After things had settled down, Mildred’s sister, Grace,
offered to let her sister’s children live with them.  This
lasted a couple months, but soon the cousins began to
fuss and fight.  They were living in a small mill house
in East Rockingham.  This was quite a difference from
the house the O’Rourke children were used to living
in.  But when their house was sold and the bank paid
off, there was very little money left.  Grace’s husband
tried his best to make things work, but he finally had to
admit that they did not have the resources to raise
their own children, never mind three additional
mouths to feed.  You would think a smart man like
Michael would have left some life insurance, but he
didn’t.  Also this was before the time of the GI Life
Insurance, which started with the Viet Nam War era
several years later.  Life insurance is just something
you can always postpone when you have a tight
budget.  Grace reckoned she was their life insurance.  
The owner of the truck was practically bankrupt, so
there would no help from that source.    


So the three youngsters were sent to the Falcon
Orphanage.  Mikie was seven when this happened.  The
children really hated that, as they were accustomed to
living in a relatively nice house and secure situation
before the accident.  The people at the orphanage were
nice Christian people.  They wanted to separate the
children, since most adoptive parents don’t want but
one child.  Some may consider two, but rarely three.  
Once Jody was sent to an adoptive home, but she hated
it so much that she wouldn’t eat.  So she was returned
to the orphanage.  The Director had seen this situation
before.  Most siblings don’t want to be separated, but
they have to be in order to get them a new home.  Rev.
Vick knew he could never get siblings all adopted into
the same home.   Also once, potential adoptive parents
showed interest in Lizzie until Lizzie told them in no
uncertain terms she didn’t want to be separated from
her sister and brother.


The children rode a school bus to Dunn where they
attended public school.  They all did well in their
schoolwork, especially Mikie.  The other children
picked on Mikie, Lizzie, and Jody as if they were just
not first class.  The only category below an orphan was
an illegitimate child.  Young children can be very cruel
sometimes.  Mikie was smart enough to avoid most of
the troublemakers.  




To be continued....