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Topic starter
25/12/2025 1:55 pm
Christmas with all of its many blessings is also a time for memories of times past. When I was 9 years old, my parents had separated for the final time the year before and myself and siblings were scattered in foster homes all over the Twin Cities. Individually we all endured our own confusion to the situation.
Myself, over the next three years in 3 different foster homes, I had no sense of family or belonging to one. Living with others, I was the outsider. I became very shy and reclusive. I remember wondering what I did to not have a family like others did.
Luckily, I'd found professional wrestling on TV in late 1959, as it became my security blanket. Our mother didn't want us and our father didn't have a place of his own to keep us with him, thus the foster homes. Had I not had the crutch of my few wrestling magazines, some wrestling programs and four or five model cars, I'd have been even more of a wreck.
For Christmas 1961, my dad took me to the Minneapolis Auditorium for this wrestling card. There was no present (other than our family possibly being together) that he could have given me that would have meant so much. Dad wasn't a fan of wrestling, so his taking me, I realized in hindsight as I grew up, was indeed his way of giving a special gift.
All these years and decades later, as I look at this program I saved from that fun night, I've teared up remembering how fun the night was with my dad. After the card was over, he dropped me off at my foster home, but I went to bed that night smiling because of his special gift.
From this, now cherished memory, I feel blessed that I have this program to go with it. And I'm reminded that this night spent with my dad was what Christmas really is all about. Being with a loved one.
This Christmas day and all that dawn next, I will always appreciate the true meaning of the day and the season. It's about Jesus birthday, his many blessings given me and most of all spending time with those I love.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
25/12/2025 2:11 pm
Thanks for sharing your story. I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
25/12/2025 3:45 pm
Merry Christmas to you, George, and your Family 🙏
Steve
Topic starter
25/12/2025 4:10 pm
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
Topic starter
25/12/2025 4:11 pm
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
25/12/2025 4:58 pm
yes thank you for sharing your story George, and for telling it so eloquently. And may you and yours enjoy this Christmas and many many more
Geoff
25/12/2025 7:16 pm
Thank you for sharing your story George. I can't imagine, as a nine year old, how you must have felt being placed in foster homes. How that wrestling program became such an important of your life and helped you through such a troubling time is truly remarkable. I have the most respect for you and the success you obtained through your working career and more importantly your marriage and family. God bless you sir.
25/12/2025 7:38 pm
George, looks like you had it tough growing up and you got your stuff together. Hats off to you! Merry Christmas to you and yours.
John Bono
North Jersey
25/12/2025 8:19 pm
George, you are a strong AND blessed man. God has led you down the proper paths to bring you where you are today. Thanks for sharing your story with us. That took courage. Many blessings to you and your family. My biological father walked out on me and my mom when I was a baby. I thank God for the wonderful stepfather I had. He raised me as his own and did a fantastic job caring for us. He's my true earthly father. I miss him every day. RIP pops.😥
25/12/2025 8:54 pm
George, tough times and a very hard way to grow up. I am so glad that you found an interest that helped you survive, and a very glad that your father recognized that interest and gave you a bond between the two of you. My feeling is that you are today a strong moral person with empathy. Thank you for sharing your story.
Topic starter
26/12/2025 9:36 am
Thank you for sharing your story George. I can't imagine, as a nine year old, how you must have felt being placed in foster homes. How that wrestling program became such an important of your life and helped you through such a troubling time is truly remarkable. I have the most respect for you and the success you obtained through your working career and more importantly your marriage and family. God bless you sir.
Mr. Jackman, your uplifting response to my story is greatly appreciated. Though I'm often able to share memories of my past, I always only do so to try and give the message that none of us are ever really alone, as God is walking with us always. And I hope my memories show that along with God, it is helpful to find the good in people and focus on the positives and never underscore the power of finding hobbies to to assist us in this journey we're all on. God Bless your kind words respect.
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
26/12/2025 3:21 pm