lifenotes
Editorial By Susan O'Connor, Illustration by Brittney Guest

Most everyone’s lives are extremely busy. Carving out a significant block of time for something other than making a living or taking care of family members requires serious unselfishness.

When I called MG Myering about his work for Habitat for Humanity, I thought about what it takes to truly give. It was the middle of a workday and he was taking care of some Habitat business that couldn’t wait. I admire that.
My mother, Anne Snapp, is also cut of that cloth. The choices she made for the benefit of others were truly an inspiration.

In the 1970s, she began Lawrence County’s Thrift Shop, a ministry of First United Methodist Church that evolved into a cooperation between several local churches. The Thrift Shop sold clothing and small household goods at nickel and dime prices to people in need. Proceeds just paid the utilities in the small, donated space. She was not only involved in the organization, she also volunteered in the day-to-day operation — sorting donated items, waiting on customers, cleaning, etc.

Word spread in Northeast Arkansas that my mother was someone who could be called on to provide extra food, a bus ticket, or help with utilities.

When my older brother was a senior in high school, she gave of herself in a different way. It was the late 1970s and a South Vietnamese family who had fled persecution somehow ended up in this area. The family was large and they could only afford a small apartment. The solution was for the oldest two sons to live with local families. The oldest son, who was my brother’s age, lived with us for a year. It was an unbelievable learning experience.

Hau spoke very little English when he arrived, but my mother somehow made him comfortable in our home. She took him shopping for school clothes, and I still have a memory of his first pair of tennis shoes. She truly treated him like a son — even giving him piano lessons!

Like the rest of his family, his work ethic was beyond compare and he woke before sunrise every day to study. He graduated in the top 10 of his high school class at Walnut Ridge and is now a cardiologist in San Jose, Calif., where there is a very large Vietnamese community. The first time he returned to Arkansas with his family, he came bearing luxurious gifts to show his appreciation.

Interestingly, his family found jobs in local factories and lived very frugally, growing vegetables in a tiny plot behind their apartment. After a year, they had saved enough money to pay cash for a car. I’ll never forget how proud they were of that green Ford sedan.

As a gesture of gratefulness, Hau’s parents invited us to dinner regularly and it was my first introduction of Vietnamese food. Arriving in this country with not much more than the clothes on their backs, they somehow managed to set a lovely table and the food was always delicious. I was only about 10 or 11 years old, but the memories are strikingly vivid.

My mother is so humble that she probably will be embarrassed by this attention, but she definitely deserves it. The positive impact of all her life’s work has expanded exponentially. Like Jimmy Stewart in one of my favorite movies, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the world would be a much more dismal place without her.