SUGAR LAND, Texas – A Sugar Land woman is in a fight to retrieve her sister’s belonging after her sister died last month after eight years in a nursing home.
Sue Lawhorn is still saddened by her sister’s death -- hanging on to the most precious of memories. At least the ones she has in her heart and her possession.
Jeanne Belnap -- who was a longtime French teacher in Alief ISD -- passed away in early October. Since then her sister tells KPRC 2 she’s been in a back-and-forth with Jeanne’s nursing home -- trying to retrieve her sister’s prized possessions. Among them -- a couple of paintings gifted by one of her former students.
“He sent her these five pictures and he just loved her for being a great teacher,” said Sue.
KPRC 2 anchor Keith Garvin sat down inside Sue’s home to assess the situation. Also among the missing items is a prized stuffed animal her sister owned for nearly 40-years, her walker, and a specialized wheelchair that cost more than $7500.
Keith wanted to know the nursing home’s response when Sue she asked about the missing items.
“They said, ‘We don’t know. We don’t know,’ Sue recalled. “They wanted to know why I didn’t know where it was. ‘Why don’t you know where it is?’ How am I supposed to? I’m not here 24 hours a day. How am I supposed to know where it is?”
KPRC2 did reach out to managers at the Sugar Land Health Care Center where Jeanne lived for eight years before she passed. In regards to Sue’s concerns the facility’s administrator, Bernadette Staples, said in a statement -- in part -- “We take this situation very seriously. I expressed our deep concern to the family over these items, as we understand they hold significant emotional value. We have processes in place to amicably resolve issues such as this during these trying times.” However Sue says she had not heard from managers about the missing items since the day after her sister died until KPRC2 started making phone calls this week.
Sue has advice for other families who are considering long term care for their loved one or are going through a situation similar to hers.
“First you gotta do a lot of research and you gotta look and see if there’s complaints online if you can find them,” she said. “You gotta go in all the time. I did go in all the time. And I did go in all the time and everyday was troubleshooting.”
For now, she and her family wait, for the return of her sister’s precious items, to bring closure to their panful loss.
“I would rather not have to ever have to walk into that facility,” she said. “I would rather not to speak to any of those people ever again. Because it just brings bad memories.”
After KPRC 2 started to inquire, Sugar Land Health Care Center has continued to respond. In the latest statement from the nursing home their administrator said, “I have been in contact with family and its promising that the items may have been located.”
