Foster mother, son reunite

ROSEBURG, Ore. – After watching his mother and her boyfriend break each other’s bones and get in knife fights, 12-year-old George Prummer resorted to sleeping in sheds or on friends’ couches to stay safe.

“I was living in a very abusive, neglectful environment,” recalled Prummer, now 67.

The authorities stepped in midway through his seventh-grade year, and Prummer was placed in the home of a couple in their 30s, who lived in a house in the country near Umpqua, Ore. Though he stayed there less than a year, Prummer said he never forgot his loving foster mom.

Prummer came face to face with his past during an emotional reunion in April when he discovered Eileen Benefiel was living in Rose Haven Nursing Center, where he works as a physical therapist assistant.

Benefiel, 91, said she was undergoing physical therapy in a room at the center when she overheard someone say Prummer’s name. She immediately started asking questions and was introduced to Prummer.

“She asked me if I’d ever been in foster care, and I thought she meant adult foster care,” he said. “So I gave her some cute reply.”

Once she rephrased the question, it didn’t take long for him to realize the connection.

“She’s the best mother I’ve ever had,” Prummer said. “I never really wanted to leave her.”

Prummer said he remembers living with Benefiel and her husband at the time, whom he called “Mom and Pop Montgomery,” and another foster child. He recalled doing chores in the garden and around the property, but said there weren’t a lot of rules. There was, however, an unspoken respect for one another, he said.

“She was a very loving and caring mom,” he said. “I never felt there was any favoritism. It was just a very healthy environment.”

In his prior living arrangement, Prummer said he wasn’t fed well and specifically remembered the wonderful food Benefiel cooked every day – especially the sourdough biscuits and hot cakes.

“I probably had 12 or 14 hot cakes every morning,” he said.

Benefiel said Prummer was very grateful after each meal.

“He’d always say, ‘Oh, this was the best meal I’ve ever had!’ ”

Before the beginning of his eighth-grade year, Prummer was sent to live with his father in Toledo near the Oregon coast.

Benefiel, who cared for about eight other foster children over the course of her life, said watching her foster children leave was difficult.

“I had to let them go,” she said. “That was the hardest part of taking care of them.”

The troubles didn’t end for Prummer, who said he was physically and mentally abused by his dad and “wicked stepmother.”

By the time he was a sophomore in high school, Prummer had moved in with a teacher. He finished high school and went on to play football at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., though he only stayed a year.

He married his high school sweetheart, Karen, and had three children. Prummer switched careers a few times and went back to college at age 48. He has been working in Roseburg at Rose Haven since 2004.

Prummer said the road to healing after his childhood of abuse has been a long one, and reconnecting with Benefiel has helped him find peace.

“My life has meaning again,” he said. “We give each other hugs and kisses every day.”

It’s funny how life always seems to come full circle, he said.

“I finally found my mom again.”