential move of God. The Waltons were an elderly couple with two grown sons who loved Doranne, and her growing up years were stable. Even so, Doranne always felt a strong sense of rejection because she was given away while her older sister was kept. This rejection stayed with her throughout her teen years.
When she was 18 years old, the hand of God made a big move that would ultimately lead to her salvation. She went on a moonlight cruise with friends. They fixed her up with a blind date, whom she could not stand. She and her girlfriend were leaning over the deck railing as Doranne complained about her date. Just as the gangplank was raised, two guys came running towards the ship, making it onboard in the nick of time. Doranne pointed to one and said, “See that guy?” Now he’s my type—if he were a little taller.” That guy was Peck Hardy.
The ship was sailing, the music was playing, when Peck asked Doranne to dance. Three months later, they married on October 20, 1950. Her family was set against it because Peck had a prison record. As much as she dearly loved her parents, she was head over heels in love with Peck and could not be dissuaded. One year later, Sharon was born, but the joys of their firstborn were soon shattered when Peck incurred a devastating back injury that left him a cripple in severe, intractable pain. This young mother was at the end of her rope when God stepped in for a miracle.
During a time of fervent prayer and fasting at Peck’s mom’s church, a prayer cloth was prayed over for his healing. He was miraculously healed when she came to the house and placed it on his body. Still unsaved, this momentous event turned his heart to the Lord, and he began to wonder what else God might do for him. But Doranne was ecstatic at the idea of resuming their active lifestyle of dancing and summer fun. By year’s end, Peck had another supernatural encounter with the Lord and was gloriously saved.
The Battle for Doranne’s Soul
Believing Peck was caught up in a cult with his crazy mother, and unwilling to give up her party life, she ran from God for six years. Their marriage was a battleground, but she stayed because of Sharon, fighting him tooth and nail against the Gospel. Peck’s father was an atheist who had fought Mother Hardy for over 50 years, and he joined forces with Doranne against his son. The demonic warfare she was caught up in was strong, and her heart became hardened with resistance. Then after years of high level intercession on her behalf, Doranne was overcome with conviction of the Holy Spirit, who orchestrated events to bring her to church.
At the age of 25, on a cool October evening at a little country church, Doranne sat in the parking lot determined not to go inside. She only came because her best friend (a backslider) was suicidal, and when Peck ministered to her, she agreed to come to the service where he was preaching that night—but only if Doranne came with her. She did, but stayed in the car. When the night’s chill finally chased her inside, she slipped in the last pew against the wall. She was stunned by Peck’s preaching—he wasn’t crazy! As the truth of God’s Word pierced her spirit, she felt a burning heat behind her. She knew no one could be behind her—it was supernatural. That night Doranne surrendered to the Lord, and her life of ministry with Peck began.
Together, they founded Faith Tabernacle Church in 1958 and all its various outreaches. Doranne has been a beacon of faithfulness for 67 years to thousands of God’s sheep. Her life has not been without deep sorrow, including the sudden death of her son, Robert Jr. (Chochie) at age 42 in 2003. Even in that tragedy, she found God to be faithful, a healer and a comforter in her darkest trial. She continued to exhort the saints to press on, to finish their race strong, while setting the example of running her course to finish with joy on May 3, 2024.
“I love you always and forever” were the last words my mom spoke to me as I exited the doorway of her bedroom. In prior days, she kept dozing, mumbling in between. But that day she was alert and chatty about old memories. One occurred not long after she was saved. She had run from God for 6 years, and when she finally surrendered, the devil began attacking her with the lie that he was going to let her serve the Lord, but when it was time for her to die, he would break her faith. A babe in Christ, she didn’t know how to fight back, and she did not tell my dad about it.
After a visit to someone in Johns Hopkins Hospital, our car was hit by a speeding car running a red light. Mom, sitting in the front passenger seat, hit her head on the steering wheel. Dad saw her head jerking like a bobble head, her eyes rolled back in her head. He immediately rebuked the spirit of death. Only a block away, she was taken to Hopkins emergency room unconscious When she came out of it, she saw white tiled walls, glass flasks on the counter, and people dressed in white, and declared: “This isn’t heaven!” The doctor replied, “No ma’am, you’re in Johns Hopkins Hospital.” “No, I’m not!” she insisted.
Later, she related that she had left her body and was climbing up a high mountain covered with the greenest green, like nothing she had ever seen on the earth. As she neared the top, she was wondering, because she wasn’t sure what the Bible said, whether angels would greet her or Jesus. Then, just as she reached the top, she was back in her body in the ER. After this near death experience, she never listened to the lie of the devil again, that he would break her faith when it came time for her to die. As I stood by her bedside, I asked her if she remembered that accident? “Yes, and the devil said he would break my faith when it came time to die.” I looked in her 91-year-old sky blue eyes, and said: “Soon you will be climbing that mountain, and this time Jesus will be there, and the angels, and daddy, and Chachie (her son) to greet you.” Sharon Hardy Knotts
“For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2Cor. 5:8).
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