My mother Jackie was born into a military family in 1958. She was the second oldest of four siblings. Her family traveled all over the U.S. and to many European nations. She spent her preteen years in Germany, where she began to experiment with drugs. In 1972, the Brown family moved back to the US and bought a house in Cleveland, OH. My mother and her older brother befriended the boy next door, her future husband and my father, Henry R. Burks, Jr.

During Jackie’s teen years, she developed a passion for art and creative writing. I remember my mother telling me that she wanted to become a playwright and novelist like Toni Morrison. When my mother graduated from high school, she was disappointed to learn that her parents could not afford to send her off to college. She took a job as a legal secretary and moved in to her own apartment. My mother became a heavy drinker during this time and stopped drawing and writing.

My father Henry was born and raised in Cleveland, OH in 1958 and is the oldest of four siblings. My father had a stable home life but was drawn to the more exciting 1970’s culture of underage drinking and drug use. In high school, Henry took honor classes and graduated a year earlier than most teens his age. Right out of school he got a job with his father working at the Ford Motor Plant and joined the union. My dad got his own apartment and began to court my mother after she graduated from high school. He earned enough money to shower my mom with flowers and other gifts on a regular basis. They moved into an apartment of their own, married in 1979, and in January of 1980 I was born.

We lived in the suburbs of Cleveland while my dad maintained his job at Ford. My mother quit her job as a secretary and had my sister, Lorita, in 1984. This was a very difficult time in my parents’ marriage because they spent most of their money and time freebasing cocaine and drinking. My parents fought over money all of the time because the bills, rent and car note weren’t getting paid. The drug abuse and lack of fiscal responsibility eventually led to our family’s first eviction.

My parents divorced around 1988 and my mother obtained full custody of my sister and me. My father continued down the path of excessive substance abuse, was arrested for drug possession and was sentenced to one year and a half in prison in 1989. My sister and I were devastated that our father was gone and we wrote letters back and forth to maintain our connection.

This was just the beginning of the hardships my family faced. My parents spent years in the shadow of substance abuse and took Lorita and myself with them. It wasn’t until 1994 that Lorita and I saw an extended moment of peace grace our lives.

Betty Jean Massengale became a certified foster parent in 1994. Before that she had been a successful career woman, owner of several houses and dedicated mother. She had successfully raised seven children of her own, became a loving grandmother of several beautiful children, and decided to branch out and help girls at risk. Most of her children were grown with lives of their own and she was left with a large house and empty rooms to fill. Lorita and I were included in the first batch of girls Betty Jean welcomed into her large family. Betty Jean stressed the values of education, hard work and self-knowledge. Betty Jean gave me my first camera and encouraged me to follow my dream to become an artist and filmmaker. Betty had a good relationship with both Henry and Jackie and always invited them into her home and into our lives as well.

Lorita and I spent our remaining teenage years with Betty and our new family. Betty saw us off to prom, high school graduation and college.

My mother passed away in 2004, she never had the chance to see Saving Jackie or learn about the lives that the film touched. Lorita, the rest of our family and I keep her memory alive by cherishing some of the more peaceful moments she experienced at the end of her life. Jackie poured all she had into making Saving Jackie special and sincere. The two of us had the opportunity to help each other heal the pain inflicted by a past covered in substance abuse, neglect and disappointment. She was very proud that both of her daughters became successful, hard working, self-sufficient young women. Lorita and I became the woman our Mother always wanted to be but couldn’t, because she never truly believed in herself. Our mother’s life represents a painful lesson that Lorita and I vow to never repeat.

My father is alive, well and sober for over a year. Henry studies electrical engineering at a community college in Cleveland, works full time, and attends church and AA meetings regularly. My father is learning how to live all over again and is succeeding at it day by day. He calls Lorita and me weekly to let us know how he did on a test or to talk about a movie. We are both very proud and thankful to have him back as our father.

Lorita, now 24, lives in Cleveland and maintains a full time job while attending college part-time. She has been in a committed and loving six-year relationship. One of Lorita’s goals is to become a self-employed business woman who invests money into her big sister’s films. The two of us talk all the time and continue to support and encourage one another to do our best.

Betty Jean now takes in young boys and children with special needs. She has slowed down her intake of children to focus on her two dozen grandchildren and her tax business. Betty remains a rock to her ever-growing family and continues to instill in her loved ones that they must never settle for less. Lorita and I always spend holidays and birthdays with Betty and the rest of the Massengale family.