4-ThomasvilleTimes-Thursday, July 15,2010
FROM PAGE 1
COURTESY PHOTO
JP White (right) sits with his newly found brother, Andrew, and his grandmother during
his summer visit in 1982.
YEARS
From page'
“But he was always John
to his mother.”
But the family from
paradise wasn’t to be. A
few years after JP’s birth,
Patrick and Kay’s mar
riage ended.
It wasn’t long after that
the young father ran into
trouble visiting his son.
“For reasons known
only to Kay, she didn’t
want me to see my son,”
Patrick said. “She moved
very frequently without
telling me where, and
soon I couldn’t find her
at aU.”
So after only three hap
py years of fatherhood,
Patrick watched his son
drift away into a virtual
black hole. Though he left
a solid trail to ensure Kay
could easily find him, the
young dad never heard
from his former wife or
the little boy.
“It was an emptiness
that couldn’t be filled and
a pain that wouldn’t go
away,” he said.
For young JP, his child
hood blossomed with
out much incident — no
stolen youth, no deject
ed teenager rebelling
against society in retali
ation for his lack of a fa
ther. But his life wasn’t
exactly complete, either.
Kay raised JP im
mersed in his Hawaiian
roots, which involved a
plethora of family gath
erings.
“Everyone becomes a
mom, dad, sister, brother,
aunt, uncle and so on,”
JP said. “This is why 1
kept my dad’s fire alive
aU these years. He is my
only father, and I have al
ways loved him.”
And as time went on,
Kay absorbed the role of
both parents in JP’s life.
“She always made sure
1 was well taken care of,”
he said. “As for me not
having a father figure
around, 1 adjusted well,
and my mom became
my father figure, so to
speak.”
But that didn’t mean
that JP escaped the jad
ed emotions that so of
ten come hand-in-hand
with parental divorce.
The young boy definitely
had moments where he
seethed with anger at his
father for not being in his
life.
“I hated the fact that all
of my friends had dads
except me,” he said.
While Patrick spent
the years after JP’s dis
appearance into oblivion
searching for his lost son,
the young boy didn’t have
much of an avenue to
conduct any sort of man
hunt except through his
mother. And she wasn’t
much help.
“My mom never spoke
of him, and when 1 asked,
she didn’t reveal too much
information,” JP said.
JP’s real search began
in 1982 when he was 13
years old.
Patrick moved to the
East Coast a few years af
ter the divorce and settled
in the High Polnt-Thom-
asviUe area. In 1982, about
five years after relocating
in North Carolina, Kay
contacted him.
She told him she was
living in Southern Cali
fornia and asked if he
wanted to take his son for
the summer.
“Is the pope Catholic or
what?” Patrick said. “Of
course 1 wanted to see
him!”
Kay then told the just-
turned teenager that she
had heard from his father
and asked if he wanted
to spend the summer in
North Carolina.
“I said yes, jumping up
and down, and could not
wait,” JP said.
JP landed in the Mis
souri airport and wan
dered through the ter
minal, not sure what his
father looked like. He
eventually roamed by
baggage claim and a little
boy came up to him ask
ing if he was JP.
A little unsure, JP an
swered affirmative, and
the younger boy respond
ed: “1 am your brother.”
JP was astounded
— growing up as a sin
gle child he had always
yearned for the company
of a sibling, and here one
came walking up to him
in the middle of an air
port.
“1 never knew 1 had a
brother,” JP said. “He’s
my half brother, but still,
half, I don’t even think
about it. He’s my broth
er.”
Then came Patrick,
JP’s only-seen-in-pictures
father.
“It was so emotional
but so natiural for me to
hold him,” JP said. “The
whole summer was spent
having lots of fun with
my new brother and our
dad. I have a lot of good
memories of that sum
mer. I can’t explain the
feelings from that time.
It was heaven-sent for
sure.”
Patrick was intent on
making the most of his
summer with JP. The
teenager had just entered
the skateboarding phase
and loved Hot Wheels.
“I loaded him up with
Hot Wheels and also buUt
him a model airplane ~
rubber band propulsion
— that he flew aroimd
the yard,” Patrick said.
“JP kept the Hot Wheels
and model airplane for
years, through countless
moves, as a reminder of
his dad.”
The summer days
wound down, the sun set
earlier and the nights
cooled to a brisker feel
than the muggy heat of
July. Patrick begged Kay
to keep in touch so he
could maintain contact
with his son.
Kay assured him that
she would, that she was
getting married and mov
ing to Coos Bay, Ore., and
she would send him their
address and phone num
ber as soon as she did.
The information never
came. Kay disappeared
again into oblivion, tak
ing JP along with her,
“Over the years, thanks
to the computer, I tried to
find him, but there were
so many places to look
that it became baffling
for me,” Patrick said, “I
harbor Kay no iU wiU, I
put that aside long ago so
1 could have some peace.”
JP, meanwhile, re
turned home elated that
his father was back in his
life. But that, too, came to
an end. Over the years he
argued with his mother,
attempting to coax her
into helping him find
Patrick. JP says Kay was
hurt badly by the divorce
and avoided any ques
tions he posed.
“It was hard not getting
any feedback from my
mom, but Hawaiians take
Aloha seriously,” JP said.
“She would never want to
speak of him, so it was
hard trying to learn any
thing about my father. As
time passed, his name
never came up, but I nev
er forgot about him.”
Staff Writer Erin Wilt-
gen can be reached at 888-
3576 or at newsdesk@tvil-
letimes.com.
GUILTY
From page 1
“Obviously, this is a compromised
plea based upon the facts of the case,”
Davidson County Assistant District At
torney Greg Brown said. “His lawyer
obviously counseled him and the de
termination to take it was that of the
defendant. [Lemmond] has now been
adjudicated for second degree murder
of the child. ”
Davidson County Sheriff’s Office de
tectives, with assistance from the Union
County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Lem
mond in February following a three-
month long investigation of Cowell’s
death. An indictment filed in February
alleged that Lemmond “unlawfully and
wiHfully did kill and murder LUly Grace
Cowell” by causing “acute subdural
hemorrhage, acute subarachnoid hem
orrhage and multiple retinal hemor
rhages of the optic nerve.” The incident
occurred at 172 Meadow Creek Drive,
Apartment 19, in Lexington where Lem
mond claimed a lamp fell on the child’s
head, but an autopsy found Cowell’s
Injuries did not match the defnedant’s
version of what happened.
Once the Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner in Chapel Hill completed the
autopsy, Lemmond was charged with
first degree murder and-feiony child
abuse inflicting bodily Injury
“We had to wait to see what the fo
rensic pathology report showed,” said
Brown. “The pathology report showed a
different cause of death than the defen
dant suggested. He indicated the chUd
knocked a lamp off a toy chest that feU
onto the child’s forehead. The autopsy
showed different injuries on different
parts of the head like traumatic brain
injuries at multiple locations consis
tent with rapid acceleration and de
celeration that would be the typical
shaken baby type of activity That was
totally different from what [Lemmond]
suggested may have caused the demise
of the child.”
Cowell’s mother left her child in Lem-
mond’s care so she go to the movies in
Asheville. Lemmond is not the girl’s fa
ther, but Brovm said he met LUly’s bio
logical dad Wednesday at the hearing;
Brown said the father hadn’t been in
volved in the child’s life but did appear
for the plea.
“He shook my hand at the end of the
day” Brown said.
The child abuse charge against Lem
mond was dropped.
RESULTS
From page 1
proved in seven of eight
subjects, with aU but two
improving by double-dig
its. Algebra II and Geom
etry saw the biggest gains
with Physical Science re
porting the lone decrease
of 4.4 percent. Civics was
the lone subject at THS
that failed to meet expect
ed growth.
“Those numbers are not
where we want them to
be,” TCS Superintendent
Keith Tobin said. “We
want aU of our students
to be at grade level and
to work hard to get there.
The growth we have
made the last years has
been pretty significant.
Our folks have worked re
ally hard. When you look
at how our students are
progressing from year to
year, there’s some pretty
significant growth and
I’m very proud of that.”
After seeing two city
schools — Liberty Drive
Elementary and Thom
asville Middle School
— make AfP last year,
TCS had none make for
the 2009-10 calendar. The
North Carolina Depart
ment of Public Instruc-
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888-3511
TIMES PHOTO/ELIOT DUKE-
TCS Superintendent Keith Tobin unveils the new sysstenr
logo during Tuesday's meeting.
tion is expected to certify
the results by the end of
July.
In other business:
• Kevin Leake, a so
cial studies teacher, was
named the assistant prin
cipal at Thomasville Mid
dle School,.
“I’m excited about the
opportunity,” Leake said,
• TCS voted to keep Jeff
Kirkland as school board
chairperson and Resa
Raulston as school board
vice chairperson.
• Board members ap
proved a Title I applica-
^tion for the upcoming
school year, Mike Ingram,
TCS’ technology director,
said this year’s alloca
tion of funds could equal
about $50 more per stu
dent over last year.
• Tobin unveiled TCS’
new logo, which features
the outline of a face and
three rays of sunshine,
replacing the traditional
school house.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke
can be reached at 888-3578,
or duke@tvilletimes.com.
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Thomasville, NC 27360
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