A messy and miraculous Christmas story
In 1962, for nine children in Minnesota, it was a year that started with a terrible tragedy. But there was a triumph at the end of it, just before Christmas.
For the nine Baker children, ages 2 to 13, the year 1962 began tragically and ended triumphantly – not unlike that first Christmas over 2,000 years ago.
Catastrophe struck on Jan. 12, a snowy Friday night. Although snug and safe in their home in Battle Lake, Minnesota, their mom and dad, Walter and Regina, were out drinking and driving, and in that deadly order.
It was a single car accident on a lonely and cold road. There were no eyewitnesses, but we know Mrs. Baker, who was driving, lost control of the pickup truck. It rolled, tossing both of them. They suffocated to death in the snow.
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With no will, their nine children were placed in foster care – various homes in the area. Because noise makes news and tragedy travels fast, the plight and heartbreak of the Baker Nine became something of a national concern.
Over 1,300 miles away in Charlotte, North Carolina, Don and Jean Meyers were reading about the awful accident. It was one sentence in the story, though, that grabbed them and wouldn’t let go:
"The children won’t stay together," one of the neighbors told the reporter.
"Children need parents, and if these children were put in this world together, they should stay together," a defiant Jean told Don. "We need children. We want these children."
This is where the many layers and providential twists of the story begin to emerge.
With two biological daughters, the Meyers had also previously adopted three boys, two of whom were twins. When the one twin son died in a drowning, Rev. J. Paul Bryon of St. Gabriel’s Church in Charlotte reached out to offer help. Grief can sometimes open previously closed hearts, and that’s exactly what happened. The Meyers, grateful for the love and support, wound up converting to Catholicism.
So, after seeing the story about the Bakers, Don Meyers called his parish priest, Father Bryon, who called Monsignor Michael J. Begley of Catholic Charities in Raleigh. The monsignor then called Catholic Charities in St. Cloud, Minnesota, which was managing the Baker case.
"There’s room here in our home and in our hearts," Don Meyers said at the time. "God has blessed me with a generous income. I can afford to spend money raising children. It’s a small return for the blessings given us."
It’s increasingly old-fashioned to see children as blessings, as priceless gifts. Instead, modern culture too often considers babies costly burdens to avoid. This narrow-mindedness not only deprives families of fun and fulfillment, but threatens our very existence. That’s because societies die when couples don’t marry and have children.
The Baker Nine arrived and met their new parents at the Charlotte Airport on Dec. 17, 1962. There were plenty of smiles and hugs. The love was new but true. It would make for a good Hallmark Christmas movie if that’s where the story ended, but it’s really where it began.
Monica Harbes, who was just 2 when her parents died and 3 when she arrived at the Meyers', remembers the plane ride. "It was so exciting," she told me. Monica, along with her husband, Ed, now run the Harbes Family Farm out in Mattituck on the North Fork of Long Island. She says the Meyers "ran a tight ship with lots of rules, lots of structure."
The 13-sibling crew settled into a familiar if not challenging rhythm and routine. Their mother, who was a seamstress, stayed at home to raise the kids. They attended parochial school. All was well until tragedy struck again in 1969 when their adoptive mother died of lupus.
"The family imploded," Monica acknowledged. "Our dad remarried. There were other children. There was favoritism. We all began to go our separate ways." At 14, Monica wound up moving to New York to live with her sister, Pauline, and new husband. Those were tough years.
But it was only because she had moved to New York that she met her beloved Ed. It was Ed who led Monica to the Lord, which led her to every other good thing. They have four sons, four daughters, and nine grandchildren.
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"Over the years, I’ve had to forgive," she recalled. "But all of us have to walk through forgiveness. Our family’s story is a redemptive one. It’s kind of messy, but so is life."
This past Dec. 17, as they do every year, the original Bakers (two have since passed away) connect on the phone or via group text to remember and commemorate that dramatic and pivotal day back in 1962. It’s not coincidental that it coincides with Christmas.
That’s because Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was the most famous adoption of all time, and a far cry from the idyllic picture painted on cards or sung about in carols.
It’s a gritty story – an unmarried mother, an adoptive father, a baby born in filth far from fame and fortune, into a broken world with a king who felt threatened and wanted the baby killed.
Christmas reminds us that life, like adoption, is unpredictable, often messy, also mysterious, and yet still beautiful. It shows us that a child (or nine of them!) can change everything for the better – and not just one day, but every day, and for all eternity.
