Rochester Post (MI) - Author Chip St. Clair inspires Troy Athens students

by ANNA WEST,  C & G Staff Writer  
Published: March 6, 2008

A group of students gathered in the Troy Athens auditorium to hear abuse survivor, children's advocate and author Chip St. Clair of Rochester share his story, which he chronicles in his new book, "The Butterfly Garden," Feb. 27. St. Clair, whose story has been featured on "Dateline" and "Good Morning America," grew up with an abusive father.

On Jan. 22, 1998, St. Clair was celebrating his fiancée's birthday with his family when his father became angry and beat him, dislocating his shoulder. St. Clair's then fiancée, now his wife, Lisa, called the police. After being released from the hospital, St. Clair decided to press charges against his father when he discovered a dark family secret from his aunt: His father was Michael Dean Grant, a child murderer who had escaped from prison in 1973 and had been on the run ever since.

Pieces of his childhood - his family's relocation more than 30 times, his parents forcing him to memorize a new last name as a young child - started coming together. At the same times, questions arose.

St. Clair discovered a trunk with locks of hair, baby teeth, forged birth certificates and pictures of children - pictures he later discovered from detectives weren't of him - and he began to wonder what else he didn't know about his past.

"We all have a defining moment in our lives when we ask who we are and what we are going to do with our lives," St. Clair said. He told the students that all of them would also be faced with "a moment of truth" when they must decide their character.

In "The Butterfly Garden," St. Clair chronicles his choice to break the cycle in which he was raised, focusing on how literature and poetry served as a retreat for him when he was a child, and how his wife slowly taught him about love and helping others become their best.

"Hopefully you'll find yourself on a journey of your own when you read it," said St. Clair.
He told the students that they are not alone when they face difficulty, and that "any of us can overcome adversity."

The book also answers some of the questions that St. Clair faced after discovering the truth about his father and explains the title, which is a metaphor for how St. Clair began to view the world.

"We must be the change we want to see in the world," St. Clair said, echoing Gandhi. "Sometimes the best healing can be found in helping."

As the founder of the Michigan chapter of Justice for Children, a nonprofit organization in Birmingham that advocates for the rights of abused and neglected children, St.

Clair lives out Gandhi's quote daily.

"My personal goal is making sure children don't face the same nightmares I faced," he said.

The organization gives children a voice and makes sure that they are heard, and St. Clair and his fellow attorneys helped pass Jessica's Law in three states, which ensures offenders convicted of sexual abuse against children younger than 12 will serve a minimum of 25 years in prison and will be monitored with a locating device for life.

He also speaks at schools in the area.

Ruth Frushour, an Athens health and physical education teacher who had taught Lisa during her years at Baker Middle School and Athens, invited St. Clair to speak to the students, several of whom had already read his book.

Students were attentive and interested, asking St. Clair at the end of his presentation about the book, as well as his relationship with his parents today.

St. Clair told the students that they were the first assembly to know that his father was released on parole last year after serving only nine years in an Indiana prison, despite his and his wife's testimonies against Grant each time the matter of parole arose.

One student asked if St. Clair was afraid that his father would be angry about the book.

Having lived his childhood with an outlook skewed by fear, always expecting and waiting for something bad to occur at any moment, St. Clair explained to the students how he came to understand fear as a negative view of the future and to learn to live his life focusing on making positive changes.

Frushour hoped the students were "inspired to make healthy choices through the adversity they will face in life."

The students were moved.

"It's sad that this one kid had to go through this," said Eric Kochenderfer, a freshman at Athens. "He had to learn everything for himself."

Echoing President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kochenderfer said St. Clair's presentation reminded him that "the thing we have to fear is fear itself."

"The Butterfly Garden," which had an early release at Borders and is available at Meijer and Target, is topping the charts at Borders as the #1 bestseller for child abuse books and criminology books.
St. Clair, who has been signing his book at various Borders in the area and will be part of an upcoming Meijer bus tour, has his next book signing at the Borders in Farmington Hills March 6 at 7 p.m.

Copyright, 2008, Rochester Post (MI), All Rights Reserved.