Beth found peace and purpose when she joined Julia’s in May
Beth’s life story includes happy times working in flower shops, and the image fits: At Julia’s, she radiates a sunny personality that hides former times of loss, tragedy, and uncertainty. After a family separation she found herself on her own, living in temporary places, where “every time I’d settle down they’d raise the rent.”
But that wasn’t the worst. On a snowy night several years ago, Beth was driving from her then-temporary home in the Colorado mountains when she came to a unmarked railroad crossing on a river trestle. Her car slid toward the tracks, then skittered down a river embankment toward the water.
She called a neighbor for help. The neighbor, who worked on a search and rescue team, came to the scene, noted the steep drop into the gorge barely a yardstick away, and told Beth she’d just witnessed a miracle: “Any closer, and we’d be picking you up with sticks and spoons.”
But the miracle came at a cost. Beth had serious injuries to both knees that have required multiple surgeries and management of ongoing pain.
From there, Beth’s life began to resemble the river gorge. “I was really, really depressed,” she says. Another low point came recently when she realized, “I’m sleeping in my car.“
In happier times, she had had good jobs in retail work, and even worked as a jail and corrections officer in another state. She has an accomplished son, a pilot, with whom she is close. But how to pull all these positives into a new, independent life?
Through church connections Beth found the Julia Greeley Home. Finally she feels safe and secure, not as she did in poor (but expensive) housing, always moving on “as if there was no room at the inn.”
“People would say, ‘I’ll pray for you. It’s the least I can do’ and I would say, “No, it’s the most you can do!”
Now, as she builds a new life through the Julia Greeley Home, Beth says she’s experiencing Julia Greeley’s holy and inspiring touch from across a century: “Julia had such a big and loving heart!”
