I'm sorry, but I could not have added that fact into the OP. A lot of people would have simply responded that adding AltSoftSerial was the issue. Thus leaving me hanging, without actually finding the root cause. 
The root cause was not adding AltSoftSerial. The root cause is that my sketch and that library both use Timer1. That is the useful answer. From that answer I can make changes and progress with the project.
Ever hear the teacher's philosophy about shouting answers. When a student shouts an answer, rather than raising your hand and being called on, it stops or shifts the thought process of the other students in the class. Right or wrong, that happens on forums like this.