MonticelloLive

He ran a farm for the same man for 33 years. She did a little bit of everything. But for the past 13 years, Floyd and Jane Killough have been houseparents at the Arkansas Baptist Home for Children here in Monticello. They care for upwards of 8 middle school and high school girls at any given time. Raising children of their own didn’t turn out to be part of God’s plan for their lives, yet they have had the privilege of parenting hundreds of young ladies at the Baptist Home in those 13 years.

Jane was born and raised in Lambert, MS, and her sister married a man from Carraway, AR. When Jane’s sister had complications during her first pregnancy, she went to Carraway to help her out. Shortly after her arrival she met Floyd, who had lived there his whole life. When Jane got ready to return to Mississippi, Floyd told her, “I’ll see you in 2 weeks.” And he went to see her every 2 weeks until they were married 10 months later in September of 1967.

While Floyd farmed cotton, soybeans, wheat and corn, Jane worked in the local department store, in just about every department in the store! She later went to beautician school and worked as a hairdresser. Jane is also revered as an excellent cook and cake baker, which she also did for a living out of her home. The biggest cake she ever baked was actually made up of thirty-three 9×13 cakes put together on 3 pieces of plywood. It was ordered by a factory celebrating it’s 10 year anniversary, and she even decorated the cake with the company’s logo. Jane also did sewing from her home, worked as a florist and was activities director for 2 different retirement homes. All of these skills would come in handy later on…

Since the late 1980’s, Jane had been feeling called into children’s ministry, and had seen an ad in the Baptist newspaper for houseparents at the Children’s Home. However, when she approached Floyd about it, he said he wasn’t ready to give up farming just yet. It would be another 6 years before things changed… 6 years that Jane said taught her a lot about patience. She continued to feel God calling her to work with children, and in 1994, she and Floyd made the trip to Monticello to see what the Children’s Home was all about. During their visit to the Home, Jane says, “We fell in love with the kids here.” Yet they were unsure of their ability to perform the job, and asked to come for another visit. As they struggled with the decision to pull up stakes and take on the challenges of houseparenting, their church in Carraway prayed for them. Jane says she and Floyd were at home one afternoon. He was watching TV at one end of the room while she read the paper at the other end. They both stopped what they were doing and looked up at the same time and said, “What do you think?” The rest, as they say, is history.

The Killough’s started at the Baptist Home as relief houseparents for the 2 older girls’ cottages. Three months later, one of the regular houseparents became ill and had to be admitted to the hospital. When it became apparent that she would no longer be able to carry on as a houseparent, then-director Royce Aston asked Floyd and Jane if they would be interested in taking over the cottage, and they’re still in that same cottage today. Says Jane, “If this wasn’t God’s calling, we wouldn’t have lasted 13 years.” And this in a vocation where the average length of service is approximately 5 years or less.

Both say that faith has played a big part in their ministry to the girls at the Home. Jane relates that it took a great deal of faith just to come to Monticello. Floyd had lived in Carraway his entire life, and Jane had lived there for 28 years, but they had faith that God would provide for them. Jane says that their faith has grown tremendously day-to-day as they’ve helped their girls deal with the struggles they often face. And one of the greatest rewards of living and working at the Home has been watching many of their girls put their Christian faith into practice. Jane says seeing a child come to ABHC and get involved in church and grow spiritually “is a blessing to see.”

According to Jane, some of the best things about houseparenting are nurturing, feeding and clothing her girls. She loves to take them clothes shopping, and the look on a girl’s face when she picks out some nice outfit and the girl says it’s just what she wanted. “I love loving on them,” says Jane. Floyd relates that many of the children that arrive at the Home come in with no respect for adults. He says watching them learn to be polite and respectful, especially out in the community, is one of the great rewards for him. Both say they derive great joy when former residents call to catch them up on their lives. Sometimes the news is good, other times not so good. But knowing after all those years that the girls still consider them a stable influence in their lives is truly a blessing. Both related stories of girls from when they first started to work as houseparents. For Jane, it was a girl she met when they first visited the campus. She struck up a conversation with her about art, and they have kept in touch through the years. Floyd and Jane even think of this young lady’s child as their granddaughter. Floyd tells the story of a girl in one of the cottages that had been molested for most of her adolescent life prior to coming to the Home, and as a result she would have nothing to do with men. Floyd walked into the cottage one day with a container of peanuts, and the young girl was curled up on the couch, keeping her distance. Floyd says he sat by her and offered her some peanuts. They struck up a conversation, and after that, they were inseparable. The houseparent told Floyd that no male had ever been able to carry on a conversation with her before, much less develop a close relationship with her.

In addition to her houseparenting responsibilities, Jane is also a 4-H volunteer, working with the Lucky Clovers, the 4-H chapter on the ABHC campus. Floyd is “semi-retired” since he started drawing Social Security. Because he can only earn a certain amount of money without jeopardizing his benefit, whenever Jane has to occasionally work on her days off, Floyd just donates his time and works as a volunteer. They also teach 2nd grade Sunday School together at First Baptist Church. In 3 more years, Jane will be eligible for her retirement, and they will see what God has in store for them next. One thing that’s for certain, it won’t be an idle retirement. Both have a desire to travel the country and do mission work. Jane also wants to work in a soup kitchen someday after her days at the Home are over. In the meantime, they spend their off-duty days doing the things they enjoy. They both like watching movies (particularly comedies), and while Floyd likes to spend his free time outdoors, Jane enjoys cooking, sewing and baking.

One life of farming. One life of many different occupations. 40 years later, they have touched hundreds of young lives at the Arkansas Baptist Home for Children. Floyd and Jane Killough… one Monticello life.