Promise Kept: Mother, Daughter Reunite At Graduation

Jennifer Hickman’s hands were shaking as she rocked back and forth.

“I’m just so nervous. So nervous,” the Clearwater graduate kept repeating.

Dressed in her white cap and gown draped with a red stole, the nerves weren’t courtesy of her high school graduation on Friday night. She was shaking because she was minutes away from meeting her mother.

“This is my big day,” Hickman said with a grin nearly as wide as her mortar board. “We were separated after my accident. I was shaken when I was 21-months-old, so I’ve been with my grandparents since then. They’re here, too, but today I meet my mom.”

Hickman, 18, was raised by her grandparents, Lynette Trease and Richard Trease of Clearwater. Their son, Jeremiah, is her father.

Hickman and her mother, Belinda Goodsel of Junction City, Kan., communicated via text leading up to Friday’s meeting. But they hadn’t been face to face in 17 years.

“The only contact we’ve had has been by text,” Hickman said. “Now it’s in person. I’m so excited. I’m about to meet my mom for the first time.”

About 20 minutes before graduation began, Hickman melted into her mother’s arms for the first time that she can remember. With their arms locked around each other, they embraced for nearly a minute as both beamed.

In the reception line following graduation, Hickman proudly introduced her mom to her friends.

Their meeting was also emotional for her grandparents. Lynette Trease said after the tramatic head injury, Hickman was placed into their custody. Trease said Hickman was not in her mother’s custody when she was shaken.

“Her mom stepped away because we didn’t know what was going to happen. She was a shell and like a newborn baby again,” Trease said.

​Trease said there were a lot of issues that kept the family apart all of these year. But, with tears flowing, Trease said she promised that the two would reconnect at graduation. As Hickman and Goodsel embraced for the first time, Trease smiled as she cried.

“I made this promise,” Trease said, wiping away a tear. “Get her to graduation and reunite them. It’s the best thing I could have done.”

Trease admitted she was both afraid and excited for Hickman, but seeing them together made it clear she made the right decision with reuniting them.
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It’s been an exciting senior year for Hickman, who was also crowned prom queen in April. Hickman will have little time between high school and college as she starts classes in June to work toward a degree in early childhood education at Northeast Community College.