Anita Lynne Tebbs, center, is shown with her parents, Richard and Audrey Tebbs, in this 2001 photo.
Richard Tebbs died this week, two days after his daughter. (Photo credit: File Photo / )
Video of one of Anita's caretakers at link.
Posted on 07/06/2007 7:55:02 PM PDT by BykrBayb
Lives of father and daughter intertwined until the end Richard and Anita Lynne Tebbs died within two days of each other
WASHINGTON COUNTY - Family members say Anita Lynne Tebbs' bond with her father, Richard Tebbs Sr., was so strong that it was evident to anyone who knew them.
"They were just inseparable," said Anita's sister, Felecia Skidmore.
Audrey Tebbs said she was not surprised when her daughter and husband died within two days of each other this week.
"I always said that if anything happened to her, I hoped that he'd go too, because he positively couldn't live without her," she said.
"He loved her more than anything," she said.
Anita Lynne Tebbs was born with cerebral palsy. Her parents founded the Anita Lynne Home, now called Star Community, in her honor.
The facility, on 145 acres on Broadfording Church Road northeast of Clear Spring, is a residential home serving people with developmental disabilities.
Skidmore said her parents devoted their lives to the home, and to caring for Anita.
Several weeks ago, Anita sustained a broken leg. While waiting for the leg to heal, she developed pneumonia from physical inactivity, Audrey Tebbs said.
Skidmore said that Anita was on life support in the hospital. The equipment was turned off June 17, she said.
On Sunday, Anita died. She was 48.
Two days later, her 81-year-old father died after a hip operation at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Baltimore.
He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for some time, family members said.
For Audrey Tebbs, the timing of the deaths was no coincidence.
"I always thought that that's the way it should be because he did love her so much," she said.
Arnold Eby, the executive director of Star Community, witnessed their relationship.
"Mr. Tebbs was certainly devoted to her," he said. "Their lives were so intertwined."
Others who witnessed their interaction said that the pair often played games together.
"(Anita) was always very playful," said Ginny Gaylor, the director of the equestrian center at Star Community, "but when her dad was coming, or when her dad was here, she was way more playful," she said.
Gaylor described Anita as a "daddy's girl" and said that she would "latch onto" her father when he came to visit her at the home.
Eileene Carbaugh, a crew leader at Star Community, said she had been close to Anita since beginning work at the Anita Lynne Home when the two were teenagers, she said.
"She was family to me," Carbaugh said. "She was like a sister to me."
Carbaugh said that she had similar feelings toward Richard Tebbs and his wife.
"They treated you like family ...," she said. "I felt like I was more family than an (employee)."
Carbaugh said the bond between father and daughter was undeniable.
"Their closeness was really there," she said. "The love that each one of them had for each other was definitely seen and known when those two were around."
A joint funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at Victory Baptist Church in Boonsboro. Burial will be in Cedar Lawn Memorial Park.
Audrey Tebbs said the family was coping well with the losses.
"The family is all happy, there's no real sadness because we know they are so much better off," she said.
"We're all taking it fine, and we're trusting the Lord's going to take care of them now," she said.
Skidmore said the short time between the deaths was fitting.
"It was just such great timing," she said. "God had it all figured out that they would go together. The fact that they both went together was kind of a miracle."
Anita Lynne Tebbs, center, is shown with her parents, Richard and Audrey Tebbs, in this 2001 photo.
Richard Tebbs died this week, two days after his daughter. (Photo credit: File Photo / )
Video of one of Anita's caretakers at link.
Anita, who had cerebral palsy, died two weeks after her "life support" was "turned off."
Two days later, her father, who had Alzheimer's, died after hip replacement surgery.
His widow says "The family is all happy, there's no real sadness because we know they are so much better off." She also says the timing of their deaths was no coincidence. I was wondering about that myself.
Yes, it seems her father loved her very much.
What a love family - love and devotion. This is beautiful and surprisingly not sad at all. Even the Mom left behind seems to feel at peace. They are as perfect as you can get.
I wonder what the life support was.
Thanks. Nice post.
I have a ‘special needs’ niece who adores me. The feeling is mutual.
God help us the day we start seriously selecting out for folks like Anita Lynne Tebbs. Can the day of selecting out for folks like me be far behind?
There, in a nutshell, is a classic testimony of how faith in Jesus helps folks face life (with its severest difficulties) and death (with His promise of eternal life) with that "peace that passes all understanding".
Audrey Tebbs is, indeed, "taking it all fine". May her remaining years here be truly blessed! She, obviously, knows where she's headed when it is over...
What a beautiful story. Thanks for posting it.
Very touching
I can tell you right now that the majority of unborn babies who are tested, and shown having a high likelihood of down syndrome or other serious deformities are aborted quickly.
Two weeks? I’m guessing food and water.
The Tebbses were blessed by God with the opportunity to care for Anita, and abundantly fulfilled in their own lives by the transcendent love they wrapped around her. What a soul-stirring story! We are inspired by quiet people who ask nothing and give everything, for they show us all how we can rise above ourselves.
How stunted, in contrast, are the materialists who complain that caring for others is an imposition, and who measure life and love in dollar signs.
Hard to say. They had a whole facility to care for Anita, apparently run by a loving family. There seems no point to just snuffing her after all the years. I do hope this is not a darker story.
It’s perfectly legal in every state to deprive cognitively impaired people of food and water until they die. It usually takes about two weeks. According to some, it’s the purest form of love and Christianity. How sweet!
“It’s perfectly legal in every state to deprive cognitively impaired people of food and water until they die.”
I didn’t know it was legal in EVERY state, and that is so heartbreaking.
But I was wondering if that was the case in this story.
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