Stephen C. Messer

Stephen C. Messer (1955) is a historian at Taylor University, Upland, Indiana. In 1961 he found his mother's body after she committed suicide and then lived in silence about this trauma for fifty years. In 2011, Steve and his wife, Betty, embarked on a physical and emotional journey to find out who his mother was in life rather than death. They travelled over 10,000 miles visiting twenty-four sites connected to her life, and they analyzed letters, documents, artifacts and interviews that introduced him to the mom he lost in 1961. This effort brought healing to Steve and his family and ongoing lessons about pain, forgiveness, grace and family. Finding Mom tells that story of this remarkable journey.