GAIL WHITE Instead of possessions, mom gave sons a future

As parents, we often look at our children and wonder what they will become.
We do our best to instruct, guide, direct and love.
How will our children process our teachings? How will they use what they have been given?
Recently, I had the privilege of talking with a mother who had very little to give her children, but her teachings became the foundation for the life's work of her three sons.
Their work, in turn, has had a profound impact on our country's national security and intelligence measures.
Susan McDonald grew up roaming a 500-acre farm in Twinsburg. "I grew up playing in caves and ledges," she explained. "I learned about the land."
Susan then moved to Columbiana County, married and had three boys.
When the youngest child was less than a year old, Susan and her husband divorced.
Times were hard: Unable to make the payments on their home, Susan and her children lived in a tent for a time before Susan was able to rent an old farmhouse south of Lisbon.
So began the education of Jacob, Adam and Lucas in living off the land.
"They learned very young not to a expect a thing unless they worked for it," Susan said.
Deer steak, frog legs and squirrel stew were typical family meals.
Susan shares her side-dish secret: "The bottom of a cattail is like a potato."
Susan made her own soap and shampoo. Morning coffee came from crushed chicory and dandelion root.
For several years after moving into the farmhouse, Susan did not have enough money to have the electricity turned on.
"We made a fire ring near one of the biggest oak trees in Columbiana County," Susan said, smiling and remembering the meals she prepared over the fire everyday.
Meanwhile, her boys were growing older.
"They used the woods as their playground," she recalled. "They made obstacle courses with trip wires and look-outs. They swung on grape vines."
"I never worried about them when they were in the woods," Susan said. "I always sent the dogs with them."
It was away from home that Susan worried. "They weren't really trained for town," she said, laughing.
Yet, she knew the day would come when the boys would leave for town.
"I told them all by the time they were 18 they were shipping out," Susan declared. Working at the county jail, she made enough to live on, but little more.
"I couldn't afford to send them to college, and they were too intelligent not to use their brains," she determined.
Joined the Navy: One by one, the boys shipped out with the Navy. One by one, each gained the prestigious honor of becoming a Navy Seal.
"It is a very unusual thing," said David Markham, a Navy recruiter in East Liverpool.
Actually, three siblings becoming Navy Seals is more than unusual; it is unprecedented.
Each received high honors within their Navy Seal teams.
"These guys have done things that are incredible," Susan proudly said, wishing she could elaborate but careful not to say too much about her sons' missions.
"They really care about each other, and they love our country," she said resolutely.
A single mother with little means, Susan could have easily taken an easier road to raise her children.
Instead, she took to the outdoors, unknowingly preparing her three young boys for their life's mission.
Today, Jacob and Adam are involved in Naval operations in the states.
Lucas has been called overseas.
As is the custom with Navy Seal operations, Susan does not know where her son is.
But she knows where he came from and how well-equipped he is to take care of himself, and she is certain he will soon be sitting under the biggest oak tree in Columbiana County enjoying a warm fire with his mother and brothers.
gwhite@vindy.com