ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130152
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DANVILLE (AP)
SOURCE: BERNARD BAKER DANVILLE REGISTER & BEE
When 7-year-old Jasmine Payne gets home from school, she doesn't need to worry about getting help with her homework.
Her 81-year-old foster mother, Leola DeJarnett, is right there for her. DeJarnett, in fact, is a student herself. She enrolled last fall at Danville's Adult Education Center to help Jasmine, a second grader, with her studies and to resume her own education, which was interrupted in the fourth grade, more than 70 years ago.
``I'm in this for as long as I can,'' DeJarnett said.
When Jasmine comes home from school, the two sit down and start doing homework. Joel DeBoe, principal at Jasmine's school, said he wished more parents cared enough to do the same.
Dianne Herndon, Jasmine's teacher, said the extra help makes a difference - Jasmine always comes to school with her homework finished.
Jasmine said she enjoys her homework time with DeJarnett, who was a foster mother to Jasmine's own mother.
``My favorite subject is math,'' Jasmine said. ``We have to work on my spelling.''
DeJarnett and her twin sister, Lula Lee, were born in Danville in 1914. Their mother died when they were children and their father, Charlie Massie, didn't want to take care of the girls. He took them to a neighborhood near Pelham, N.C., and made them live in a tent, DeJarnett said. All the sisters had then was the clothing they wore.
The girls would have starved without the kindness of people in the community. Families brought them corn bread, beans, occasionally some chicken and cake to eat.
DeJarnett said she and her sister used to say a two-part devotion before they went to bed.
``You think I'm a little girl living here all alone,'' DeJarnett would start out. ``We're not by ourselves because God is here with us,'' her sister would finish.
Over the years, different people took extra care of the children.
There were Cornelia and John Price, who watched after the girls as best they could during hard times.
The girls traveled for a time, too, with their father as he sold vegetables from his wagon. In Schoolfield, DeJarnett recalled, a woman - a stranger - gave the sisters a new dress each.
When the girls were 12, Massie died and a woman named Zettie Scearce took DeJarnett into her home.
DeJarnett cooked for the Scearces and helped raise their children. She was paid $4 a week and had a roof over her head. Her sister found a similar job with a family down the street.
When she was a little older, DeJarnett worked at Dan River Inc. and various tobacco companies. She also did domestic work.
And when she felt like she was on solid ground, she began caring for others the way people had cared for her. She figures she has been a foster mother to about 50 children.
For Jasmine Payne, she's also a tutor and fellow student.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Leola DeJarnett (left) and her 7-year-old fosterby CNBdaughter, Jasmine Payne, are schoolmates. color.