I first met my friend Becky when she visited the church I was attending almost ten years ago. The entire time I have known her, the main things I have gleaned from her lifestyle and her conversation have been her love for God and for her family. Also, she loves caring for the sick and elderly. She was a Certified Nursing Assistant when I first met her and now works at Laird Hospital in Union as a PCT, or Patient Care Technician. Attending classes at East Central Community College at this time, Becky is working toward a career in the medical field.
Rebecca Ann Ostler Rigdon was born in Chicago, April 26, 1976, to Brenda Plants Ostler Riley and Charles Ostler of Idaho. Her father left the family when she was two. Later her mother married again, and Becky gained three half-sisters, Annie, Jennifer and Venetta. The family left the Chicago area later, and her mother and one sister live near here.
Becky had a rough childhood, being considered a “wild child,” becoming a “ward of the state,” and living in either a behavioral hospital or a group home from the time she was seven until she was eighteen, when she signed herself out to try to make it on her own. Since coming to Mississippi, Becky and her family have worked hard at healing their relationship, for which she is grateful. She has faith that God will work things out.
At the present time, there has been such a change in her that I find it hard to believe that she was ever like that, except for the fact that I’ve been able to see the consequences of the life she used to live, such as her estrangement from her children. In the almost ten years that I have been close friends with Becky, I have always seen only a determined, focused concentration on seeking to follow the Lord and live for Him.
She says, of her childhood, “I was told I was schizophrenic, bipolar, hallucinating, a problem child. I didn’t mind. I was wild.” She went to public school at first but was then transferred to a private school. She received much counseling, regular schooling and training in “life skills,” in Allandale in Lake Villa, Illinois, for several years. She was also at Ronda Altar, in Highland Park, Illinois, “getting ready for the real world.” She says, “I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t gone there, I learned so much.” She graduated from The Day School in Chicago, in 1995.
Between the years of 1996 and 2002, young Becky, “searching for love in all the wrong places,” making bad choices, had five children, with two being taken from her by the father’s parents in Chicago. In 1999, pregnant again, she came to Louisville with her eldest son Anthony, to live with her mother. Jacob was born in 2000, then Shyanne, her youngest, born in 2002 of a Mississippi relationship, was taken by that family.
Becky continued to struggle in her old way of life until 2004, when she met a woman who took her to the Starkville Church of God with her. Becky’s marriage to this woman’s son did not work out well, ending in divorce, as he was also abusive, but her experience at the church changed her life forever. She has always told me of how thankful she is for that church, as it helped her have a vibrant faith and a strong walk with God. Becky told me, “I was trying to live right, do what I was supposed to do and be a good Christian.”
In 2006, she underwent surgery, though fearful of the outcome. Her little boy Jacob had told her, “Please don’t go. You’re gonna die!” During the surgery, the surgeon nicked an artery without realizing it, and she had to be given six units of blood. They said she “flat-lined” three times. She recalled, “I felt like I was leaving my body. I felt this hot sensation touch my arm and go through me. I heard a voice behind me, though no one was there. I think an angel asked me if I knew a Bible verse to calm me down, and I quoted Psalm 23:1, ‘The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.’ I went off to sleep. Back in the recovery room there were many people clapping because they had saved my life.”
In her room afterwards, she turned on the television to find only Christian channels. She recalled, “I looked out the window and saw a white horse coming towards me. I clicked the channels and regular T.V. came back on. I thought I’d been left behind! That’s what made me really change my life. I didn’t want that old lifestyle anymore.”
Becky says, “A Proverbs 31, virtuous woman, is what I want to be. And I strive every day to share God with people. I’ll pray for people wherever I work, and God gives me a song sometimes. I want people to see that God has changed me.”
Becky’s sister-in-law, Mary Rigdon, wife of her husband Bob’s brother, Sean, told me of how she had met Becky back in 2008, then of how they became friends when they attended the same church in 2009. Mary said, “Even when Becky misses it in some way, she keeps coming back to God.” Mary told me of how hard she has seen Becky work at that church and to help the homeless.
Becky wanted to marry a good man, someone different from the men she used to know. Mary and Sean introduced her to Sean’s brother, Bob, and they were married May 26, 2015. Becky is thankful to God for how He has blessed her. She says of Bob, “He loves me unconditionally, and keeps me straight. He believes in God and goes to church with me. I know God gave him to us. He always makes sure things are taken care of, and he’s a great comforter.” Bob’s mother, Mrs. Paula Moore Strange, told me, “I just love her to death! She’s a sweetheart, I know that. She’s just like one of mine.”
Bob, who works at Lauderdale School System as a computer technician, took on Becky’s two boys, Anthony and Jacob, as his own and has been a real father to them. Anthony is married, working at a hospital, and living in Hattiesburg with his wife and baby girl. Her son Jacob just graduated from Newton County High School last year and left this week for Basic Training with the Army. He assured her, “Mom, I’m going to make something of my life. I’m ready.”
I never knew Becky the way she was before, but Royce and I have loved Becky and enjoyed her friendship for almost ten years. When my husband died, she asked to speak at the funeral, along with several others, and she told how much he had meant to her. My Royce used to call her Beckaroonie, and I am grateful for her being a sweet, young Christian sister to me and my family.
Live for Jesus! He’s coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
