Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511220106
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E11 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``Every morning, before I get out of bed, I say `Thank you, Lord, for all you have done for me!'''
Lynda Phan, a Patrick Henry High School sophomore, compares ``my life here to life in Vietnam, and here I have much more opportunity.''
This Thanksgiving, she's grateful for all the families who have supported her since she came to America five years ago.
Roanoker Mary Lou Lumsden is thankful this day that she and her husband, Gary, survived the devastation of Hurricane Marilyn, which swept through St. Thomas while they were vacationing in the Virgin Islands in September.
Like the Pilgrims, who started the tradition, these Roanoke Valley residents are among those who will gather with family and friends today, giving thanks for big and small events in their lives during the past year.
\ "The children have plenty of room now. Before, we were all in a two-bedroom apartment," Murrell said. Her daughter, Paula, and three grandchildren live with her.
Murrell, who applied for a home with Habitat for Humanity several years ago, helped work on two other Habitat houses in addition to hers, investing more than the 300 required hours of equity. Even her 6-year-old grandson, Dominique, helped.
``He was there every day,'' Murrell said. ``He swept up and carried out trash; he hammered some, and the men even put him up on the roof.''
Members of Cave Spring Baptist Church built the four-bedroom house and made a photo album showing all stages of construction for the family.
Murrell, who works for Singer Furniture, looks forward to having her family - three other children and three more grandchildren - for holiday celebrations, now that space is available.
She said the members of Cave Spring Baptist Church went beyond the required labor to provide a comfortable home for her. They planted spruce trees and rhododendrons in the yard and plan to return in the spring to build a fence so the children can play safely outside.
Murrell is thankful for more than a new home, she said. Two weeks after work on the house began in mid-May, Paula was severely injured in an automobile accident.
With head injuries and broken ribs, she lay in a coma at Roanoke Memorial Hospital for 12 days.
``The church [Cave Spring Baptist] put her on its prayer list and sent her cards each day,'' Murrell said. ``I was so afraid; these children needed their mother; but we all prayed for her and God opened her eyes.''
Paula, who also worked for Singer, has not been able to return to her job but has almost recovered completely.
``Sometimes when I'm working, my boss says, `Pauline, why are you always looking up?''' I say, `I'm thanking the Lord for all the good things he has done for me!'''
Lynda Phan, an honor student at Patrick Henry High School, thanks all the families who have supported her since she came to America five years ago. But she's especially thankful for becoming ``part of the family'' at Sharon and Pete Butler's home last May.
``All have been nice and supportive,'' Phan said of her foster families. ``I compare my life here to life in Vietnam, and here I have much more opportunity.''
The Butlers, who have two children, 9-year-old Hollis and 6-year-old Maycie, became Phan's fourth set of foster parents.
``I call Sharon `Mom' - especially around the children - but she's more like a friend, and when we're working together, I sometimes call her `Sharon,''' Phan said.
``But Pete is the dad, and it wouldn't be respectful to call him anything but `Dad.'''
Phan was 9 years old when she and an older sister and brother crawled aboard a fishing boat with 107 Vietnamese seeking freedom from the communists. Her mother, who had worked for the Americans during the Vietnam War, was especially anxious for her son to escape. At age 16, he would soon be drafted into the Vietnamese army.
``She didn't really want me to go, but I wanted to see America, and I thought it would be only for a short time,'' Phan said.
But the Butlers readily opened their home to Phan. One Sunday after seeing a church bulletin announcement requesting a foster home for a Vietnamese girl, Pete and Sharon Butler got into their car ``we just looked at each other and knew it was something we had to do,'' Sharon Butler said.
``She's really been a blessing to our home.''
Phan and the other refugees probably would have died had they not been picked up by a Filipino ship bound for Hong Kong. She, her brother and sister spent about six months in a refugee camp in Hong Kong before they were approved for entry into the United States. Phan is certain this good fortune resulted from her parents' support of the Americans during the war.
The Refugee Resettlement Center placed the children with a Vietnamese family, but it was not a good match. They were later placed with a Lynchburg family for three years. They eventually returned to Roanoke to live with a foster mother in the Raleigh Court area.
By this time, Phan's brother had completed high school and was on his own. He recently spent some time in Vietnam.
Although she and her sister, a high school senior, no longer have the same foster families, they see each other at Patrick Henry daily.
Phan also has had contact with her mother in Vietnam, talking to her by phone in August. She said she'd like to visit her mother but has no desire to live in Vietnam again. She has become Americanized, speaks English fluently and sees her future in this country.
Phan, a straight-A student since the fifth grade, manages to do her homework at school because of the block scheduling and has time to work and volunteer. She's been a paid tutor, and she volunteers as a tutor at West End Center. She also volunteers at Mill Mountain Theatre and at Brandon Oaks Retirement Center.
She especially enjoys visiting the elderly, playing games with them and talking to them. This is one area, she said, in which the Vietnamese culture is superior to American culture.
``In Vietnam, we have much more respect for older people.''
However, she prefers the American attitude toward women. In Vietnam, women are treated more like servants to men - ``like it was in old days in America.''
In September Mary Lou Lumsden was just thankful to see a Red Cross sign. She and her husband, Gary, attempted to leave St. Thomas on a Friday before Hurricane Marilyn struck the island, but the airport already was closed.
A call to her sister, Debbie Nash, assured them their three children would be cared for until they returned to Roanoke.
The storm hit on Saturday, ripping roofs off buildings, wrecking yachts, flooding beaches and destroying the entire downtown where the Lumsdens had shopped and dined only a day or two earlier. Trapped on the island without contact with the outside world, the hotel guests were evacuated to the windowless first-floor housekeeping area.
``At first we were not frightened - it was an adventure,'' Mary Lou Lumsden recalled. ``But then the doors began to blow open and had to be barred. The ceiling tiles were sucked out, and you could feel the walls shaking. I had my embroidery with me, and my stitches were so tight you could bounce a quarter off my work.''
More than 200 people were crammed into that small space during the brunt of the storm - from 4 p.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Sunday, Lumsden said. The toilets were in constant use, but could not be flushed. When the electricity failed, flashlights were distributed. One bit of good luck, she said, is that their hotel was the only one on the island with equipment to purify water.
``It's amazing how you can manage to do without food,'' Lumsden recalled. ``Gary and I had one bagel and a few grapes to share during Saturday and Sunday.''
When they returned to their room Sunday morning, they found complete destruction - windows gone, water-soaked furniture. Their packed suitcases were safe, though. Fortunately, she said, ``The smartest thing we ever did was leave them in the bathroom.''
Sunday they walked on the fish-strewn beach, tossing back those showing signs of life.
``A man from Greensboro offered his cellular phone to contact families,'' Lumsden said. ``After waiting 45 minutes for my turn, I learned the batteries had just died.''
Her call finally got through - thanks to the cigarette lighter of a damaged car - and she reassured her family who had watched the storm via CNN and worried about their safety.
At last, on Monday, the Lumsdens left St. Thomas, traveling to San Juan, Puerto Rico by cargo plane. They landed to a welcome sight: ``The Red Cross with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Oh, that was truly finger-lickin' good,'' Lumsden said.
Chicken and a warm bath, she said, were two things for which she was truly thankful.
by CNB