Accounts of folks “pulling themselves up by their boot straps” warm hearts; when such is done without boots, it’s a whole ‘nuther thing.
“Wholeness” was achieved in January when Brian Janak received a phone call he didn’t expect from a half-brother he didn’t know he had. It will take the waters of many rivers to wash away the tears resulting from that call.
I’ve known Brian–now a licensed Houston commercial real estate broker and graduate of Howard Payne University–since he arrived on campus in 1987, my second year in the presidency. My intent is to salute him, his faith and his values–all intact despite a childhood essentially devoid of parental love except that provided briefly by the late Rev. and Mrs. D. C. McNeal….
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Thanks to them, Brian was nurtured for almost two years in their home before Rev. McNeal moved his ministry from San Antonio to the metroplex when Brian was age four. The youngster was returned to the care of his father, a victim of alcoholism whose wife allegedly died of liver cancer. This allegation was a far cry from what Brian learned recently during the fateful phone call from his half-brother. Instead, she died of a ruptured liver suffered in a drunken bout with her husband.
One of my most vivid memories dates back almost 40 years, when Rev. McNeil wound up in Brownwood to join the staff of Greater Faith Baptist Church. One day, Pastor Aaron Blake brought this new staff member by for a visit. Rev. McNeal indicated that a “little white boy” had lived with him and Mrs. McNeal in San Antonio for a couple of years in the late 1960s, but they’d lost track of him, remembering only his first name: Brian. “Was his last name Janak?” I questioned, summoning Brian to leave football practice for a few minutes.
My office was never more awash in tears. A few months later, Rev. McNeil baptized Brian, and church attendance greatly increased that day by some three dozen of Brian’s fellow students. They all wound up at our home for lunch, since the university cafeteria had closed long before Greater Faith services concluded that day….
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Except for the “McNeal years,” Brian was largely on his own as he faced life’s bumpy roads. Susan–his half-sister, eight years older–helped as she could. Their late dad’s sorrow was drowned in alcohol many times, with him typically arriving back at their apartment in the wee hours, after bars had shut down.
For a two-month period, they lived in a self-storage facility. Susan joined the Army at age 18. Brian had a paper route at age 12, also working weekends at a flea market selling stereos.
Major life influences for some 20 years were his teachers, coaches and friends, the latter sometimes leading him astray. Most of his friends dressed better; one bad decision was his failed attempt to steal two pairs of Wrangler jeans at Montgomery Wards. He spent most of a day in juvenile detention….
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I can only highlight the remarkable achievements of one of the finest graduates I’ve known during my 40 years in higher education. His story amazes, and his friendship is highly valued.
Also underscored is the value of Christian higher education, and to convey my ongoing conviction about the importance of intercollegiate sports. (It is noted that Brian, an outstanding HPU quarterback, received grants but no athletic aid. At the end of four years, his accumulated debt was only $2,400, paid off before entering graduate school at Tarleton State University months later.)
His life should be a model for anyone lacking hope. Now, he and his wife, Hanh, who was a middle school classmate, have two great children–daughter Kyla, a chemical engineering graduate of The University of Texas now employed by Kraft Heinz, and son Nathan, a junior at the University of Southern California who already is accepted into the university’s Masters Program of Public Policy. (During most of his teen years, Nathan starred in Nickelodeon’s popular children’s TV show, All That .)
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Perhaps Brian’s choice of the words “feeling whole” upon learning what really happened to his mother make sense, ending the lie he had believed for more than 50 years.
Now 58, he has a keen memory of hardships, such as making many ketchup sandwiches before he was ten years old.
Finally, he knows the unvarnished truth. One reaction from this tragic story is his resolve to never drink alcohol in any form again….(Additional unedited details of this column will be emailed upon request. My email address below.)
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Dr. Newbury, longtime president of Howard Payne University, lives in the metroplex with Brenda, his wife of 60 years. Website: www.speakerdoc.com. Email: newbury@speakerdoc.com