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Show - Page E4 Sunday, March THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 13, 1994 sets Kiwanis immunization clinic Thursday ' By ELIZABETH WEiSE Associated Press Writer J SAN FRANCISCO He would be a man now. ' That's the hardest thing to understand, looking into the eyes of he freckle-face- d boy who stares frum posters and flyers in the office of the foundation that bears I his name. Hair mussed, eyes big with an ! -, old Kevin Collins pers over his Lshoulder in the picture that has graced a hundred thousand flyers. It's easy to imagine him with three of his brothers stealing change for candy from the wishing pond at Golden Gate Park. It's easy to imagine him dirty from fighting schoolyard battles .for his younger brothers at St. Agnes School. It's not easy to imagine him dead. Only now, 10 years after he disappeared off a San Francisco street corner on his way home from basketball practice one winter night, has his family begun to be able to imagine him that way. A year ago, the other eight Collins children, now 17 to 29, went to their mother Ann and said, "We need to let Kevin be at . peace." Then they approached their father, the director and "chief cook and bottle washer" of the Kevin Collins Foundation for Missing Children. "They came to me eight months ago. They said they wanted a resolution," says David Collins. "I think it will make it easier ... ," says the thin man in a subdued gray sweater who has devot ld ed his life to searching, first for his son and then for other missing children when hope for his son's return dimmed. On Feb. 10, the family gathered at Holy Cross Cemetery for a private memorial service. There, they dedicated a simple and what's important," says David. Maybe things would have worked out differently if they hadn't lost Kevin. Only a few of the children have spent time at the foundation. "They stay out of here," says their father, looking around the clearly nonprofit office that has granite bench nestled between two trees. It bears Kevin's picture and the engraved words "Forever in our hearts." become his second home. "I knew after he was gone that this was going to be my life's work," he says. For Ann, the focus was the "It's a special place in the new area for children. It's beautiful." says his mother, Ann Deasy Collins. She sits with hands clasped tightly together, looking younger than her 54 years on the corner of a stained, donated couch in 'the Foundation's San Francisco office. into." . think we have aii accepted that Kevin is dead. For a long time we hardly talked." When they held a family meeting to discuss the memorial it was the first time in years they'd all been in the same room. "Kevin has brought us together again." She has come during her lunch hour from her job as secretary to a painting contractor. She looks too tiny to have borne seven children. were troubled. One day their brother was there, the next day he was gone. The kids had trouble sleeping. Their grades slipped. W if y4 AP Photo Ann Collins reacts to memories of her son Kevin Collins, who has been missing for 10 years. Only now after Kevin disappeared off a San Francisco street corner, has his family begun to accept that he may be dead; They recently held a private memorial service. youngest, who The three and Ann divorced. It was an amicable parting. Neither attributes it directly to Kevin's disappearance. "It takes you down to basics really show's you who you are roamed as a fearless band togeth- er with Kevin, were afraid to leave the family apartment. Eventually the three oldest dropped out of school. Five years later David "I can't imagine what it would have been like if he'd been an only child. I wouldn't still be here. I couldn't have taken it," she said. But Kevin isn't gone. Tellingly, when she goes down the list to get the ages of her children right, she still includes Kevin, right between Gary, 21, and Kenny, 18. It has taken years for the family to come out of shock, she says. It was especially hard for the other children, always being the sibling of "that boy who disappeared. " But life has gone on. Kenny graduated' from high school last year. Stephen, 24, got married in January. There are turns your life upside it seems like For further information contact Robert Jackson of the Pleasant and n Grove Kiwanis Club at 785-700- 8. tstm GRANITE FURNITURE-WINDO- W TREATMENT DEPARTMENT CO We're remodeling Utah's premier window I treatment center. Save big on blinds, shades, draperies, duettes and more. Bring in these coupons for extra values! 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' will hold an immunization clinic e Thursday, March 17. The "Slug"-Th-' ' : ' mobile immunization unit Bug' will be at American Fork Albert "" son's parking lot, 7 p.m. Home Health Plus nurses will ad: minister the immunizations and ' ' Pleasant Grove Kiwanis members " will assist with paperwork. Future clinics are scheduled for ' June 1, July 29, and Oct. 12. A charge of $3 will be made for a ' "shot" but no charge if circum- -' stances warrant. three grandchildren; Laura has a daughter and Michelle, 26, has a girl and a boy. down. Sometimes there's only before-Kevi- - "All outbreaks of preventable childhood diseases must be reversed.' Children can be vaccinated against measles, mumps, ruoeua, polio, diptheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, haemophilus influenza type B, and hepatitis B through a series of shots beginning' as early as birth, Infants and tod- -' dlers are at highest risk. It's not good enough to wait until they start children. "We were blessed because we had a large family, we had something to put our energy ' I The years after Kevin's disappearance were hard on the family. Traumas like the one the Collins endured don't heal easily, and the scars spawn their own troubles. inAll of the other children cluding a foster child and a cousin who grew up with the family PLEASANT GROVE their shots while they're tots" ts the theme of the Pleasant Grove Kiwanis Club "Young Children-Priorit- y One" program. There are nine contagious diseases for which effective childhood vaccines exist. However, three in 10 infants and toddlers are going without adequate childhood immunizalife- tions, leaving them at risk for This tragic toll of unnecessary Gleenblmk Insulated Advanced Building ( Avanie Windows Radio Communications The Blind Man Music Blocks .ompmuns Cabinet Rcfaters y : |