Wednesday morning, I arrived at St. Anthony's and Mike Kent, our maintenance man said there was a father and son out in the parking lot looking for their homeless son/brother. The family hadn't seen or heard from him in 16 years. Mike said, "It's the father's wish to see his son before he dies."
Rocky, seen in the picture to the right of his father Everett had driven up from Kansas City, Missouri the night before hoping to find his little brother Rick (standing to the left in the picture). Rocky said, "I wasn't supposed to bring dad up here in the condition that he's in, but dad doesn't want to die before seeing Rick. We drove around last night talking to homeless people to see if they knew where Rick was."
Making their search more difficult was the picture they had of Rick was from 1994. I took the picture down the street to Cafe on Vine and Humility Shelter while the two stayed in the parking lot with Mike. While I was gone, one of our McAnthony Window patrons came by and said that he was good friends with Rick. That, in and of itself gave Everett and Rocky a lot of comfort to know that he was alive and had friends that cared about him.
When I got back, that Window patron and I headed out to find Rick. We looked in all the places he typically frequents. At the Hyvee on Rockingham we talked to the store clerk who Rick sold cans to each day. She took my phone number and said she would call if Rick stopped by.
Back in the parking lot, we told Everett and Rocky that we had no luck. Everett kept saying, "I'm not leaving until I find my son." Rocky said, "I'm going to be in trouble, if I don't get my dad back to the place where's he receiving care." I told Rocky I'd call him if I heard anything. Throughout the next several hours, Rocky and I spoke on the phone several times. He just couldn't get his dad to leave town. Finally, he called said that they were reluctantly heading back.
Later the clerk from Hyvee called to say that Rick had just been in the store. I drove down Rockingham and I pulled over to talk to Rick whom I had never before met. I showed him a video I recorded of his dad saying that he wanted to see him and that he loved him. Rick gave me the OK to call his brother Rocky. When I reached Rocky they were 6 miles out of Davenport heading toward Kansas City. When Rick agreed to meet with them at St. Anthony's, they turned around. Rick and I went back to the parish center and waited on them.
Everett had been sitting in Rocky's truck all day wrapped in a blanket so I didn't know if he could even make it into the parish center, but nothing was going to keep him from sitting down with his son Rick. It was a very moving moment when Rick and his dad and brother embraced. Rick was shocked to learn that two of his sisters had passed away from cancer illness just like his mother had before he left Kansas City. After getting a picture of the three of them, I left them alone to talk.
Two hours later they came and asked me to go have a steak with them. I told them thanks, but I had a meeting. All three were very much appreciative of our efforts to reunite them. Later that evening Rocky left me this voicemail message which said, "Hey John, this is Rocky, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything. You made Pops day and a lifetime memory for him. Everything that was performed, it was a blessing in the Lord."
This is a heart warming story that I thought you might brighten your day. The ministry that YOU support as a parishioner at St. Anthony allows staff like Mike Kent and I to be of service to people in this way. You give us the opportunity to help people through your support of our parish mission. We all have family that we are not as close with as we should be, sadly sometimes we grow estranged from them. Reach out like Everett and his son Rocky did to connect. Rick looked me in the eye as they were leaving the parish center and said, "Thank you for taking the time to find me and connect me with my dad and brother."
