'guardian Angel,' Community Join To Give Man Home

By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer, San Antonio Express-News: World
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 12:51pm

'Guardian angel,' community join to give man home LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) — She'd warned Scotty Reynolds to stay away from people like this, but "Mr. I Don't Listen" ignored her, as usual. Gayle Whitehead had been watching out for the mentally disabled man for 30 years — getting him out of scrapes, picking him up at the police station or hospital, washing his feet when he'd gone without shoes. The argument got so heated that the police were called in to take Reynolds home — for his protection. Swinging his head rhythmically from side to side, Scotty Reynolds sings or talks to himself as he walks the streets of this former textile and furniture manufacturing hub. With his computer bag and bow tie, Reynolds is about as much a fixture in Lexington as barbecue. Scotty awoke Christmas morning to find a trove beneath the tree: A Teddy bear, a drum kit, a set of encyclopedias, a keyboard, some new clothes. The boy, diagnosed as bipolar and schizophrenic, would mimic his father's behavior — when he was 14, he punched his mother. Whitehead largely ceased to be a daily presence in his life, until one day when he showed up on her doorstep, complaining that he had been physically abused at the home. The day he turned 18, he packed his bags and walked back to Lexington — to the one person he could always count on. In addition to their two biological and two adopted children, they have fostered six other kids over the years. [...] 56, Whitehead is executive director of Crisis Ministry of Davidson County, in charge of the county's only homeless shelter, a food and clothing bank, and a program to help the disabled manage their finances, medications and other needs. In a lilting voice, he describes a typical visit: "'What do you need Scotty?'" he says, head down, affecting Whitehead's stern tone. Tender-hearted to a fault, he would often invite homeless people to stay with him in his apartment. Mama's sicker than people knows,' Reynolds recalls, his voice breaking with emotion. Doctors had diagnosed Whitehead with a rare form of cervical cancer. The assistant vice president and loan officer had known Gayle and Gary Whitehead for a quarter century. Beck would emerge from a meeting to find him sitting in the lobby, typing on his laptop, reading a magazine, or enjoying some coffee and cookies. [...] in late August, everything was in order. "[...] that's where I think we underestimate, sometimes, people's ability, people's goals, people's dreams," he says. Thieves had stripped the house of its copper plumbing and wiring, and the heating system was gone. Bank employees and others contributed money and household items. On a recent rainy Saturday, about a dozen students and staff members from the community college scraped, painted, ripped up carpet and hauled away debris.

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