Touching Stories of Children... 

Who have received assistance at Mountain Mission School

Mountain Mission School reclaims the lives of seriously disadvantaged children.  The best way to introduce new readers to our home is to relate representative stories of children who receive love, nurture and guidance on these sacred grounds.

Structure Needed

A youngster from a single parent family (and totally dysfunctional home life) experienced difficulty with his widowed mother.  The family operated by his rules (he was eleven).  With such responsibility, he also made friends much older than himself and “hung out” exclusively with them.  He became the “man of the house.”   He was not subject to his mother’s rules...nor to the bedtimes she set for him.  A friend asked the mother to contact Mountain Mission School  and shortly thereafter the child came here to live.  Soon, the youngster had friends his own age and even though it was a struggle at times, he did learn that the rules applied to him.  He was able to enjoy activities that were age appropriate and related positively to his peers as well as the staff.  He no longer worried about having to make grown-up decisions that affected his  and his mother’s lives.  He could be a child.  He flourished.  He graduated from both high school and college.  He does well in the business world.

Abortion Recommended

The call came from a man who had lost his sight so severely that it prevented him from pursuing his skilled profession.  He had several children.  The youngest were twin boys.  Doctors advised the mother to abort these children because they believed she would not survive childbirth.  She refused on the grounds that children are a gift from God.  So, she carried the children to term.  While delivering the babies, the mother went into cardiac arrest and the physicians performed open heart surgery on her.  This double trauma broke her health and she and her devoted but now blinded husband needed help. The children came to Mountain Mission School.

Mother Dies in Peace

A mother wrote and told of her plight, “...I have terminal cancer.  Radiation and chemotherapy have not helped me.  There is no longer any hope.  The children’s father died earlier.  I want my children to be loved, disciplined, educated by the wonderful people at Mountain Mission School.  I have heard so many great things about you.    Please take my children so I may die peacefully.”   The mother and a family member brought the children to us.  The mother was deeply relieved that we had accepted the children.  The mother and her children said their final goodbyes in the MMS administration building lobby.  A few months later, she passed away.  This brave woman would be extremely proud of her children today.

Freak Storm Takes Father, Leaves Mother Invalid

Another intact family in New York was traveling to work when a freak storm came up and blew a tree into their moving automobile.  The father was killed instantly and the mother was critically injured.  She was now a paraplegic.  This courageous mother contacted us regarding her situation and we admitted her children.  “People want me to let the social services place my children, or give them to relatives, but that just isn’t an option.  I want to be able to keep in contact with my children and to know for certain that they are being cared for properly.  I know they will be loved at Mountain Mission School.   I know they will learn more about Jesus Christ...and I know their needs will be met.  Please take them.” 

Man Becomes President of the Railway he Hoboed on as a Boy

A story from the 1920’s is an inspiring one.  A judge in the Dallas, Texas area contacted Mr. Sam Hurley (MMS founder and president) regarding a young boy.  “Sam, he is a good boy, but his father is dead and his mother is not able to keep up with him.  She puts him in school and he goes right out the back door and hops on a train. By the time they discover his absence, he is hundreds of miles away from home.  has a fascination with trains.  Perhaps if he was with you  in Grundy,  he wouldn’t have that problem.”  Sam accepted the boy and he was educated at Mountain Mission School. He went to college and studied theology.  He wanted to be a minister.  After graduation from college, and ministering to a small congregation, he realized that he just was not cut out to be a minister.   After several years passed without hearing from this young man, the Hurleys received an engraved announcement from the Texas Railway...this youngster who hoboed the trains, had become president of the Texas Railway.  Later, when Texas and Kansas and Topeka merged, he was Vice President of the KATY Railway (Sales) and was written up in Railroading journals as having “New Testament Salesmanship.”

Mother Commits Suicide

A little boy and his siblings came to the school after the death of their father.  Their mother was psychologically unable to handle the rigors of childrearing.  The children were often left on the street corner in a large city and stayed there until some caring soul became suspicious and called the authorities.  The Church family of the parents was eventually awarded custody of the children.  They contacted MMS administrators and asked that the children be entered into MMS.  The mother visited the children as she was able.  After several years, she committed suicide.  Now grown, with children of their own, they are responsible and hard working people with college educations.  At least one of them is deeply involved in civic affairs and philanthropy

Auto Accident Leaves Father Crippled

Another family of children came to MMS when their father was injured in an automobile accident, leaving him in a vegetative condition.  The mother could not face the realities thrust upon her and she neglected her children.   A court awarded custody to a close family member who asked that the children be placed at MMS.  All the children graduated from high school and several graduated from college.  One is a successful Doctor.
 

Depressed Single Mother

The father was dead  and the mother had custody of her three little girls.  She had great difficulty and suffered chronic depression.  She told MMS administrators, “Please take my girls.  I don’t want them to be like me.  I would rather kill them than have them grow up like me.”  We took the girls and they are fine Christian women...intelligent...and well-educated mothers of their own beautiful children.

Mentally Challenged Parent

A man brought us his baby girl.  He was in his late sixties.  The mother was much younger and mentally challenged.  There was evidence that she was dangerous to her child.  “Please take my child.  I have to get some help for my wife.  I do not want to lose my baby.  Help us...and if something should happen to us, please see to it that she gets a first class, Christian education.  I think she is very smart.”  Shortly after the child was accepted, the father died.  The mother continued her relationship with her child.  She visited and even took the child on vacations.  The child will receive her college education.