Corina Handy calls the Billy Graham Library home. She volunteered there for nearly two years before her health forced her to stop and move closer to family. For six years, she wanted to return and finally got that chance Monday (June 15). Corina has Multiple System Atrophy, a terminal neurological disorder, but says she is at complete peace and knows that through Christ, she has nothing to fear.
Corina had a special brick engraved to honor her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Shumate. She still remembers sitting in her grandfather's lap, watching Billy Graham on TV. The brick can be found on the walkway around the Billy Graham Library.
Corina says the Library has blessed her in so many ways, but staffers say she has blessed them. Terri Hazen and Anne Marie Armistead, who work with Library volunteers, have come to call Corina a dear friend.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." Corina was more than grateful to all who helped organize her trip to the Library, including her friend Doug Barrett, a regional manager with BGEA's donor ministries.
The Library, Corina said, "is just as beautiful as I remember it being." She paused in the doorway of the Graham family homeplace to take it all in.
Cathie Bowers volunteered with Corina in the homeplace, the house Billy Graham grew up in. The pair would give tours of the home, sharing details of Mr. Graham's upbringing. "You taught me everything I know," Corina told her.
Corina in her element. It was several years since she'd given a tour of the homeplace—situated right in front of the Library—but all the facts came back as she began telling a crowd about the smallest details of the home.
Library staff treated Corina to chicken salad wraps for lunch, her favorite treat from the Library's Dairy Bar.
