Welford Street Miracles

Dedication

Welford Street Miracles is dedicated to my parents, Moses and Ida Martin, formerly of 1136 Welford Avenue, Port Arthur, Texas, and currently residing in heaven.
Anyone who met them liked them. They were “for real,” never neglecting their duties at home but always finding time for others. There were nieces and nephews they cared for, along with the help of their other sisters. There were grandchildren they raised to help parents get through college or get their lives together. There were neighbors’ children and children whose parents were friends of one of their children. It became a reason to live and seek good health in order that they could still support their grandchildren. “Children around the house keeps us young,” they would often say.
Everyone in our extended family of the Mitchells and Martins know traits like this were evident in all their sisters and brothers. They all reached out to help family and others, a trait they expressed that they wanted their children to continue. Their wishes for their children included not closing their lives in a selfish way, but rather opening their lives to experience more of family and to help those willing to help themselves.
Ida loved to read, loved to talk, loved to eat, and it was when her health began to fail and she still wanted to do these things, but could not, that everyone knew her life on this earth was short. She did not like being helped. She did not like being a burden. She rejected help because she was the helper. She was the shepherd of the flock. She was the rock of Gibraltar in our family. She managed the meager finances, so we never wanted for any essentials. She was able to support us in school activities, so we were never left out. She managed to help some of us through college and others with help in their marriages.
Many people talk today about how much they have to do and actually wind up doing very little. Ida and Moses talked little and did much. Their years, like his gardens, were well kept, neat, and pretty. Many people cannot make time to raise a one child. They raised eight children, many grandchildren, and helped to raise many other children.
Moses and Ida certainly did not live a pain-free life. They knew personal suffering. From her arthritis to the physical ravages of diabetes and his constant back pain and diabetes, they were well acquainted with trauma and anguish. Their faith and fortitude were always constant faces peering at the people around them through their personal clouds. They knew how to live graciously in a messy world.
They were parents with a commitment to helping others get through life, parents who never gave up on family, parents who hurt inside when their help was not used wisely or received in an understanding spirit, but they never stopped giving.
Although our parents’ physical presence has gone from us, their spirit and influence have not. Someone will always be here who will remember Daddy and Mother. They remain in the recesses of our hearts, minds, and souls.
Ida and Moses knew God. What remains for us to do for them is to place in our own children and grandchildren the same deposit of love and hope, determination and vision, and the thirst for excellence that these God-fearing parents placed in us. It is my prayer that this story in print will accomplish that goal.
We all experience loss at sometime. When someone loved is no longer with us, Jesus helps us fill those voids. He helps us focus again on the fact that all those who have gone before us are in the better place. Jesus will help us again.
Many have heard the Miracle of Welford Street. Mother told us that story many years ago. The Word of God opened their eyes when they learned they should be helpful to strangers.
We know God told them, “You were good and faithful shepherds of my many needy. You have done well. I have prepared a place for you.”
Ida and Moses, this is your story as well as mine. It is a lesson for all the family members, friends, and strangers who were touched by your sharing and giving.

Acknowledgment

I want to acknowledge the inspiration given me by Hollywood writer Harry Essex. This former New Yorker wrote, co-wrote, or directed dozens of movies and numerous TV shows during his lengthy Hollywood career. I met him in 1984 when his small yacht was moored in Marina Del Rey next to my wife’s grandparents, the Schmolls’ large sailboat. He reviewed several manuscripts that I had written. He gave me a handwritten review of my works. I treasure his notes and keep them in a safe place. He loved the true stories of Welford Street. He encouraged me to pursue it to the fullest and add a central character whose life was influenced by Welford Street Miracles. It took time for the life of that main character to develop beyond what was fact in 1984. Harry, I pray that you are reviewing me from above.

Foreword

Welford Street Miracles is based on something you know something about. Something you experienced through the sense of life, of actual living, and that always makes for the best kind of writing. Its simplicity, its honesty in telling is evident not only in the lines but between the lines, and that’s when writing is at its best. You believe the miracle, and believing it you begin to see the characters and feel for them and hope for them spiritually. Into this group of people we have a main character. Your prime subject wrought with a medical problem, brainwashed in his spiritual hierarchy, and skilled in the business world, whose struggles and accomplishments come to the forefront and whose encounter with a stranger ends in the greatest miracle of all. The best of everything as you advance your writing career.

Harry Essex, writer, producer-director