The Gentle Giant and the Beauty Queen

INTRODUCTION

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to the primary players in this saga, The Gentle Giant, David, and his Beauty Queen, Ruthy. This part of the book will be just a snap shot of what’s to come.

Why the Gentle Giant and Beauty Queen titles? As you walk into their modest home, you’ll be immediately impressed with an 8”x10” picture of a truly beautiful blonde child of around four years old. She has beautiful green eyes and the winning smile of a little Beauty Queen. As Ruthy picks up the precious picture from the foyer stand, she’ll proudly proclaim that the picture is of herself as the Bethany, West Virginia Little May Queen Winner! It was only a few months later that she contracted the dreaded disease of Spinal Meningitis. Her world changed as the affliction affected her entire left side, leaving her with learning disabilities and a crippled left side that stunted her growth at 5’ tall.

Picture #1 Ruthy’s Beauty Queen Days

Our Gentle Giant David is seven feet tall with size 16 EEEE shoes and weighs 330 lbs. He is a big man. He can be an imposing figure at first glance. You would definitely take a double look to make sure your eyes had truly seen a giant. In fact you could be scared of him endangering you, just by his hugeness. Your fears could be magnified if he were to proclaim in his loud guttural voice, “I’m going to ‘Hit’ you!!” When David tells you he’s going to give you information, he loudly states, “I’m going to hit you” (with information). Ruthy’s case worker informed me that she ducked the first time she heard David say, “I’m going to hit you.” Much to her relief, David did not hit her but kept talking to hit her with information.

Picture #2 David was a large child (only two years older than his brother Ron)

To further define David’s size, she shared with me that when she needed to take David and Ruthy to an appointment from the workshop, all of them stared at her small car to see how to fold David into the backseat. When she realized that David wasn’t going to fit, she resourcefully opened her sun roof and David excitedly and proudly went through town with half of his body extended out of the sun roof opening! Now that had to be a sight! David was a Happy Camper on that excursion.

David’s size also can be envisioned by the often retold story of David wading out into the lake and proclaiming to his young nieces and nephews, “See, you can come out, it’s only up to my waist.” Four feet of water! Fortunately they didn’t follow.

Picture 3 Shallow Water??

Upon knowing David, all your fears of danger would dissolve. Now he might repeatedly talk your ear off, but he’d never hurt you. At least he’d not hurt you intentionally. In a friendly game of Basketball, he had been assigned to guard my husband, Scott, and keep him from making any baskets. David follows directions very well! Thus, as Scott ascended to put the ball into the hoop, he saw a Mack Truck, 7 foot 330 lb. David coming with a full body block. Before Scott went crashing down on the pavement, he remembers thinking, “I’m going to die.” We all had that immediate thought as we saw Scott fly into the air and crash on concrete! Our son, Scott, went running over to him saying, “Are you ok, are you ok?” almost sure that he wasn’t. Thank God that he was. So after that, the Gentle Giant was placed under the basket to just place the balls in the net!

Picture #4 Right Before the Knockout

Additionally, I’d forgotten to warn my 5 foot 100 lb blonde housekeeper of David’s size and strength. When the whole family came flooding into our home in Fremont, Ohio, amongst the hugs and greetings I looked over to see excited, happy David flinging our Laura into the air with a bear hug! Laura’s eyes were huge and wild with fright. I rescued her. After her heart stopped pounding, I introduced her to the family whom she took care of and loved for many visits.

David is much more a protector than a danger. He so carefully watches over Ruthy’s every crippled step. Holding her hand or elbow, he warns her of any possible mishap while they enjoy their walks all over Steubenville. You would never have to even think about being concerned about David’s behavior when with Ruthy. With one nudge or glance upward, Ruthy can totally control big David. Its darling to see her correct him should any profanity slip through his lips.

As David’s siblings all agree Ruthy is the best thing that ever happened to the Kelps family... As you follow through Ruthy’s life you’ll be certain that the Kelps family was the best thing that ever happened to Ruthy!

Picture #5 Kelps Family Picture with Ruthy

To show you the Giant’s gentle side, his family remembers when David was a very big age eight, still conquering his tricycle. He ran over a worm. With concern he jumped off the bike to check on the worm and immediately threw up when he realized that the worm was dead! As gentle as he is, he also has a big heart and loves people. Everyone’s his friend. The protection he gives Ruthy is of great value to the shy, scared, abandoned gal he first met.

David’s developmental disability from birth was the result of the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck, thus cutting off oxygen from his brain. Ruthy knew four years with her full mental capacity and strong body, while David struggled with disabilities from the day he was born. But you’ll never get Ruthy or David to admit to having any disabilities. Ruthy will argue, “Everyone has a disability, I can do anything that I want.”

Both David and Ruthy are so courteous to each other – it’s honey this or honey that. They are kind, honest, friendly, and grateful. The world in their era deemed them both, correctly, mildly retarded due to issues they had no control over, nor could they have prevented. We often forget those facts when we encounter a developmentally disabled person.

Like the change in semantics of Bad now meaning Good, the semantics of the developmentally disabled have changed throughout our country’s history. Please excuse a word or terminology throughout our book used in explaining disability history. It includes words that are seen today as demeaning, such as: imbecile, retarded, crippled, feeble minded, and handicapped. These words are used only as they fit the historical context of the time and certainly no insults are intended. This terminology chart reveals much about how society viewed the disabled throughout our history. Today medical science can make some disabilities invisible.