Group Homes for Troubled Youth
Despite a lifelong walking disability, he never slowed down in his efforts to help many, many others within his family, his local community and across his home state.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
MS was the eldest of 10 children within a ‘blended’ family (parents had children from prior marriages, which they brought to live with them, all together when they combined their two homes into one).
LIFETIME CHALLENGE – PHYSICAL DISABILITY
As a child, MS was diagnosed at age 8 with polio, which often affected both the lungs and legs. After several surgeries on his legs and recovering from the most serious disease symptoms, MS was able to walk but only with a limp. Friends and family observed: “It never slowed him down.”
Because of his polio, and after the death of his stepfather, his mother put MS in charge of cooking and cleaning the house while the older siblings worked on a farm with their mother.
EDUCATION
MS was a dedicated student throughout his elementary and high school days. He was known in the family for his intelligence, but he also combined it with paying attention in every class, every day, achieving the honor of serving as the Valedictorian of his high school class. For the next two decades, MS was the only one of the ten brothers and sisters to graduate from college. (Eventually the youngest sister, the 10th sibling, also graduated from college.)
While still at home, MS took it upon himself to help and motivate his brothers and sisters with their schoolwork. A sister observed: “He was strict with us about reading and completing our homework.”
ADULT CAREER
Following college graduation, MS was employed as a ‘Social Worker’ by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, assigned to work in group homes for troubled youth.
SOCIAL ACTIVISM
While in his early 20s, MS attended the famous ‘1963 Civil Rights March’ in Washington, D.C., when Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to a crowd of several hundred thousand people assembled at the Washington Monument, calling for the end of racial discrimination. MS was inspired to a life in activism as a direct result of gathering with the large crowd to hear that inspirational message.
MS worked with civil rights organizations to combat racial discrimination. Despite his walking disability, MS traveled all over the state of Pennsylvania, whenever and wherever he thought he could be helpful.
MS also served as a long-time and respected Deacon within his local Baptist church.
