Woman Moved Out of Car, Into a Job

One of the success stories of the Valley Interfaith Shelter is that of Lynn Gower, 56. She says one of the many turning points in her life occurred in March, 1985, when she awoke with a start in the rented Van Nuys condominium where she lived alone.

“It was like a very light touch had touched me and was pulling me out of bed,” she said. “The TV was on. I thought, ‘Hmmm. Somebody wants me to watch something.’ ” She lay drowsily on the sofa watching evangelist Richard Roberts. Roberts said he was getting a message from God.

“All of a sudden, he looked at me straight through the TV, and he said, ‘I don’t know who you are, but whoever you are, and you know who you are, don’t sell your car. Expect a miracle.’ ”

Gower had left her job, sold her home, and spent her savings. A few days earlier, she said, she had lettered a sign for a grocery store bulletin board to advertise her 1967 Cadillac.

Inspired by the TV preacher, Gower tore up the sign and kept the car. It turned out to be a good thing, if perhaps not the immediate precursor to a miracle. A few months later, she was evicted for non-payment of rent, and the car became her home.

Gower said she would park in Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Memorial Park and sleep on the front seat. Every morning she would wake up with kinks in her back. She wore a turban over her long hair and washed in public restrooms. Occasionally she would receive handouts of food and money. One woman let her shower at her home. Another gave her $20 a week.

It was a sharp comedown from her earlier life. For 22 years she had worked for the telephone company in Hollywood, accumulating a two-bedroom house in Van Nuys, shares in AT&T; and other stocks and bonds. She said she quit her job in December, 1973, because of migraine headaches and a back injury.

Gower said she lost 99 pounds in 10 months as a homeless person. “I was hungry,” she said, displaying an old photo to show how she used to look.

She said she applied for jobs at every store in a mall in Sherman Oaks but was rejected.

A youth saw Gower sleeping in her car. One day he told her about the Interfaith Shelter, drove her to a social service office and waited for hours while her application was processed. That day, April 2, she was accepted into the shelter and moved in.

Tall and stately with long, gray-brown hair cinched in a bun, wearing lipstick, a lavender pantsuit and pearl-drop earrings, Gower looked as if she belonged in a smart boutique rather than on a flowered bedspread surrounded by plastic furniture.

In six weeks at the shelter, Gower found a job as nanny and live-in housekeeper for a family named Griffith in a big Chatsworth house. Gower has her own bedroom and bathroom and is paid $25 a week.

“We’re very happy,” said Cheri Griffith, who manages a diaper service company. “It works out great for us and, I hope, for Lynn.”

David Griffith, 45, may have special empathy for Gower. In April, he was fired from his job with a shopping center developer. He is collecting unemployment insurance and trying to start a business.

On a recent day, Gower stood at the kitchen sink washing baby bottles and forks with Smurfs on the end. A loaf of her freshly baked pumpkin bread sat on the counter. Amber, 2, was lying on the floor watching “Sesame Street.” Brett, 3, napped on the floor in the den. And in the backyard, Raisin, the Labrador puppy, pressed his nose against the sliding door.

“It’s almost like home,” Gower said.