Dear Robert
It was by coincidence that stumbled on an article on the CNN website regarding the White
House Boys. I am from the area and have family that still live nearby. For the longest time I
never knew why my father was so angry and now I think I have a better understanding. A
misguided young man, heart broken by his parent’s divorce, my father classified as a runaway
was sent to the “boys home” by his parents – my own grandparents. He would never speak of
his time there but I seriously believe it has gravely affected who he is and who I am today.
The legacy of abuse did not stop in 1967. It continues today as I have to remember the multiple
beatings my brothers and I had to endure from my own father. He strives to be a good man but
has never been whole since the day he was left at the boy’s home in Marianna. His temper and
rage still continues and I only now see why it did. It doesn't’t make it right what he did to us and
my mother but I have an understanding to his own mental and physical torture that he endured
as well.
I haven’t had a relationship with my father for the past seven years and I am not sure that I can
have one with him. It is a constant struggle for me now as a parent to not “lose” my control. I
cannot even discipline “spank” my children without the fear of going too far.
I am a very loving mother but I am not a whole person because of my father’s fate at the boy’s
home many, many, years ago. I am sure reading the book will give me a better understanding of
the torture inflicted on him while he was a ward of the state. I want to thank you for coming
forward and telling your story and others. It helps to heal the wounds now that I have a better
understanding as to the “why”......
Thank you Mr. Straley. I appreciate you and other survivors for coming
forward with your story. Without knowing any of this, I would be
forever broken. Now I can begin to mend my wounds as well.
Again, thank you~Lori
I have had emails and calls from several sons and daughters of men that were at the Florida
School for Boys and they seem to have one thing in common. They all knew something was not
right with their fathers, that there was a point in their past they would not talk about and all
seemed to be consumed with an unexplainable anger. Some knew of the school but could never
get their fathers to talk about it. The ones that read the newspaper stories or visited our website,
now understand and have found it in their hearts to forgive their fathers (two deceased) , for
some there is just understanding. Whenever a child is subjected to brutality as these men were,
it is their sons and daughters that end up suffering from something that happened before they
were born......a sad legacy of rage that can burn its way through generations.............
School for Boys and they seem to have one thing in common. They all knew something was not
right with their fathers, that there was a point in their past they would not talk about and all
seemed to be consumed with an unexplainable anger. Some knew of the school but could never
get their fathers to talk about it. The ones that read the newspaper stories or visited our website,
now understand and have found it in their hearts to forgive their fathers (two deceased) , for
some there is just understanding. Whenever a child is subjected to brutality as these men were,
it is their sons and daughters that end up suffering from something that happened before they
were born......a sad legacy of rage that can burn its way through generations.............
