Enduring Faith

Anti-war demonstrations, race riots, and increased drug use brought turbulent times for teenagers in l969. But seventeen-year-old Mary Thorson did not participate in demonstrations, riots, the drug culture, or the hippie movement. Her mother, Patricia, has spent most of the seven years after her husband's death in a mental hospital, the San Francisco drug scene, and a rural Oregon hippie colony. Mary and her sister Susan have lived in the interim in two foster homes and with their warm-hearted Christian grandmother. Mary is disappointed when her mother does not return or phone on Christmas. She fears being placed in a new foster home because of a previous experience with foster parents, and asks Tom to allow her and Sue to remain in his house until her mother returns. Mary has been very useful as a cook and housekeeper and Tom agrees. In the months that follow, Mary nurses Tom back to health after a serious illness, Tom admires Mary's faith and becomes a stronger Christian, and Tom's admiration for Mary turns to love. Mary is in love but tries to hide it.