August 2009
ENDANGERED SPECIES
by Terri Conlin
Bill Towne
The small boy fidgets while he waits. Tuesdays are his favorite day of the week at school. Pastor Bill Towne comes around the corner and a broad smile brightens the boy’s face. His lunch buddy has arrived right on time, just like all other Tuesdays for the past year-and-a-half. Sometimes Bill brings his own college-age daughters, sometimes he is swinging a piping hot bag stamped with the golden arches, but today he is alone and the bag is plain brown paper. The boy and his fourth grade friends crowd eagerly around Bill at the long lunch table asking a million questions. The boys delight in the detail that Bill is the boss of another boy’s lunch buddy.
Usually a game of wall ball or tag follows lunch, but today Bill and the boy head to the library to research the spotted owl. The assignment is due today, but with no help from home, the report hasn’t even been started. There is only silence from the boy’s mother, no attendance at parent/teacher conferences, no returned phone calls, no school supplies, no help with homework. The young boy tells Bill, though his father lives nearby, visits are rare, perhaps twice a year. He talks of long hours playing violent video games and watching slasher movies. Those influences show in his lacking social skills and playground play. He revels in having Bill all to himself, soaking up all the attention and affection he can squeeze out of their Tuesday time. Together they learn that the plight of the spotted owl is complicated, involving old growth forests, the logging industry, entire small town economies, the federal government, even other owls.
Their friendship is threatened by a possible summer move across town to a new school. Unsettling for a boy who has never been outside these few familiar square miles between school and the apartment complex where he lives with his mother, her boyfriend and assorted siblings. Bill hoped to arrange summertime outings with several students and their lunch buddies, but mom says no through her little boy, leaving two disappointed hearts. Other pairs head for the zoo or summer camp. Bill just keeps coming faithfully every Tuesday. And every Tuesday the teacher catches the boy’s eye and whispers behind her cupped hand, “See I told you he would come.” Before the school year disappeared, Bill spoke words of encouragement, “You are a joy to have as my lunch buddy. You are kind to my daughters. You are a good thinker and a great young man with a big heart.” The boy stood with rapt attention and full eye contact. He held Bill’s hand until the bell rang and then hugged his leg and asked, “Would you be my Daddy?”
Bill walked to his car with a smile and a sigh, marveling at what can be done with faithfulness and a brown paper bag. When the lunch bell rings in September, Bill will be looking for his friend with anticipation, hope and a brown paper bag. ©
If you would like to join the Lunch Buddy Program, contact Cathi Presjak at cpresjak@comcast.net.
August 2009
Home in Trent’s world
By Cornelia Seigneur
Tyler Eaton and Trent
When Tyler plays fetch with Indie the dog and Peanut the cat, Trent just laughs and laughs.
“And sometimes I will put the ball near Trent and act like he is throwing the ball and he laughs at that. He loves making voices, impersonating movies. During his freshman year of high school we would do a lot of thumb wrestling and he would use his other hand, and I teased him about cheating, and now, even though he does not have control of his hand, he remembers that and I will tease him about cheating at thumb wrestling and he laughs at that. He is pretty spirited, he loves to laugh, it is very contagious,” says Tyler.
Tyler first met Trent in 2003 while Tyler was an instructional assistant at Athey Creek Middle School in a special needs class. Trent was an eighth grader and Tyler had just finished his degree at Multnomah and was also an intern in youth ministries at Rolling Hills. He got to know Trent quite well while assisting in the classroom at Athey.
Trent has a rare terminal diagnosis; he is one of only a handful of cases in the State of Oregon in the past 30 years with that particular condition. He has seizures. He now uses a feeding tube to eat. He cannot dress himself.
“At the time that I started working with Trent, he was walking with the assistance of a walker but by the end of the year he was in his wheelchair full time.”
Tyler attended Trent’s eighth grade graduation. “Trent was never made fun of at school. Everyone grew up with Trent, from kindergarten on. I got to wheel Trent out on the stage when he got his diploma, and he was given a standing ovation. His reputation for being the young man that he was, was very contagious.”
When Trent continued his education at Wilsonville High School, Tyler was asked to help Trent in the family’s West Linn home on a regular basis. His family is also a believing family. “I just really hit it off with Trent, and his Mom and Dad saw that and I think that our mutual faith gave them a peace of mind to invite me into their home.”
Tyler has been arriving at Trent’s house at 7 a.m. most school mornings since 2004 to help Trent prepare for school. Trent was 14 when Tyler started. Trent is now 19 and attending a post-high school special school.
“I feed him breakfast, get him dressed. Over the five years he has become chair ridden with no use of his legs. He has been non verbal the past two years. He now gets fed through the tube. It changes each year. We read books together; we listen to his Odyssey and Veggie Tales tapes. I stay with him ‘til the school bus comes. We listen to music on his I-Pod which was given to him by actor Will Smith during Trent’s Make-a-Wish day. Trent has the joy of the Lord in him and he blesses you without even saying anything.”
He attended Tyler’s marriage to Kate in 2006.
“It was here at the church. I did not see him before hand and when it came time to do our vows, Trent heard my voice -- it was miked -- and he was very excited hearing us do our vows. He responded out loud to the vows, it was audible, and he can’t speak so he communicates by making noises. For him it starts with a big smile and turns into a happy screech, and everyone at the wedding heard it, and they all know about Trent in my life. It made the moment that much more special.”
This summer Trent’s mom and dad needed some time to get away, so Tyler came over on three days to take care of Trent. "He is loving life in his current situation, that is a testimony, being happy with simple things.”
“I read the scriptures of doing unto the least of these, and I know he has taught me about having a servant’s heart.”
Visit Cornelia’s website at www.corneliaseigneur.com