10/2/2009 6:00:00 AM
Local foster parents awarded for years of helping children
After 53 years and 40 kids, couple retiring (but don’t call it that!)
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ERIN TAYLOR/Miner
Lois and Herman Reimer and their daughter, Jeanette Price, pose with Robert Long (left) and Doug Bacon with the Central Arizona Council on Developmental Disabilities. The Reimers were recently recognized by the agency with a Lifetime Achievement Award for their work as foster parents.
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KINGMAN - After more than 40 children in 53 years, Herman and Lois Reimer have decided they are retiring, although they don't actually call it that.
"We'll never retire," said Lois, 77. "Our doors will always be open to anyone who needs us."
The Reimers were recently recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Central Arizona Council on Developmental Disabilities for their work as foster parents, although they don't actually call it that, either.
"We didn't call it fostering," said Herman, 80. "We just call it taking care of children."
The Reimers began fostering children while living in Colorado in 1956 when their oldest daughter, Jeanette, was just 3-½ years old. Jeanette and her two younger brothers would go on to become siblings to dozens of children who shared their home throughout the year.
Jeanette said she and her brothers never resented the kids, many of whom were abused, neglected and had significant health or behavioral problems.
"You could see such a big change in the kids right away," Jeannette Price said. "If there's a child in this house, it's for a reason."
The Reimers' first foster children were a newborn boy they had for six years and a 16-year-old girl they raised until she married. Each child brought their own story of abuse and hardship with them that the Reimers underwent special training to handle.
Stories like that of three young boys who were removed from their home in Yuma after their father would burn the boys with cigarettes if they didn't watch their mother slowly succumb to cancer. Or the story of a cognitively impaired 21-year-old ex-con and drug addict who went on to become the Reimers' biggest success.
"They're our idols," said Glenda Holiday, a compliance officer with the Central Arizona Council on Developmental Disabilities. "They've been a huge inspiration."
The Reimers, who lived in Dolan Springs for 35 years before moving to Kingman about four years ago, fostered anywhere from three to four children at any given time. And that number doesn't take into account the neighborhood children who called the Reimers "Grandma" and "Grandpa."
"I bet 90 percent of the kids in Dolan Springs called us that," Herman said.
Herman has worked in a number of positions, everything from mining to maintenance to ministering, "but he's best at being a husband and father," his wife said.
The Reimers met at church camp in Denver when Lois was 17 and Herman was 20. They married the following year. Taking care of children always came naturally to the couple, Lois said.
"If we do what we can do, if we do all we can do, I believe the Lord will help us," Lois said.
Religion has always played a large role in the Reimers' lives and it was something they tried to instill in every child they met.
Lois was working as a Sunday school teacher some time ago when she was approached by a 12-year-old who asked her what he should do when his dad, who used drugs, asked the boy to lie for him. The boy wanted to know if he should obey his father or be forced to lie.
"I said to him 'You tell your dad that if he makes you sin, it becomes his sin because you have to honor him because he is your dad,'" Lois said.
"I would have never thought of that on my own. It had to be the Lord."
The Reimers say that while they have chosen not to renew their license as foster parents, their door will always be open to anyone needing help.
"This has been one lovely journey for us," Herman said.
"The more we give, the more we get."
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Posted: Saturday, October 03, 2009
Article comment by:
Jim Reimer
Mom and Dad are proof that love is a renewable resource!
Posted: Saturday, October 03, 2009
Article comment by:
Dave
It is great to read a story about fine people! All we seem to get the past few years are stories of the culls in this life! There are many, many outstanding people that are not newsworthy.....time to change media attitudes in my opinion....Give us more of these stories!!!
Posted: Friday, October 02, 2009
Article comment by:
RRoy
thank you- this brought tears to my eyes, you have changed so many lives for the better.
Posted: Friday, October 02, 2009
Article comment by:
Sheral Swinehart-Rolfe
I have personally worked with the Reimers, and was honored that they have put forth so much effort to see that children still get the chance to be children, even in the society we have today. I hope that those children they helped to raise are able to someday look back and see there is still some good out there.
Posted: Friday, October 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Nice to hear about such good people! Wonderful story!
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