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July 16, 2003
The Rest of the Story
Something kept bugging me about all the stories reported about Terry Wallis, the Arkansas guy who awoke from a coma after 19 years....I didn't quite remember his wife being so devoted after his accident, but that happened so long ago, and it's been 10 years since I even lived in the area so I wasn't sure. But now Tim Blair has the rest of the story from his local paper....that I haven't seen reported in any of the US media.
But now the crash victim's family are steeling themselves to break the news that during those lost years his wife had three children by another man.
They will also have to tell him the daughter he remembers as a six-week-old baby is now working as a stripper.
Then there is the feud between his wife and his parents that will eventually come to court.
His parents, you see, got a guardianship over him after the accident. His wife, after all this time and after he's awakened, wants the guardianship transferred to her. In the interim, she's been busy with, ahem, other things.
Mrs Wallis said she had "an unusual relationship" with the father of her three other children - whom she would only name as Mike.
When they first met, she said, she told him they could not marry because she would never divorce her comatose husband.
So Mike married another woman, Eleanor, and they care for the three children, aged 14, 15, and 16.
Mrs Wallis said: "The kids live with Mike and Eleanor and call her Mum. But they call me Mum too. They know I'm their biological mother and we are all good friends and see each other all the time."
Familial relationships in rural Arkansas, you see, can be a bit....flexible. Hell in my own family, one of my ancestors had kids by his wife and her sister...and they all lived in the same house. He was also a Baptist peacher & a bootlegger if memory serves....an interesting combination.
So it appears that at least regarding the wife it isn't a heartwarming tale of love and devotion....as Tim correctly points out, that part more properly belongs on Jerry Springer.
But it is still an amazing example of survival and parental devotion.
Posted by Rita at July 16, 2003 07:40 AM
Comments
I knew that part about the wife being devoted sounded too good to be true.
Oh well. I wish Terry the very best in life. He's gonna need a little help I think.
Posted by: Da Goddess at July 16, 2003 09:11 PM
Yeah I know. I hadn't said anything because I wasn't sure, but I had noticed all the news stories here had dropped any mention of his wife.
Posted by: Rita at July 17, 2003 06:11 AM
She does sound to have turned out a bit off.
As to arrangements, tohough, they're more common than most realise. Two of my great-aunts bought a house together back in the thirties, and took in gentleman boarder. It was quite well understood that he rarely stayed in his own room, and he was included in family gatherings. This was downtown Berlin, New Hampshire - not Boston, but not a cabin in the backwoods either.
Posted by: John Anderson at July 17, 2003 02:39 PM