Valentine's Day is around the corner, and while it's normally associated with romance, it celebrates any type of love, especially the one between a parent and a child. The Long family in this photo from the February 10, 1988 edition of The Romeo Observer proves that kind especially.
Pictured from left to right are Kevin, who loves puzzles, cars, and his teacher Mrs. Martinelli of Hamilton-Parsons Elementary School; Steven, who is called Tubby due to his love for food; Michael, who enjoys trains and cars; Kelly, who is Daddy's girl and loves her dolls and her Kitty Cat snowmobile; and Carole, who is "strongly independent" and loves Cabbage Patch Kid and Rascal the family dog.
Carol and Jerry Long of Bruce Township decided to adopt 5 Koren children in the late 1980s even though they already had 4 adult kids by that point. They made this decision when they were on a camping trip in Canada in 1983. According to The Romeo Observer, they met a couple, now friends, who were camping with their twin Korean daughters at that time. Carol and Jerry applied for a child three weeks later, and within eight months, a little girl named Carole arrived.
This changed their lives so much that in 1984, Carol started working for Heal The Children, "an organization that provides medical attention for Third World children" by helping to organize fundraising actitivies. She later acted as an escort to bring Korean children to prospective parents in the United States through Foreign Adoption Cosultants, an adoption agency in Rochester Hills.
Jerry also said, "These kids are here to stay. They are a permanent part of the family."
Love definitely knows no boundaries.