Meet Author Rose Mary Danforth
from Jax, Florida
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Tom Danforth |
Opening Paragraph from story.
He Pled Guilty
Something wonderful and life changing happened to my son Thomas, and it is still changing lives of many who knew him…and even some who didn’t know him.
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A few words from Rose Mary
I grew up in a Scots/Irish home... in what today would be considered
"slums" The post-war atmosphere was riddled with hardship and poverty...
the kind of environment that breeds alcoholism and domestic
violence...including roaming gangs, protecting their "turf". Despite
this, my parents raised my brother and I to enjoy the simple things in
life. Country walks, afternoons at the park and always Sunday Mass and a
"treat" when we got home.
Every month we visited the graves of my
Grandparents and every week visited the Grandparents that were still
living. The Church Calendar dictated our daily rituals...and Rosary
Beads were carried in our pockets, even when our wallets were empty.
My Maternal Grandmother was the Village Midwife.. When babies were
ready to be born...
the knock would come to her door...and she would bundle up her own... if
their daddy was still out farming.... and off she would go to bring the
new baby into his or her own home.... (probably had a nice fire going in
the hearth...as this was in Ireland)... The same thing happened when one
of
the villagers "breathed their last" (no need to define death... a mirror
under the nose did the job) and again she would go off to the home of the
departed one...and wash,
shave, clip nails, fix hair, dress in a shroud and get them ready for the
Wake... Many a remark was made about how good the dearly departed
looked... sometimes better than in life...
So children got to hear their
siblings first cries... and that "pregnant moment" when everything in the
"room" went quiet.... and at the other end of the spectrum... they got
to kiss Granny or Granda goodbye... as family prayed the Rosary around
the bed.
My Paternal Grandmother was from the Free Kirk, a very anti-Catholic
Protestant group in Scotland.
She secretly got instructions in The Catholic Faith when she was a
teen-ager and then married my Grandfather
who was in the British Navy. They had 14 children...but only 10 lived
to be adults...Of the eight boys, six of them
joined the Navy. My Dad joined the Army and while on leave, met and
married my mother, who was also in the Army.
When I married an American Sailor and left home, I had no idea what
awaited me in the U.S.A.... the sorrows and the joys. I remember when I
went home to have my son Thomas, who was the sixth of seven children... a
neighbor told me that when I was about ten years old she had asked me one
day what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her that I wanted to be
a Mother...and have seven children... and she remarked that I just might
fulfill that desire. I think that is what prevented me from aborting my
third child... that and the fact that someone was praying for me...
because I no longer prayed... I no longer carried Rosary Beads in my
pocket, or attended Sunday Mass.. I had fallen away from the Faith of my
Father and Mother... and called myself an Agnostic.
It wasn't until I read a notice in the Base paper that there would be a
presentation for those interested in "Saving Lives"
that the reality of what I had almost done was revealed to me. I
thought it was a C.P.R. course, but it turned out to be a slide
presentation by Dr. & Mrs. Wilke on fetal development and abortion.
This led to finding my way back to The Catholic Church and the Truth that
all life belongs to God ... born and unborn. My commitment to spend the
rest of my life, educating others who were as ignorant as I had been
about abortion, influenced my children... even when they found
themselves struggling with these same issues.
Raising children as a single mother is not what I would have chosen...
but in examining my cultural Catholic roots, I found a family history of
protecting innocent human life along with a respect for Nature's Laws.
This was necessary for a Tribe or a Clan's survival. It was this
inheritance that influenced my son Thomas when he spoke out privately and
publicly in Defense of Life... Even in death we cannot break the CIRCLE
OF LIFE... because it is also the CIRCLE OF LOVE.... in the Hearts of
Jesus and Mary... and all who commit themselves to LOVE ... as Thomas
said "You Can't Stop Me Loving You"
A poem written by one of Tom's friends...
TO MY LITTLE PARTNER
I had a visitation on a Sunday night
when I saw my parent's faces, I knew something wasn't right
They told me you died
I was hoping they just lied
After I read the news article, I started to cry
Asking God why my little partner had to die.
Sitting in here with much frustration
For this makes it worse for my incarceration
Thinking of times with you and little D
This way of life is no longer for me.
We didn't hang that much before you died
But I knew you wanted me to change for the better side
I was so proud you changed for the good
Even staying away from people in the Hood.
I remember seeing you every once in a while
With us giving each other a hug in a brotherly style
We had a lot of good and bad times in the past
For these are things which made our friendship last.
Remember that this is a cruel and evil world we live in
For I know my little partner is now in Heaven
I ask God sometime
Why He takes people from me all the time
Its all hard to understand
I can't fit them all on one hand.
They buried you on a Thursday
I wish I could have been there myself, someway
My parents represented for me
To let you know you will always be in our memory.
Hard to believe you're six feet in dirt
For me that thought really does hurt
With me writing this it relieves stress in loads
Knowing someday I'll meet you at the crossroads.
R. I. P.
Rose Mary Danforth, mother of seven and grandmother of ten.
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Flags courtesy of ITA's
Flags of All Countries used with permission.
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