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Kiva Supporter
Eastport, Maine
Posts: 935
The Duck will return after January 20
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« Reply To This #24 on: October 10, 2008, 11:21:52 AM » |
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I hesitate to post this message under a thread that starts out with "Interesting, Goofy.." but this seems the best place, because I believe this story is inspiring and postworthy. I like to peruse the new teams when I have time, and this one caught my eye when I was online on my birthday, which is the day this team was formed: http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=1811 Ontario, Canada
Category: Memorials
We loan because: Ronalee Allen, mother of 5, foster mother of over 150 children was killed May 30/08 in a head on crash. She saved the life of her 13 month old foster baby by throwing herself across him to protect him from the impact. Her life was all about helping the less fortunate. We give to honor her and continue her outpouring of love and compassion.
About us: We give to help those who are in need of a little help in honor of a woman who gave her life to save the life of her 13 month old foster son.
Team Since: Oct 7, 2008I've kept the tab open on this team and today I came back to it. I googled Ronalee's name and found her obituary at McLeans.ca: Ronalee Louise Allen 1965-2008She had a rough start, which is probably why she was so passionate about other people's kids BARBARA RIGHTON | June 11, 2008 | Ronalee Louise Allen was born in London, Ont., on Dec. 16, 1965, to Lorraine and Norman Johnston, a
homemaker and a radio announcer whose troubled marriage broke up when she was three. As a young
single mother, Lorraine struggled with a drinking problem. Ronalee said later that she often felt as if she was
the parent: at home, from as far back as she could remember, she was in charge. One of her few respites as
a little girl was to hide in a walk-in closet and play dolls with her cousin Shelley. In school, Ronalee was a
bright and funny but unkempt and occasionally loud girl, who often questioned her teachers' authority.
Lorraine never had money to give her for nice clothes or class trips, or sometimes even food. "I really didn't
do a good job," Lorraine says. Still, she remembers Ronalee as a happy girl who always had people "flocking
around her." As she grew up, their home became a hub for neighbourhood kids, especially those with
problems. Says Lorraine, "She was always taking in strays."
Ronalee married young. Her first marriage ended in divorce after her daughter Brittany (known as Breezy)
was born. By the time she was 23, Ronalee and Breezy were back living with Lorraine, who had landed a job
as a secretary at Glad Tidings Assembly, a Pentecostal church in London that describes its mission as
helping people reach their "ultimate redemptive potential." It seemed to work, for both of them. Lorraine got
her life in order, while the church's youth pastor helped Ronalee do the same by setting her up with Shawn
Allen, a 23-year-old university graduate in physical education. On her 24th birthday, they went out to a
restaurant where she talked — and talked. The following June, they were married.
Around that time, Ronalee became a foster parent while Shawn turned to teaching. "I was the paycheque,"
he says with a laugh, "but children were her joy." As well as Breezy, Ronalee and Shawn had three kids
together, Josiah, now 17, Makaylie, 16, and Olivia, 12. Over the years, the couple also cared for about 250
foster children, from babies to teenagers. Some of them would stay overnight; others for as long as two
years. One special-needs girl lived with them for six years. Ronalee ran everything in their five-bedroom
Victorian household like a drill sergeant. "She never stopped," her mother says. "She organized all their
lives." At one point before Olivia was born, Shawnremembers, the family consisted of seven children under
the age of seven — four foster kids and three of their own. All were well-behaved, even on family holidays in
a 12-passenger Dodge maxi-van to Nova Scotia or Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Most summers, the family
stayed at Fair Havens, a Christian family campground near Beaverton where, in 2002, Ronalee met Sandi
Lockett, a mother of three from St. Catharines. The two became fast friends, often comparing themselves to
Statler and Waldorf, the two hecklers in the balcony on The Muppet Show. "What drew me to her was that
she said what most people only thought," Sandi says. "She would yell out to kids walking by, 'Hey, get a
haircut!' " It was that bluntness that endeared her to teens who often told her about their innermost troubles,
including their unwanted pregnancies, Sandi says. "She just had a passion for young people who didn't have
anyone to be there for them. She made everyone feel comfortable."
Besides her love for children, Ronalee was an avid reader, a fan of the TV show Lost and a music
aficionado. She knew the lyrics to thousands of songs, and especially liked the rousing Down East sound of
fiddlers Natalie MacMaster and Ashley MacIsaac. She didn't have much time for pets, but one favourite dog
in particular waited at the front gate for her whenever she left home. Ronalee also had a strange predilection
for pyjamas, mostly flannel. Around the house, she would take a bath and change into a fresh pair, the better
to play with the kids in comfort. Sometimes when she dropped them off at school, she would be wearing pj's
under her coat.
Last fall, the family took in a baby boy. He was so adorable and bright that he captured their hearts. Ronalee
and Shawn decided that, after nearly 20 years, they would for the first time adopt a foster child. On Friday,
May 30, Ronalee learned that the adoption would go ahead. She piled the baby into her oversized van and
set off to her husband's school in Exeter to tell him the good news. On her way home at about 2:30 that
afternoon, a truck with a flat open platform on the back crossed the centre line on a bridge and struck her van
nearly head on. The baby survived, but Ronalee was pronounced dead at the scene. In her honour, the
1,100 mourners at her memorial service wore pyjamas. She was 42. So then I went back and gazed at Ronalee's photo at the team site. And then I looked at the members list. Her mama, Lorraine, is the captain. Her husband Shawn is a member. Their son Josiah is a member. I read on another site that the family requested that funeral attendees wear pajamas instead of mourning clothes.[/size] I think I would've loved Ronalee. |
