In 1972, my family moved from Rockbridge County, Virginia -- where we lived in a four-room house without an indoor bathroom -- to the United Methodist Children's Home in Richmond, Virginia. My three siblings and I were each placed into a "cottage" based upon our age and gender. I lived at the Children's Home for six years, before moving to Tahlequah, Oklahoma with foster parents.
My first paying job was at the Children's Home, where I helped maintain the 40-acre campus for 35 cents per hour. The children would cut the grass with tractors and push mowers, pick up trash, trim bushes, edge sidewalks, and maintain all the equipment.
The lessons I learned at an early age prepared me for the hard work that would be necessary for me to become the first person in my family to graduate from college.