Strangers bearing food, gifts give family a lasting memory

Guyla Burhans of Modesto was driving with her oldest son to Oregon to check on her mother's house.

She was on a highway through the mountains, with a steep hill on her left and a deep canyon with a river at the bottom on her right.

"As we came on a stretch of road, there was a curve ahead of us, and a truck pulling a house trailer was just starting around the curve toward us," Burhans said. "A voice spoke to me and said, very clearly, 'Move over.' "

Burhans said she looked at her son, but he showed no signs of hearing a voice.

"I immediately pulled as far to the right as I could," she said. "The truck was moving too fast, and the trailer whipped as it approached us.

"There is no question in my mind that we would have been at the bottom of the canyon in the river without divine intervention. Praise the Lord!"

God does what no car's navigation system could

Anna Marie Favors of Delhi remembers what life was like growing up in a single-parent household in the 1940s.

"My mom was raising five kids by herself, working at a low-paying factory job," she said. "To get us a gift for Christmas, she would use the layaway plan at Sears, Woolworth's or J.C. Penney. By starting right after Easter, she would have it paid for by Christmas.

"One year, she saw a beautiful Cinderella doll, 2½ feet tall, that she just had to get us. Since it cost about $29, it was a gift for my sister and me to share, but we didn't mind. It was a beautiful, awesome gift and we knew how hard Mom had worked to get it for us."

Favors, who grew up in East St. Louis, Ill., said her mother always did what she could to provide for her children. They often received Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners from The Salvation Army.

"We received an age-appropriate gift and a paper bag with an orange, an apple, some nuts and hard candies inside. Till this day, we give to The Salvation Army so they can bless others. I hope others give generously when they see a Salvation Army red kettle."

But after the family moved to a rural area, there was no public transportation to take the children to The Salvation Army holiday meals. One Christmas stands out in Favors' memory.

"Mom was working long hours, but it took everything she earned for the necessities of life," she said. "The money had been especially tight that one year, and there was no way Mom could stretch the dollar any further to even put on a Christmas dinner for us. Gifts were not a possibility, either. Mom, with tears rolling down her cheeks, hugged us often and apologized for not being able to give us a Christmas that year."

That's when a miracle happened.

"On Christmas Eve, several high school boys from an all-boys Catholic high school several miles away in another city knocked on the door of our little house. Mom opened the door and there they stood. They introduced themselves and started bringing in baskets full of groceries, which included the food we needed for Christmas dinner. They also brought toys for the kids. They brought a Christmas tree, which we decorated with paper chains and homemade ornaments made with a paste of flour and water."

Favors said she has no idea how the boys found out about the family's need or why they arrived that particular night with all the goodies.

"This was years ago when there were no community food banks or 'Toys for Tots' programs. We weren't even Catholics," she said.

"Once again, the tears flowed down our mother's cheeks as she hugged each of the boys' necks again and couldn't say 'thank you' enough. But this time, they were tears of joy. The tears welled up every time she saw how rich we really were with the love for each other and from complete strangers who visited us that Christmas Eve. Her family was blessed with a real Christmas miracle. God sent his angels to provide for us."

Favors, who with her husband, Jim, has seven children, 20 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, said her mother was a great role model.

"I wanted to grow up and be the same kind of mom," she said. "She gave us a lot of love."

Bee staff writer Sue Nowicki can be reached at snowicki@modbee.com or (209) 578-2012.