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"The Duvall Home has been home the past 46 years for our daughter Mary Theresa (Snookie) Daly. Mentally, she is aged about six months, receiving
full baby care. She is happy and well and has reached her own potential.
With a sweet and gentle nature, she is easy to love – a love which she reciprocates in her own precious way, to her mother’s greatest joy.
Her clothes and bedding are clean, her skin and hair in excellent condition.
I have never seen any sign of abuse or lack of care. She responds warmly to staff and obviously enjoys her life, even thought limited to a wheelchair and an ultra-comfortable and safe “pool” bed.
Over all the years, we have never worried about her care or safety. The Duvall Home is the greatest blessing to those in similar need."
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Tess Daly
DeLand 10-03-2011 |
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"Thank you for your contribution to our meeting on Saturday. It was a really good, uplifting and future forward meeting. We appreciated your time on Saturday. I especially appreciated your warmth. Here is my heart’s journey to the Duvall Home or the Yellow House as Hoy David called it when he first saw it. As a young adult, placing my younger brother in a home other than ours was a terrifying and daunting task. Our parents were deceased, my brother’s medical issues were difficult to deal with in a home setting. I had direction from a fellow parent from his school who had visited the Duvall Home and was impressed with the warmth there and home like setting.
On my first visit and subsequent second and third and forth, I just remember the warmth and the people who worked there. They have come to be known as my angels, my family and my friends. We were welcomed by Blake and Joyce Davis with open arms, doors and hearts. I have always visited my brother, Hoy David, in all these almost 30 years, unannounced. As I am over 4 hours away, and working full time, I am never sure when I will be there. I am never disappointed. He is happy, healthy, and well cared for. His surroundings are homey, warm and full of his favorite things.
I have had the great pleasure of knowing and growing up with some of the wonderful folks that make the Duvall Home a Home. Their being there all these years just sets in my heart that the right choice was made some almost 30 years ago. The people who make up the Duvall Home are incredible individuals. They are dedicated, hard working and truly care about the residents.
Hoy David and I have great visits in his Group Home Allgair Cottage. I am part of the family there. I have been there for countless meals, gone on field trips and shopping outings with them, visited the Opportunities Day Program and participated in many volunteer activiies when possible.
I have never in my life been so humbled or so greatly blessed. This is a home. It is our home. It is the caring and loving environment any parent would want for their child."
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Luanza Black Maitland
Fort Myers 10-21-2011 |
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"The staff at McGaffin Hall do so much for our twins. In our last visit in early November, my elder daughter Anne and I noticed a big improvement in our twin’s behavior and how happy they were. It made us happy, too. We appreciate the work the staff has done."
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Louisa B. Gillespie
Stamford 12-05-2011 |
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"Michael was born December 4, 1955 and within a few days many congenital problems were diagnosed. An enlarged thymus causing his chest to protrude was obvious, but his main problem at that time was the Ventricular Septal Defect (hole in the heart) which was life threatening. He had to be kept as still as possible and was too weak to sit up until after his first birthday. Slowly, he gained strength as his heart grew and the size of the hole remained the same. By the time he was 21 months old, he stood up to see his newly born sister. Walking however was another issue. A Pediatric Orthopedist said he was missing a bone in each ankle causing his feet to turn outward and he was trying to walk on the insides of the feet. This “doctor’s” solution was to use vertebrae to replace the missing bones but this may cause paralysis. I said, “then he wouldn’t need feet,” I never went back!
In the spring of 1960, Mike was admitted to Cook County Hospital in Chicago for a heart check-up catheterization requiring a lengthy stay. While there, the entire ward for “Pediatric Heart Care Patients” was infected with regular measles and Mike was transferred to the contagious hospital. During this period, the doctors observed his lack of mental development. The EEG exam indicated a lack of activity in an area of the brain. I had never heard of mental retardation until the doctor said, “someday he’ll be able to feed chickens.” I will never forget those words!
At that time I was pregnant with our third child. Fortunately, I learned of the Jim Busby School in River Grove, Illinois and enrolled Mike in November 1960, a month prior to the birth of his new sister. His wonderful teacher was married to a Podiatrist. This talented doctor made steel braces which were worn with special shoes. The braces forced the feet to straighten allowing spaces for new bones to form in the ankles. After repeating this process year after year as his feet grew, he finally was able to wear regular shoes and participate in track and field events.
During all of this, my husband had been working full and part-time jobs and attending night school at Northwestern University since January 1956, while I was doing his homework. But after 6 ½ years he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Accounting. Soon, he found a higher paying job, we bought a larger home. He began traveling and entertaining clients. In August 1963, he said he didn’t “sign on” for all of this responsibility when we married in our teens. Six months later our divorce was over. He remarried that same week and moved out of state. So, I became a single mom without support or a car, but with a big mortgage and three beautiful children and determined to keep Michael at home at all costs.
Although I had to depend on “hired help” I always knew that my girls would report every occurrence while I was at work. However, as the years passed and they moved out on their own it became increasingly difficult to find live-in caregivers so I could continue to work. In the back of my mind I recalled all the horror stories regarding homes for the handicapped. Then, there came a day when the horror almost happened in my own home. Abuse by the caregiver I had hired to protect my son. Fortunately, my youngest daughter was there to restrain me from what I wanted to do to this morally sick woman. No more “hired help”! Instead, I put him on the WORC bus at 8am and picked him up at 2:30pm. He stayed with me at my store until 9:30pm and all day on weekends. He was so tired and I was unable to work.
Once I had heard of the Duvall Home but thought it would be just like the others. My daughter suggested, “Mom, why not check it out then you’ll know how much you hate it!” So, I went to meet Papa Duvall. While we were talking, a little girl came into his office, quietly walked around his big desk, pulled out the bottom drawer, removed a slice of cheese and left the office. I asked, “What was that about?” Mr. Duvall replied, “Oh that was Nancy, she likes cheese, so every morning I put cheese on a plate for her.” Well, this act of kindness totally melted my heart. We toured McGaffin Hall. The following day, I brought Michael for an interview and we all agreed he would be comfortable in wing 100. The next few days, I cried as I labeled his clothes and as I put his bike in my car I cried even more. But when he took his stuffed dog “Beau” down from his closet shelf (he had not slept with it for a few years) and said “C’mon Beau, she don’t love us no more!” I felt the worst heartbreak imaginable. The tears streamed down my cheeks as I drove Michael to Glenwood for what was to be his “trial period”.
After being blessed with the gift of an angel to care for and protect, I had chosen to relinquish this honor by entrusting his well-being to others.
I felt I had failed this responsibility. Michael was nearing his 26th birthday and no longer a little boy. Now, he would be with his peers. Some of whom he knew from the WORC workshop. When the staff told me he did not require any “adjustment period” I knew my son was where he would be safe and happy.
Instead of failing, I had given Michael the gift he had grown to need, The Duvall Home. That was on August 31, 1981. A glorious day!
With my most sincere gratitude for all the loving care given to Michael Przybylski ever since—
His very thankful mother,
Joanne Rademacher"
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Joanne Rademacher
United States 04-05-2012 |
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 Thank you for your contribution to our meeting on Saturday. It was a really good, uplifting and future forward meeting. We appreciated your time on Saturday. I especially appreciated your warmth. Here is my heart’s journey to th ... Luanza Black Maitland
Fort Myers, FL
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