Family gets lease on new life
Community unites to help after fatal car crash, eviction shake household
GROESBECK — Standing in the front yard, ringed by family and friends who are practically family, Bryston Ferguson knew Thursday morning that he had landed a $20,000 scholarship that will help him realize his dream of becoming an orthodontist.
The scholarship and his 4.1 high school GPA are impressive, bittersweet achievements, coming as they do just 16 months after his parents were killed in a car crash that orphaned Bryston, his two brothers and little sister.
The kids’ grandmother, Judy Ferguson — herself mourning the death of her husband of 36 years — moved in to take care of them, trading her empty nest for a full house. By the end of the year, however, the family had been evicted and the children sent to live with relatives and family, scattered from Waco to College Station.
The news of Bryston’s scholarship was made all the sweet
er by having his siblings together for the first time in months , and that the boys got a chance to meet the son of baseball legend Mickey Mantle. They hugged tightly in the yard.
The scholarship announcement was just the lure, however. The real surprise was behind them.
“Welcome home, guys,” David Mills said raising a key to the front door of the red brick house. “You guys are sleeping here tonight.”
Bryston, Koven, Camden and Jaylee huddled, practically holding up their teary-eyed grandmother, awestruck at what practically the whole town and all their friends knew: They were moving into the furnished, threebedroom, two-bath home.
The Fergusons hugged as many of those in on the secret rushed in from hiding spots along the side of the house and the feed store across the highway. Brandi Getz, 38, said the hardest part was keeping the secret from the Ferguson kids as the community gathered the resources to put them back in place, together.
“We just lied to a bunch of people, but we had to do it,” Getz said. “We wanted it to be a surprise we were bringing them home.”
It is a home tinged with loss, however. The kids’ parents, Daryl and Johanna Ferguson, were southbound on FM 39 east of Groesbeck near home around 1 a.m. Jan. 19, 2019, when their sedan veered from the road. According to Texas Department of Public Safety investigators, Daryl steered back onto the road, but crossed the northbound lane and went back off the pavement bordered by steep drainage basins. The Nissan rolled several times and Johanna, who went by JoJo, was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected. Daryl remained buckled, but both died at the scene.
It was the latest blow Judy Ferguson was forced to absorb. The previous May, her husband of 36 years, “Big Daryl,” aka “Dooley,” had died of cancer at 58. She moved next door into the home the children had shared with their parents.
“I didn’t see at my age raising four kids, but I knew what I had to do,” Judy Ferguson said.
The change came with challenges, namely eviction that December from the only home the kids had ever known. As other families were preparing for Christmas, the Fergusons were preparing to move. The kids found themselves in an unfamiliar place: apart.
Bryston landed in Waco while Jaylee, 8, left for family in College Station. Kovan, 13, stayed in Groesbeck with family friends. Camden, 16, bounced from house to house. All of them were cared for, but Bryston said it simply was not the same. Judy moved up the road to Mexia, living with her sister and seeing the children when she could.
The distance took a toll on all of them, Bryston said. What they yearned for was Groesbeck, with its population somewhere around 4,300. The town, formed around a rural railroad stop between Houston and Fort Worth set between rolling green hills and rocky riversides in Limestone County, moves at a pace that makes Waco seem chaotic. Thursday morning, local police stopped traffic on Texas 164 so some of the celebrants could run across to spring the surprise about the house.
“I miss simplicity and not having to be separated from my family,” Bryston said, adding it was always his aim to return the family to Groesbeck, even though he will be leaving soon for Blinn College. Though a bit of a ruse to keep the house a surprise, the scholarship is real. It will go far for Bryston, who will graduate high school Friday with a 4.1 GPA.
The family’s struggles and Bryston’s achievements drew the attention of the Spring-based Kailee Mills Foundation. David and Wendy Mills started the charity after their 16-year-old daughter Kailee was killed in a crash while trying to take a selfie on Halloween
night 2017. She was not wearing a seat belt.
The Mills formed the foundation to increase awareness about seat belt use and to help families like theirs affected by roadway crashes. David Mills said he and Wendy always wanted to do a scholarship for someone who lost a family member to a crash and was happy to make Bryston the first.
“To be able to finish strong like you did is such an inspiration,” David Mills told the teen.
Because the Ferguson boys are all standout baseball players, the choice to present the check was easy: David Mantle, son of Yankee legend Mickey Mantle, a friend of the Mills and someone active with the foundation.
For his part, Bryston said he just focused on making a better life for himself and his family.
“You can’t feel bad for yourself, the world keeps going,” he said.
For now, it will go on with his brothers and sister down the hall. Minutes into their new home, the family was returning to normal. Kovan bounded into the living room, Camden not far behind. They already had sized up where they could throw a football or baseball in the backyard.
The foundation closed on the house May 8, transferring it to a trust set up for the Fergusons. All told, the foundation was able to cover the home and furnishings, moving services, painters and contractors that worked to put the home back into shape. The dilapidated walkway in front was replaced by a meandering concrete path, the name “Ferguson” carved in the corner.
“I want them to be together to heal from tragedy,” Mills said.
Two newly planted Monterrey oaks stand in the front yard. One for Daryl and one for JoJo.