By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – Sherry Roden remembers Rex Clark as a "teddy bear – a little boy in a big man's body. The most important thing to him was to make sure everybody else was happy. He had a smile if everyone else had one."
"Rexie" loved to travel and to see new things. He loved adventures, from the Cass County Fair to Disneyland.
He particularly liked Christmas and "literally believed in Santa Claus until the day he died," Roden recalled Monday noon at the Fall Festival luncheon funded by the Clark trust fund and hosted by the state Department of Human Services (DHS) office in Cassopolis.
"Christmas was his favorite season out of the whole year. Everyone else would be getting gifts and be smiling and he could give out his gifts. He was happy. He could get angry and upset," but it was short-lived.
Most of the time Rex was "bubbly."
With law enforcement officers in his family, one year he wanted a police car with lights and a siren that worked.
Carroll Clark, Rex's uncle, recalled the time Roden invited him to the Special Olympics in Dowagiac.
"Rex took off before the starter gun and he was way ahead. They had to disqualify him because he started too soon," Clark said. "It didn't matter. He thought he won until the day he died.
"It did my heart good to see these special people participating and then the ones who were there, caring. It's just a blessing. There's no monetary amount you can put on something like that. It touched my heart. Rex gave more to me in the short time I knew him than I could ever give to him."
"My brother set this trust fund up so when they passed away, the children had nothing to worry about. They were taken care of, monetarily.
"But what makes me feel good is people like Sherry who give the love. You have to love people" to provide foster care. "The money was there, so Rex and Martha didn't have to worry about it, but love has to come from someone, too," Clark said.
"Even now he's gone," Roden said, "it's like Rexie will always be my little boy. It's funny because I'll go in the store and have some of my residents with me. Most of them call me Mom. There will be this 80-year-old lady, 'Mom! Mom!' I just smile" at the startled looks from other shoppers.
"My mother told us, 'You treat them just like you would if they were your brother or your sister or your child or your parent. As long as you do that, you'll do okay.' It's a foster home, which makes it their home. That makes them our family. Rex and Martha really added a lot to my life."
Rex's and Martha's parents, Rex and Norma Clark, both taught in addition to farming on Downey Street in Silver Creek Township.
He taught government at Union High School and served on the county board. She taught elementary school.
Their children were both developmentally disabled. She preceded him in death by four years.
Both lived with Roden, a third-generation adult foster care provider, in Wayne Township. She is one of three siblings who provide adult foster care.
"I had Martha four or five years before she got cancer and passed away," Roden said.
Cass County has 20 AFC facilities licensed by the state Department of Human Services (DHS). At 12 residents, Roden's is one of the larger homes. She said she spends $24,000 a year on groceries feeding her extended family.
Roden, who grew up in a family of seven children, said, "I'm going to go nuts with the empty nest syndrome when everyone's gone."
The Clark trust fund furnishes $15,000 to $18,000 a year to DHS and Woodlands Behavioral Healthcare Network.
"It's dedicated towards any programs for the health, benefit and welfare," explained Cindy Underwood, DHS adult services supervisor. "We try to focus on recreational things, like summer picnics, Fall Festival and bingo. The other thing we've decided to do is to look at their needs, so we're been able to give them clothing vouchers. In AFC, they have a limited amount of money, so we're able to do boots and coats and stuff with the money as well. And a big portion of it for them is adult day care at the COA (Council on Aging). We got the first check in 2001, so we've had this six years now. Adult day care is huge. That's socialization and getting out of the house and enjoying activities at the COA. We've done clothing allowances, summer picnics, Christmas dinners and gift baskets."
Underwood added, "The bank that does the trust asked us to start focusing on some educational things as well, so we're looking at maybe doing books and videos and going into the AFC homes and providing some of those. This trust money is split between us and Woodlands, which provides direct services to their clientele instead of trying to combine the two groups because their clientele is usually a little more developmentally delayed. They do separate programs. When we tried to combine them, (the AFC residents) complained because the Woodlands people were getting too much attention. We're always looking for what they need and what would be beneficial to them in their homes."
Previous holiday parties in cooperation with DHS and Woodlands Behavioral Healthcare Network took place at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Dowagiac. Bingo followed lunch.
"Rex and Martha lived at home until their father passed away. Their mother passed away about a year later," Roden said. "The estate tried to have a caregiver come into the home to take care of the children, but that didn't work out. One day (Carroll Clark's brother) Dick called me. I've known him most of my life."
It was election season and Dick, a captain with the Sheriff's Office, wanted to know if he could put campaign signs in her yard. She consented. Clark recognized his nephew.
"That's how this relationship began," she said. "The uncles came out a lot and did a lot of activities and they helped tremendously when Martha was sick and passing away, and a lot with Rexie."
Snow and wintry cold dented anticipated attendance of about 40 people for a turkey and roast beef "Fall Festival" luncheon at Cassopolis United Methodist Church, 209 S. Rowland St.