You could say Florence Heavener is the greatest and also the most modest mother in St. Albert, especially if you consider how many people have called her mom.
“You could just put down that I looked after foster children. I don’t know about how many,” she admitted, humbly. The truth is the local woman, who recently celebrated her 85th birthday, took care of 100 children over the course of about half a century.
“My friend said, ‘Good God! How many kids have you had?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know. I never even counted them.’”
Having just moved into a seniors’ lodge, she spent a few minutes talking about her accomplishment, how easy it was for her and what she spends her days doing now that she’s on her own.
“We loved children, both of us,” she said, referring to her late husband Henry. She had her own children but had trouble having more. Since they always used to have neighbourhood kids around the house, she received a fateful piece of advice from a trusted source.
“My doctor talked me into taking in foster children. I said, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t know.’ He said, ‘Well you’ve been looking after kids, kids, kids, kids, kids … neighbours’ kids, everybody’s kids. Why not take in foster children?’ My husband and I talked it over and we thought that was pretty good. We just worshipped our kids. I just loved every one of them. I didn’t consider them foster children. They were like my own.”
The simple suggestion turned into a lifelong passion at their Mission district home. Never having more than seven children at one time, they would always take in new kids as others grew older and moved out.
Where many people would likely find the task of raising so many to be daunting, Heavener professed that it was as easy, even when it came to discipline.
“I was strict to a point, it all depended on what they were doing. I’d talk it over with them. I never used the strap or anything on my children. When they were bad I’d make them go in their rooms and I’d go in after a while. I’d ask, ‘Do you know what you’re in here for? Well, tell me.’ So they’d tell me and I’d say, ‘Did you think that was right or wrong?’ ‘Mom, it was wrong.’ I’d say, ‘OK then, you can go out and play, but the next time you come in instead of two or three minutes it’s going to be five minutes. The more you’re bad, the time goes. That was the way.
“I never had a policeman at my door. They always said in the neighbourhood, ‘Good heavens. We never worry about our kids; they’re always at your place!’”
The tradition apparently is being kept alive. One of her numerous daughters is now a foster mother herself.
“She said, ‘Damn you, Mom. You started me in this and I love it!’”
Heavener herself misses the hustle and bustle of a houseful of kids.
“If I was about 20 years younger, I would go back to fostering. I sure would. There’s nothing like a bunch of children. They’re so wonderful!”
