Books: Woman’s perseverance is no act

From the moment little Vicki Lynn Bevans Sawyer Collins Rowell came into this world on May 10, 1959, she was thrust into the foster-care system. Her mother, Dorothy, was schizophrenic with four other children, and she did not have the means — mentally and monetarily — with which to raise them.

Thus began Victoria Rowell’s journey into life. Victoria is best known to millions of people for portraying Drucilla Winters on “The Young and the Restless” for 13 years, as well as an eight-year tenure with “Diagnosis Murder.” But what many did not know was that she spent the first 18 years of her life in foster care.

In that time, Victoria became the independent, altruistic and beautiful woman that she is today. And she credits her upbringing to many women who came in and out of her life, the women who raised her. Among those, her primary foster mother, Agatha Wooten Armstead, instilled in Victoria core values and the maternal love and warmth that she was so desperate for.

Along the way, friends, sisters, mothers of friends, teachers and agents became lifelong mentors and companions. They encouraged her natural and abundant talent in ballet, and later, in acting.

Victoria’s lyric and descriptive voice is evident in this memoir, as she describes her home state of Maine with the same love and affection as her family and friends. In fact, Maine becomes a character itself, as the reader is introduced to little-known history about the northernmost region on America’s East Coast.

Her story is one of survival, perseverance and the importance of family — whether you’re born into it or are lucky enough that it finds you. Sometimes, it does indeed take a village to raise a child, and Victoria’s life is glorious proof of that.