His name is David Landholt. He was the Director of the Domestic Abuse Center. He died about two years ago. When I met him I had this don't care attitude and my whole world was coming down around me. The road I was on was a destructive one. I was about to walk away from my family and carry all that baggage into another relationship.

If I ever had a role model, this man would be it. He was a social worker by profession and healer by nature. We talked almost every day. He would encourage me to put yesterday behind me and think about today and what I could do to make it better. Of the thousands of individuals that met him, he had a profound effect on the ones that wanted to change the direction of their lives.

I still have a hard time believing he is no longer here. He was the reason I became a peer counselor for the Domestic Abuse Center. It was he that also initiated the Wallace W. Smith Award in 1995. Each year this award is given to an individual who gives the time and effort to end domestic violence in my city.

After giving several speeches and presentations about my life to different groups of people, the one person that had a profound effect on my life was David. It was David who encouraged me to write my book. I will end this by saying I truly thank God for bringing this man into my life.