Lives Worth Adopting

The Whetstine kids in the early 1960’s standing in front of their home. Joe Ben, Bobbi, Tim, Macky and Nadine. 

Contributed by

  
Joe Ben Whetstine  

Written by 
James Whetstine (with LeRoy Walls) 
Sales Manager 

My grandparents, Everett and Margaret Whetstine married in 1932 and began building a life together. Soon they were building a dairy farm and a family as their two sons: Joe Ben (my dad) and Tim came along. Everett, Margaret and their boys were active in their community and active in Cabool First Baptist Church. As youth leaders they were one of the families to host a Christmas visit for six children from the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home. This visit created an interest and willingness on the part of the Whetstines to be of assistance to one of the six. The visit of 15 year old Macky Peck had touched their heart.

Macky and her sisters, Nadine and Bobbi, had been in the Children’s Home about two years when Macky and Bobbi first met the Whetstines. Their sister, Nadine, had been placed in another home at this time, but this placement turned out to be temporary. When Everett and Margaret visited the Children’s Home to find out if Macky was available for adoption they got a little surprise. They were told, “Yes, but she comes with her little sister, Bobbi.”

It had been the goal of Macky, her sisters and their mother, who died of cancer, that the three girls be kept together. Soon after Macky and Bobbi moved to Cabool their middle sister, Nadine, returned to the Children’s Home.

The Whetstines quickly made Macky and Bobbi a part of their family. From letters and a Whetstine family visit back to see Nadine it was learned by Macky that Nadine was having a difficult time without her sisters. Saying their good-byes after the visit was absolutely gut-wrenching.

Since Macky was older and more able to make her way alone, she asked Everett and Margaret to allow her to go back to the Children’s Home so they could adopt Nadine instead.

The Whetstines began discussing and praying about the various possibilities. In this case the logic of their limited income and house size took a back seat to issues of the heart. They got busy talking to friends around Cabool and soon arranged jobs that the girls could fill to supplement the Whetstine dairy farm income. Everett arranged that Nadine would work after school for the Paul Grisham family. Since both Paul and his wife Katie worked in their retail business, Nadine would prepare meals, do housework and look after their three children, Paula, Samantha and R.B. (Paula is now the wife of LeRoy Walls.)

The Whetstine family of four quickly became a family of seven. Because of Macky’s family loyalty and the generous spirit of Everett and Margaret Whetstine, Macky, Nadine and Bobbi fulfilled their dream, and that of their mother, by being able to live together on the Whetstine farm. They would grow up loving each other and their Whetstine parents, brothers, nieces and nephews (I am one of 24 cousins).

By their lives Macky, Nadine and Bobbi are a credit to the Whetstine family and any Cabool family would be proud to claim them as their own. By the caring example set by my grandparents, Everett and Margaret Whetstine, their lifestyle and lives are worthy of emulating or adopting. 

12/17/2001