LilMtnCbn
03-14-2004, 07:13 AM
I swear, when I first read the headline, I thought it was about the singer.
WTH does she have to do with adoption? LOL
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/8182918.htm?1c
Charlotte church reaches out to special woman
Special effort changes life of woman
ELIZABETH LELAND
Staff Writer
Lydia Ingraham won't be riding the city bus as usual to Park Road Baptist
Church. Today is a special day for Lydia, who is 61, and for church members,
who have watched over her for three years.
Lydia is riding with a visitor from out of town.
Lydia first showed up at Park Road Baptist in spring 2001. She had straggly
gray hair and three teeth and walked up from the street, not like the other
people, who came from the parking lot. She wore a pink straw hat and looked at
the ground as if she hoped to slip in without anyone noticing.
It took a few Sundays before Lydia would talk with Leslie Sellers, who greeted
everyone at the door. As they got to know each other, and Lydia began to trust
Leslie, they settled into a routine. Leslie, her husband and their two boys
would pick up Lydia on cold or rainy Sunday mornings. After church, they would
take her to Harris Teeter, then drop her and her groceries at home.
Over months of Sundays, Lydia shared only a few details of her past. She grew
up in the town of Barker in western New York. She moved to Charlotte in 1984
and lived about a mile from the church with a friend, Michael McMakin. She
worked at a carwash for 11 years, but hurt her leg and had to quit.
Afterward, she cleaned Michael's apartment and, in return, he gave her $20
every other week. She saved a dollar for the church and spent the rest on food.
It was her only income.
Then, in January 2002, Michael's brother telephoned Leslie Sellers. Michael had
died; Lydia would have to move out.
Lydia didn't know what to do. She is a simple person, developmentally disabled,
and had no family that anyone knew of. For days, she stared at Michael's
picture and cried.
If the church didn't help, Leslie Sellers realized, Lydia might end up on the
street.
The church day care gave her a part-time job washing dishes, and YWCA's Women
in Transition found her a temporary room. Before she could move into a
permanent place, Lydia needed some identification. She had no proof of who she
was.
Leslie tracked down Lydia's records and helped her get a Social Security card,
a photo ID card, a checking account. Jean Veilleux did the legal work. Amy
Jacks Dean, the co-pastor, took her to a doctor. Karen Burgess filed her taxes.
On Feb. 11, 2003, they moved Lydia into an apartment on Fairview Road.
The members of Park Road Baptist had become like family to Lydia, and Lydia was
giving them an opportunity to live out the church's mission.
`I knew your mother'
In January, 570 miles away in Barker, N.Y., Bob Detwiler went looking for his
birth mother and discovered that someone from North Carolina had been asking
for her records, too.Bob, who is 40 and runs a construction company in Orlando,
Fla., loved his adoptive parents and had never been interested in finding his
birth mother. He just happened to be helping a friend in New York build an
addition on a house and stopped in at the Barker town hall for a permit.
Bob knew he was born in Barker and, on a whim, he asked for his birth
certificate. The clerk looked him over and confided:
I knew your mother and grandmother. You look exactly like them.
Bob was taken from his birth mother shortly after he was born on April 17,
1963. On every April 17, for the last 40 years, Lydia silently wished her son a
happy birthday.
Today, she won't ride the bus
Most Sundays, Lydia takes Bus No. 19 from her new home, arriving at Park Road
Baptist an hour before the 11 a.m. service.
Today, she won't be riding the city bus as usual. Today, Bob is driving her.
He has her round cheeks and wide nose, the dark hair and broad grin. He's
bringing his wife and three children, Lydia's grandchildren.
Two years after she lost her companion, Michael, the closest she thought she
would ever get to having a family, Lydia now finds that she has two.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
WTH does she have to do with adoption? LOL
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/8182918.htm?1c
Charlotte church reaches out to special woman
Special effort changes life of woman
ELIZABETH LELAND
Staff Writer
Lydia Ingraham won't be riding the city bus as usual to Park Road Baptist
Church. Today is a special day for Lydia, who is 61, and for church members,
who have watched over her for three years.
Lydia is riding with a visitor from out of town.
Lydia first showed up at Park Road Baptist in spring 2001. She had straggly
gray hair and three teeth and walked up from the street, not like the other
people, who came from the parking lot. She wore a pink straw hat and looked at
the ground as if she hoped to slip in without anyone noticing.
It took a few Sundays before Lydia would talk with Leslie Sellers, who greeted
everyone at the door. As they got to know each other, and Lydia began to trust
Leslie, they settled into a routine. Leslie, her husband and their two boys
would pick up Lydia on cold or rainy Sunday mornings. After church, they would
take her to Harris Teeter, then drop her and her groceries at home.
Over months of Sundays, Lydia shared only a few details of her past. She grew
up in the town of Barker in western New York. She moved to Charlotte in 1984
and lived about a mile from the church with a friend, Michael McMakin. She
worked at a carwash for 11 years, but hurt her leg and had to quit.
Afterward, she cleaned Michael's apartment and, in return, he gave her $20
every other week. She saved a dollar for the church and spent the rest on food.
It was her only income.
Then, in January 2002, Michael's brother telephoned Leslie Sellers. Michael had
died; Lydia would have to move out.
Lydia didn't know what to do. She is a simple person, developmentally disabled,
and had no family that anyone knew of. For days, she stared at Michael's
picture and cried.
If the church didn't help, Leslie Sellers realized, Lydia might end up on the
street.
The church day care gave her a part-time job washing dishes, and YWCA's Women
in Transition found her a temporary room. Before she could move into a
permanent place, Lydia needed some identification. She had no proof of who she
was.
Leslie tracked down Lydia's records and helped her get a Social Security card,
a photo ID card, a checking account. Jean Veilleux did the legal work. Amy
Jacks Dean, the co-pastor, took her to a doctor. Karen Burgess filed her taxes.
On Feb. 11, 2003, they moved Lydia into an apartment on Fairview Road.
The members of Park Road Baptist had become like family to Lydia, and Lydia was
giving them an opportunity to live out the church's mission.
`I knew your mother'
In January, 570 miles away in Barker, N.Y., Bob Detwiler went looking for his
birth mother and discovered that someone from North Carolina had been asking
for her records, too.Bob, who is 40 and runs a construction company in Orlando,
Fla., loved his adoptive parents and had never been interested in finding his
birth mother. He just happened to be helping a friend in New York build an
addition on a house and stopped in at the Barker town hall for a permit.
Bob knew he was born in Barker and, on a whim, he asked for his birth
certificate. The clerk looked him over and confided:
I knew your mother and grandmother. You look exactly like them.
Bob was taken from his birth mother shortly after he was born on April 17,
1963. On every April 17, for the last 40 years, Lydia silently wished her son a
happy birthday.
Today, she won't ride the bus
Most Sundays, Lydia takes Bus No. 19 from her new home, arriving at Park Road
Baptist an hour before the 11 a.m. service.
Today, she won't be riding the city bus as usual. Today, Bob is driving her.
He has her round cheeks and wide nose, the dark hair and broad grin. He's
bringing his wife and three children, Lydia's grandchildren.
Two years after she lost her companion, Michael, the closest she thought she
would ever get to having a family, Lydia now finds that she has two.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
