In the 1940s Fergus and Hattie were a working class couple from a small, rural town. One night, they learned that another local family’s house was burning. The homeowner, Walter, had lost his job the week before.

When Fergus and Hattie arrived, they joined Walter and his wife, standing helpless in the road, as their eldest son was rescued from the fiery house. Badly burned, the boy was taken by ambulance to a specialty hospital 2 hours away. If he lived, Walter’s son would require several surgeries and many months of medical treatment.

Walter and his wife were in shock. They needed to be with the 14-year old son at the burn hospital, but could not abandon their six younger children during this ordeal. With no income, a burned out house and the prospect of catastrophic medical expenses, they were overwhelmed. They could not see how they would manage tonight, much less put their lives back together.

The way the story is told, Hattie looked at Fergus with tears in her eyes, but she never said a word. Fergus turned to Walter. He said: “We’ll take the children, keep ‘em fed and in school. Go on. Stay with your boy, however long it takes.”

It took 8 months. It was a struggle for everyone. But along with Fergus and Hattie’s own two children, all six of Walter’s children ended one school year and started another. By that time, the 14-year old was recovering from the burns and surgeries and was learning to walk again. Walter found a job. And Fergus and Hattie had a new calling. They began seeing to it that other children in the community finished school, found work, and always had a place to call “home.”

Fergus and Hattie have passed away. But this story is still told by Walter’s children. The same story and similar ones are told by other children Fergus and Hattie mentored. And, the stories continue to be told because Walter’s six and the others became mentors themselves. So a tradition is developed... however long it takes.