Good Son Returns Cash Stolen by Bad Dad
When Christian Lunsford of Moore, Oklahoma, received a call from the county jail last month he didn't answer it. It was obvious that his father was in trouble with the law. Again.
Indeed, Shane Lunsford had been arrested, this time for mugging an old lady at a cemetery.
Tona Herndon, 78, had just lost her husband of 60 years, and was by his gravesite when Lunsford suddenly emerged and snatched her purse.
Inside was some $700 in cash.
When Christian learned what had transpired at Bethany Cemetery, he recalled a recent visit from his mostly absent father in which the latter gave him $250 to go on a band trip.
"When I found out this whole situation, I didn't know if it was hers or his or how, I just knew I needed to give the money to her," Christian told News9.
As much as he had longed to go on that trip, he felt handing the money over to Herndon would be far more valuable.
"There's times that you just feel really low, like, 'Is that going to be me?'" he told CBS News. "Am I going to end up like that?'"
Christian arranged to meet with Herndon in the parking lot of the town's First Baptist Church.
"It needed to be done," he later said. "She needed an apology from somebody. If I didn't apologize, who would?"
The apology from Christian was accepted, as was the money.
But Herndon didn't hold on to it for long.
"I want you to take your band trip," she told Christian just before giving him the $250 back. "It was a joy to do that."
Though his dad was never around to teach him important life lessons, it seems Christian managed to pick up a rather significant one all on his own.
"You're not who your parents are," he told CBS's Steve Hartman. "Even if they do raise you, you can become whatever you want to be."
