ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 5, 1997 TAG: 9704070085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANDRA JONTZ-MERRIFIELD POTOMAC NEWS
MANASSAS
Sharlene Jones and her son once shared the dream of opening their home to foster children.
From toddlers to teens, they dreamed of a full house - a haven for foster children caught up in a system they didn't understand.
But three years ago, Jones lost part of that dream when her son, Larren, died from complications of sickle-cell anemia at 19.
``My world collapsed. I loved him so much. I miss him so much,'' she said of her only child. ``I miss that we did everything together. We had identical goals. We were almost like twins.''
Her Manassas-area home remains filled with band trophies and high-school graduation portraits. A hip-high stack of boxes in a corner of her bedroom stores Larren's belongings.
``As you can tell, I'm still holding on to him,'' she said, pointing to the living-room wall transformed into a shrine.
The hardships of being a single parent can't compare to coping with the death of a child, Jones said. But she tries to work through her grief by keeping their dream alive.
Jones, 40, wiped away tears during a recent interview as she recounted her son's struggle with the crippling disease.
Larren started to suffer from sickle-cell anemia at age 4. The inherited chronic disease makes the red blood cells become sickle-shaped due to defective hemoglobin.
Jones said she draws strength from memories of Larren. She keeps the poems he wrote her, report cards, and newspaper clippings of his fight with the disease.
In albums, she keeps hundreds of condolence cards from friends, family and strangers who wrote when Larren died on Jan. 20, 1994.
Despite objections from her family and her former husband, she moved from Newport News to Prince William to start a new life and a new job.
Today, Jones fights for the dream. She works one full-time and two part-time jobs in hopes of buying a home with enough room to house foster children.
``Larren loved kids. Early on, he wanted to be a role model for children,'' she said.
After graduating from Menchville High School, Larren went on to Hampton University to study psychology and education.
He never finished his freshman year. ``But he was on the dean's list when he passed away,'' Jones said.
Jones works full-time as an information and referral specialist in Prince William's Department of Social Service and part-time as a relief counselor at a juvenile emergency shelter and as a family-care assistant for the Community Services Board.
She is working to become a foster parent through Fairfax County because working for Prince William's social-services department bars her from the system, she said.
``My calling is to be a house mom. A mother. It's the thing I'm best at,'' she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Sharlene Jones has kept a house full of mementos ofby CNBher son.