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GEORGIA BULLETIN. THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1968
MRS. Marlin Bostdorf and her sons-Marlin, Jr. and Chris, who is adopted and racially mixed—join their dog King for an evening of TV,
NO TIME TO DISCRIMINATE
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CPF) -
“I have gone to the homes of all
Chrissie’s playmates and have
explained to their parents that he
is our child and that we love
him.”
That’s been the most
important thing they’ve done for
Chris, five-year-old son of
racially-mixed parents, according
to Mr. and Mrs. Marlin Bostdorf,
a white couple who just adopted
him.
“Chris has been with us since
he was two weeks old,” said Mrs.
Bostdorf, who with her husband
welcomed him into their home as
a foster child from Catholic
Charities. “He’ll be six in July.
We got the adoption decree on
Oct. 25. We have three other
children, one boy and two girls,
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and they feel the same way about
him as I do, if not a little more
strongly. He’s a lovable child.
You can’t help but like him. God
really looks out for him, and He’s
given him a wonderful
disposition.”
But Mrs. Bostdorf, whose
husband has been serving in
Saigon the past three years as a
civilian with the Air Force, takes
no chances that other people will
have a “wonderful disposition”
toward Chris, particularly parents
of Chris’ white playmates in the
neighborhood.
“If they don’t want my son
playing with their children,
they’re not hurting my feelings in
any way,” Mrs. Bostdorf said,
“but they shouldn’t abuse the
child. They should just tell me’
“People seem to think he’s no
different from their children,
though. I haven’t had a bit of
trouble with the neighbors, but I
act immediately. When Chrissie
makes a new friend, I ask him to
bring his friend home. Then I
take the child to his house and I
talk to the parent along with him.
I find that people are adjusting to
this matter of race more and
more. You just can’t hide it, and
I don’t see why anyone would
want to, really.”
There have been some
problems, but Mrs. Bostdorf has
always acted on them quickly,
like the time that operators of a
swimming pool would accept
Chris as a guest and not as a
member of the family:
“I said, ‘Forget it.’ This
doesn’t bother me. What’s good
for one child is good for all of
them. I don’t belong; 1 do down
to another pool. 1 can get a
membership there for the same
amount.”
And there was the time that
the two Bostdorf girls took Chris
out to buy some clothing:
“People really stared. They
looked at the girls and they
looked at him, and they looked
back at the girls. The girls just
ignore that sort of thing, really,
because it doesn’t pay you to say
anything to people like that. It’s
more curiosity than anything else
anyway.”
But, then, the Bostdorfs are
used to that sort of thing. Mr.
and Mrs. Bostdorf have been
taking in foster children since
1961, and three or four others
have been children of mixed
parentage. Those three or four
others have since been adopted
by other families in the
Harrisburg area, but the
Bostdorfs are keeping Chris.
Even so, Chris is just another
child, and the Bostdorf’s can’t
discriminate. “We love children
and we like to have them around.
That’s why we’ve had so many
foster children here.”
Just how many have there
been, she was asked.
“Oh golly,” she answered.
“You can say about one hundred.
It’s probably more.’’(Catholic Press
Features).
—
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