by Lois Szymanski, photography by Nikola Tzenov
Many know Velma Green through her work at The Shepherd’s Staff, but others may not know how Velma
has demonstrated her love and compassion before arriving to work
at the Westminster nonprofit.
At 87, Velma spreads kindness everywhere she goes, including her church and home, where she and her late husband, Marshall, fostered more than 100 children.“I always taught my children to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be loving and kind. Everybody is not going to like you, and that is OK. You still have to be kind to that person as well,” she says. Currently a case manager and outreach coordinator for The Shepherd’s Staff, Velma was a stay-at-home mom in her early life. She then worked for Human Services Programs of Carroll County at the state daycare center in Westminster.
Velma recalls being baptized in holy water from the Jordan River when she was 14 after a minister brought water from Jerusalem to fill a pool at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. She and her late husband shared the same Christian values. After they married, they adopted their first child in 1960. “We took her first as a foster child — a brand-new baby — and then ended up adopting her,” Velma says. “My husband said he was fortunate enough that someone looked out for him when his mom wasn’t there. He had a mom, but someone stepped in the gap for her, and he wanted to extend that to someone else.”
“When our clients walk in, they are the most important people to her. When they leave here, they’re always in a better place because of Velma.” – Cindy Potee
The Greens had four more children of their own and, along the way, became foster parents. “Some would be there for several hours, and some many years,” she says. “My very first foster child was there from the time he was in first grade until he graduated high school, along with his brother. They both still stay in contact with us. They are a part of our family. One was 5, and one was 6 when we took them in.”
Bonnie Jackson was 11 years old when she arrived. It was her second foster home after running away at age 10. “I was a very difficult child,” Bonnie says, “a very angry child. I had dealt with a lot of abuse.” Bonnie says the Greens were under- standing, never ugly or short-tempered. “They made sure I knew I was cared about and loved, and over time, I realized that I was loved. I was included in everything the Velma Green: family did. If it wasn’t for her love and the home they gave me, I would likely be dead right now,” Bonnie says.
Her mom had a heroin addiction and sold her daughter to support her habit, Bonnie says. After Bonnie ran away from home, Social Services stepped in. “I didn’t really know what family was,” she shares through her tears. “I didn’t know my grandmother because my mom made it a point to stay away from family. She didn’t want them to know what she was doing.” Bonnie was with the Greens for a year and a half before being reunited with her grandmother.
“Those kids [the Green’s biological children] shared their parents so openly. They were all so genuine, and we were all treated the same. You wouldn’t have known I was a foster kid if I weren’t white,” she says. The Greens came into her life at the exact time she needed them, Bonnie says.
“How could they possibly understand what we kids were dealing with, but somehow, they did, and they loved us through it. I’m not sure if I had a teenage kid screaming in my face, I would have been so patient. But they never yelled … never raised a voice.” She says the experience changed her to the core, making her who she is today.
Together, Velma and Marshall taught their children a spirit of giving, and they followed that example. “My daughters Marian and Tracie welcomed each new child as a sibling when they arrived,” Velma shares. “All my children did. My son Marshall has adopted and fostered children [as an adult], and my daughter, Lorianne, and my youngest son, Chris, did as well.”
Velma’s son, Marshall J. Green Jr. — a Hampstead resident and executive vice president at CLSI, a land surveying and civil engineering firm in Westminster — says his personal and family successes are rooted in the values his parents instilled in him as a child.
“My wife and I were blessed to adopt 10 children, and we have fostered about 20 over our time as foster parents,” he says. “As foster parents, my mom and dad never treated the children placed in their home any differently than their biological children,” Marshall says. His foster brothers, Randy and Danna, were placed in his parents’ care before he was born. He didn’t know they weren’t his biological brothers until he was in middle school, after the brothers graduated from
high school.
Randy Magruder remembers being 5 when he and his brother came to live with the Greens in 1962. “I was the eighth child in a family of nine kids. Each of us was separated and went in different directions,” he says. “Coming from a family without structure, and moving into a family with structure was a culture shock.”
As a child, he couldn’t see the big picture, but as a parent and adult, Randy says the sacrifice is clear.
“A hardheaded teenager is not always compliant, but they had a big love for me. I didn’t always understand it, but as I have gotten older, I am ever so grateful that I had them as my parents,” says Randy.
Randy was the first young Black man to work at Union National Bank in Westminster and one of the first Black high school students to take college classes at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College). He learned to cut meat working at Bullock’s, attended church and volunteered alongside the family at community events.
“They did a fantastic job. [Velma] has a big, big heart, and I am a living testimony to the difference she has made,” Randy says. “My parents always demonstrated in front of us the importance of giving back and living our lives to reflect the love of Christ,” Marshall says.
“She has shown us that caring for others more than yourself and helping anyone that comes our way is not by chance but by providence.” Velma continues to give that same type of love to her community. Since 2001, she’s been a listening ear at The Shepherd’s Staff, networking to provide financial services, food, transportation, housing, medical and other needs to those in crisis.
“Velma is a joy to work with,” says Cindy Potee, who serves in administration at The Shepherd’s Staff. “She’s kind and helpful, and she truly cares about people. When our clients walk in, they are the most important people to her. When they leave here, they’re always in a better place because of Velma.” Not long ago, Bonnie, who now lives in Kentucky with her husband, visited Momma Green,” the woman who changed her life. “I stopped by and gave her a hug,” she says. “My husband, Chris, told her, ‘Thank you for raising Bonnie the way you did because it made her who she is.’”
Randy looks forward to seeing the Greens during the holiday season. “That’s my mom, and I love her to death,” he says. “I’d stand in front of a train for her.”
