Larry
One of Us- Larry Bumgardner
Written by Florence "DeeDee" Riffe
Ask most people to characterize a prisoner, and you'll likely get an answer listing distinctions between "them" and "us." Not Larry Bumgardner, who sees no fundamental difference between people incarcerated and people with stable jobs.
Larry routinely escorts prisoners from Durham Correctional Center on Guess Road to Habitat of Durham builds-and to church and to dinner and to his home. "I've never had anything bad happen," Larry said. "All I've had is a good time."
He got started on the prison mission simply enough-through his own children, who remained in Durham's newly integrated public schools in the 1970's and through three children adopted by the Bumgardners. From the vantage of close interaction with many youngsters deemed "at risk," he saw both successes and failures, including prison sentences for youngsters he had known.
His Habitat mission began about the same time he was observing paths to prison in downtown Durham, joining Habitat of Durham pioneer Worth Lutz and reading No More Shacks: The Daring Vision of Habitat for Humanity by Habitat founder Millard Fuller. Bumgardner, Lutz and others worked all day every Saturday at Habitat builds in those early years, until "volunteers became more plentiful and I could step back," Larry said. He is a former president of the Habitat of Durham board of directors.
Today as a retiree, Larry takes about 40 male prisoners-in rotation, not all at once-to Habitat sites. He admits he was nervous at first, but no longer, citing data that only one prisoner he has worked with this decade has returned to prison after being released. (Compare that to the national recidivism average of about 40%.) Not only are the prisoners screened for participation in Community Volunteer Pass projects, but those who take responsibility for them must also complete courses.
The road to advocate for the incarcerated from a farm in what Larry describes as "rural North Carolina; nearest town was Lincolnton" was not typical. As the oldest of six children in a farm family, he helped grow the food they ate. College seemed out of reach until Larry was awarded assistance through the National Defense Education Act of 1958. He studied electrical engineering at North Carolina State and completed the Reserve Officers Training Corps program. His third achievement in college was to meet and marry fellow NC State student Nancy Becton. Following a stint in the Army in South Korea, Larry came home to North Carolina and worked for 30 years at IBM in its retail point-of-sale division (think scanners and bar codes).
Education is partner to passion in Larry's style. One of his hallmark comments before stating his opinions is the statement, "I haven't done a scientific study, but . . . ." That isn't necessarily so, as the electrical engineer with degrees from both North Carolina State and Duke (with minors in math and physics) uses scientific method and data to support his conclusions. You should ask him next time you see him for a refreshing explanation about "us." Just remember that there are no "thems" in his world view.
This is one of the 25 stories included in Habitat of Durham's 25th anniversary history book, Building Hope Equity: 25 Years With Habitat for Humanity in Durham, NC. The book was written by DeeDee Riffe and designed and produced by Linda Barnett as their gift to Habitat of Durham. To learn how you can purchase this book and support Habitat of Durham's mission, click here.
