When Memory retired from teaching, she found herself asking a question many do at a transition point: What now? With decades of experience and a heart for service, she began seeking a way to use her gifts in a meaningful way. That’s when God placed a new calling on her heart.
She met someone who had an idea: what if we could help children by supporting their parents—especially those re-entering society after incarceration? That conversation sparked something in her. It led her into the deep, sacred work of soul care mentoring.
For Memory, this work is deeply spiritual. She describes her journey not just as volunteering or mentoring—but as joining in God’s work of restoration. “It’s a spiritual blessing, not just an earthly one,” she says. She often speaks of a “threefold relationship”—between herself, the woman she’s mentoring, and God. It’s in that space that transformation happens.
Through her time with Restoring Connections, Memory has gained a profound understanding of the challenges women face after incarceration. She’s learned about the gaps in our correctional system—the lack of focus on rehabilitation, the complex reasons women are incarcerated in the first place, and the need for resources, advocacy, and legislative change.
But more than anything, she’s learned from the women themselves.
“They are strong. Resilient. Watching them heal, restore relationships, and grow into their own agency—it’s a joy,” she says. Re-entry takes time, commitment, and often long hours of transportation. But it also takes heart. It takes grace. And it takes people willing to walk alongside, not in front of, those on the journey.
Memory has seen the beauty and pain of reunification—the joy of families finding their way back to each other, and the heartbreak when reconciliation isn’t possible. She helps women find the language to speak about their past, to advocate for themselves, and to walk in forgiveness—both of others and of themselves.
And in the process, she’s been restored too.
“This work has changed me,” she says. “It’s God’s gift to me, just as much as it is to them.”