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Clarion-Ledger - February 27, 1997
Gov. honors woman who reared 48 foster kids.
~Late Lucedale woman, who never
took aid,
symbolizes responsibility, Fordice says.
by Butch John
Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer
Gov. Kirk Fordice’s commendation for her foster mother was rewarded by gratitude from JoeAnn Ballard of Memphis. The late Ora Mae Tanner Benjamin reared 48 foster children with no government aid. At left is Ballard’s husband, Monroe. Photo by J.D. Schwalm/The Clarion Ledger
The Benjamin family raised 48 foster children on the 12 – acre farm outside Lucedale and never asked the government for a cent. "She milked the cows. They worked the farm. They did it, and they didn’t want help from anybody, " said Joe Ann Ballard, the youngest of the four dozen kids raised by Ora Mae Tanner Benjamin and her husband, DeLoach.
In that spirit of people helping people without government involvement, Gov. Kirk Fordice on Wednesday commended Ora Mae Benjamin, who died last August at 91, for her contribution to Mississippi.
Ballard, who with her husband, Monroe, has accepted 75 foster children into their Memphis home, received the commendation at a ceremony in Fordice’s Capitol Office.
Fordice said the story was appropriate in this time of welfare reform and given his belief government aid and social programs do not replace individual responsibility.
"Government can’t fix all the problems in the world. In the first place, the problems are too big to fix. In the second place, my conservative opinion is government caused some of the problems," he said.
Mississippi has 3,092 children in foster care, 1,362 in 952 licensed foster homes, state Department of Human Services records show.
The Benjamin’s came to DHS Executive Director Don Taylor’s attention shortly after Ora Mae Benjamin’s death from heart failure. She moved to the Ballard’s Memphis home in 1969 after husband died.
"What that family provided were two thing government can’t give, love and compassion, "Taylor said.
Ballard’s parents had divorced and she was 6 weeks old in 1945 when she, an older brother and a sister were the last children taken into the Benjamin family. DeLoach Benjamin was 56 them, his wife 51. They were the only foster children in the house at the time, Ballard said. The others had grown up and the Benjamin’s, who had no children of their own, did the work around the farm. DeLoach Benjamin had a limp and plowed with his walking stick in one hand, the plow handle in the other, Ballard said. He didn’t talk much, she said, but carried a dignity that commanded respect.
Ora Mae Benjamin, Ballard recalled, "was a strong woman … who understood the needs of people." Ora Mae Benjamin remained active with Ballard’s foster children until her health failed, Ballard said.
The Ballard family primarily accept responsible teenagers in the young adult range, "when they’re coming out of the rough spots, at the age people give up hope and say, ‘He’ll just be out on the streets.’ "They still accept no direct government funds."
"They wanted to help fellow human beings," Fordice said of the Benjamin family, "and they imparted in the children they raised a set of values that basically promulgated the same idea: You didn’t have to look for government to do that. You could do that on your own."
"Copyright, (1997), The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN 38103. Used with permission. Notice: This article may not be copied, downloaded, or reproduced in any form or medium without express, written permission from The Commercial Appeal."