Yellow rose helps grieving parents find hope

Monday, May 23, 2022, was the Parents' Day of Hope at Busch's Florist during which parents who've lost a child can meet with others and find support in the gathering. Peggy Talken, at left, and Sheila Singer, at right, visit with Jacqueline Walker, who attended for the first time Monday. In the background is Susan Gleason, also a first time attendee to the 5th annual outreach event. The gathering is sponsored by Busch's Florist in conjunction with Steel Magnolias Mommas and Just for Dad's support groups. Gleason lost her son in 2020 while Singer lost a young son to cancer in 1991. Talken's daughter Corrie was killed in a boating accident in 2014 and Walker's daughter was killed in a car wreck in 1989. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)
Monday, May 23, 2022, was the Parents' Day of Hope at Busch's Florist during which parents who've lost a child can meet with others and find support in the gathering. Peggy Talken, at left, and Sheila Singer, at right, visit with Jacqueline Walker, who attended for the first time Monday. In the background is Susan Gleason, also a first time attendee to the 5th annual outreach event. The gathering is sponsored by Busch's Florist in conjunction with Steel Magnolias Mommas and Just for Dad's support groups. Gleason lost her son in 2020 while Singer lost a young son to cancer in 1991. Talken's daughter Corrie was killed in a boating accident in 2014 and Walker's daughter was killed in a car wreck in 1989. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)

Grieving mothers and fathers gathered outside Busch's Florist and Greenhouse again Monday for the annual Parents' Day of Hope event.

Each year, on the Monday before Memorial Day, parents who have lost a child (of any age) gather to offer each other encouragement and support. The florist gives each a single yellow remembrance rose and connects them with the Steel Magnolias support group.

Steel Magnolias came together as a group to acknowledge the feelings grieving parents share, and to offer love and hope.

Peggy Talken, who lost her daughter Mary Corrine "Corrie" Talken in a boating accident in 2014, was among the mothers standing on the corner outside the shop.

Like many parents, Peggy Talken turned the tragedy into a blessing. She created the Pink Star Foundation to honor Corrie's legacy. She had been the activities director at a nursing home. For five minutes each day, she sat with her patients. And, for five minutes each day, her patients had a moment of peace.

The nonprofit has given thousands of scholarships to graduating high school seniors, and to working nurses. It has made donations to The Samaritan Center, Salvation Army Center of Hope and Special Learning Center.

Talken said Monday the work has been rewarding, but it has been difficult, and she probably will continue only through 2024.

"It's been 10 years," Talken said. "The further out we get from the initial date of her death, the less people remember about her. You want your child's memory to go on forever, but it's just not going to happen."

Event organizers also invited John Wampler, of Columbia, who lost Lizzy. Lizzy was his normal, spunky 9-year-old girl. One day she began complaining about what appeared to be "growing pains" in her right leg. She was wrestling with her brother on a bed and fell down. Lizzy screamed. Most parents, Wampler said, know the the difference between the sound of a childish scream and something different.

"We thought it might be a minor sprain. Cancer was not even on our radar. Not even close," Wampler said.

The incident went from an appointment with a pediatrician, to a biopsy, to meeting with a doctor on the day before Thanksgiving 2016 and learning the diagnosis was cancer.

The family was in shock.

The following Monday, the family was on a plane to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. She was there about 15 months before she died.

She endured multiple rounds of chemotherapy. Surgeons replaced a section of her femur with a prosthetic. But, she eventually died in March 2018.

"She lost her battle -- after fighting a courageous, brave battle," Wampler said. "They say you beat cancer by how you live, while you live, and the manner in which you live. Even though she lost her battle to cancer, Lizzy won in life. She impacted and touched and influenced more people than I could ever do at 9 years old."