Sat, Jul 04 2009
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Published November 09, 2008 09:09 pm - GRANBY, Mo. — They seemed an unlikely pair when they first met. He was not long out of the Navy, gripped by a “party mentality,” sporting a mullet haircut and tattoos, and locked in a struggle with drugs and alcohol. She was a teacher at a church school in the Los Angeles area. Granby man finds solace by helping others By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com GRANBY, Mo. — They seemed an unlikely pair when they first met. He was not long out of the Navy, gripped by a “party mentality,” sporting a mullet haircut and tattoos, and locked in a struggle with drugs and alcohol. She was a teacher at a church school in the Los Angeles area. “I was pretty down and out,” recalled Frank Ames, when his sister thought she would take him to a comedy night put on by the local church group more than 14 years ago in California. There, he met Laura Tucker. The pair would wed and become Frank and Laura Ames later that year. In the years to come, he would fracture his back and have to undergo rehabilitation to recover the use of his legs. She would contract a rare, ruthless form of cancer that would lead to the death of an unborn child and, much later, to her own. It’s been a little more than a year since Frank Ames lost his wife, but he has found solace as a father, a speaker, a philanthropist, perhaps as a life-insurance salesman and, above all, as the teller of a story — hers. Changed man It’s a quiet Wednesday morning at Ames’ home in south Granby. The garage door is open. The back of Ames’ truck is visible, and it bears the dates of his wife’s birth and death, photos of her, and ribbon decals. Inside the house, Ames is wearing a powder-blue shirt emblazoned in one corner with Community True Love Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that he founded in the wake of Laura’s death to help raise money for needy families. Ames is remembering how he and his wife met at the comedy night 14 years ago. Laura, he said, was emceeing the event. His sister introduced them, and their “eyes locked.” The introduction became a watershed moment for Ames. “It’s like God hit me over the head and said, ‘There you go. There’s your chance (to turn your life around),’” Ames said. Ames said he became determined to show her that he was a changed man, and that he “got straight with God again.” The couple began dating. Ames returned to church, and conquered his problems with drugs and alcohol. About eight months and a couple of dozen marriage proposals after they met, the couple wedded in December 1994. Laura kept teaching at the local church school. Ames kept working in construction, mostly digging subway tunnels. Within the next couple of years, they would have two children. 
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