PETE
TITUS AND FAMILY’S SPECIAL CHRISTMAS HUNT.
Laura Titus.........Phil Taunton
Christmas
came a little early for me this year and I have the Pete Titus family of Virgil
to thank for it. My sock overflowed with
the gift of giving on December 22, when I had the opportunity to take Pete,
wife Jean and their twin eleven-year-old daughters, Laura and Tera, on a
pheasant hunt at S&P Game Bird Farm and Hunting Preserve.
This
would be no ordinary hunt since Laura has Sacral Agenases, a rare birth defect
of the spine and nerves in the lower body causing her to be confined to a wheelchair
the rest of her life. She and sister
Tera are also diabetic and have been taking treatments since they were 20
months old. “Let there be a cure for diabetes,” is the number one wish on
Laura’s Christmas list every year.
Mother
Jean relates that nothing has ever gotten in Laura’s way. Being able to do even the simplest of things
in life is often taken for granted by those who are not physically challenged.
If Laura wanted to do something like any other child and she couldn’t, she
often invented her own way of doing things.
Take
roller skating for instance. Mom bought
the twins roller skates at a garage sale just to see what the girls would do
with them. Tera put hers on and down
Laura’s wheelchair ramp she went. Laura
watched for a while and then she did what she always does, solved the problem
of not having the use of her lower body and found her own way. Without giving it a second thought, she put
her hands down into the boot of the shoes, raised up her tiny little legs and
feet into a hand stand and down the ramp she went, too! Laura is so active, little leather chaps had
to be made so she could crawl around and not tear up her clothes and skin.
Being
typical eleven year olds, the girls both love sports and participate in
baseball, basketball, swimming and biking.
Laura makes use of a special tricycle built by Dad and Grandpa Jim, and
swims like a fish, her mother adds. Tera
also enjoys playing football.
The
girls adore their father and love doing things in the outdoors with him, which
include fishing and hunting. Laura
would hop on Pete’s back and to the fields she would go riding piggy-back
style. Pete sat through hunter education
classes with the kids last fall and on their birthday earlier this month, both
girls got the present they have been wanting, their own special youth model
shotguns.
The
girls both have the will to hunt but carrying Laura has become quite a chore
for Pete. She is 11 now, difficult to
carry and you can’t push a wheelchair through brush very well.
Rod
Haag, a co-worker with Jean at Modine Manufacturing Company, related the
family’s story to me and we thought it would be nice to try and take the kids
on a pheasant hunt at S&P Game Bird Farm and Hunting Preserve as sort of a
special gift for Christmas. Randy
Peterson, owner of S&P, volunteered the use of his Gator to carry Laura and
her wheelchair. He and Todd Detwiler
would guide us over the rolling grasslands of the preserve. Sassy, Sue, Blue and Okie, our pointing dogs,
were more than happy to share in the hunt and lend their expertise!
The
best laid plans of mice and men! The
Gator blew its engine just that morning and the men were trying to come up with
a replacement when we arrived. And
Mother Nature, who so far had spared
Some
of Laura’s charisma and spirit must have rubbed off on me. When faced with adversities, simply find a
way.
I had
planned to have the twins shoot sporting clays before the hunt to sharpen their
eye for pheasants and perhaps get a feel for their new shotguns. Rod, being a certified
In
the trap area, we found a little relief from the wind that sometimes gusted up
to 40 miles an hour, so we decided to move the hunt to the wooded creek area of
the Preserve.
“This
is one special, brave little girl,” I said to myself as Pete Titus lowered his
daughter to the ground from a special ramp built in their van. What caught my eye was Laura’s infectious
grin and a desire born of strong will and determination. She hit the ground a
rollin’, having pushed the wheelchair off the ramp almost before it hit the
ground. Who needs a Gator?
Donning
new hunting vests donated by Bluestem Farm and Ranch Supply and filling them
with shotgun shells, the girls tried their hand at busting clays. Those of you who have ever shot clays know
how tricky it is to break them during windy conditions. The girls did manage to break a few despite
the fact shooting them was like trying to draw a bead on a Charlie Hough
knuckle ball! (Hoyt Wilheim, or a Roger
Clement’s split fingered fastball----just whatever era of baseball one can
relate too!)
The
dogs did their job pointing the birds, but with limited hunting experience and
Laura having to shoot from a sitting position in the wheelchair and bulky
clothes not allowing much turn, the
girls weren’t able to harvest a pheasant, though Dad, always there to lend
support, was able to knock a rooster down while acting as backup.
Many
Christmas thanks go to Randy and Todd of S&P Game Bird Farm and Hunting
Preserve and to the Emporia Area Chapter of Quail Unlimited, who helped sponsor
this holiday outing.
Being
unable to shoot a pheasant that day never put a damper on the girls’ enthusiasm
to become hunters. Like most hunters,
they realized it isn’t the kill that is important. The thrill of the hunt, planning and being
with family and friends in the Great Outdoors is what really mattered.
When
I called Jean the next morning to talk to the girls and see what they thought
of the hunt, the twins had already left the house with Pete and were sitting in
a goose blind hoping to bag a goose for Christmas dinner! A fishing trip this Spring is already in the
planning stages.
Merry
Christmas Pete and Jean. Thank you for
sharing your very special gift with me.
Other special outdoor
opportunities are also available throughout