Homeless Man Dies with No Family, Laid To Rest by Mother of 6 Who Showed Him Kindness

By Kayla Kunkel August 11, 2018 at 12:42pm

An unlikely friendship formed on a street corner in downtown Detroit shined after a woman made sure her homeless friend was properly laid to rest.

Tiffany Brocker, a mother of six, and Gordon King, a homeless man, first became friends six years ago. She noticed King on her commute to her retail job.

The first time they talked she rolled down her window, handed him some cash, and told him she would pray for him. He responded that he would also be praying for her.

Over the next few years, she would bring him food from a nearby restaurant and warm clothes during the winter months.

She often hoped that she would reach his corner and be stopped by the red light so the two could have a few minutes to chat. A friendship quickly formed.

One day, when Brocker was on the way to visit her father on his deathbed, King noticed her sobbing at a gas station. He, without hesitation, hugged her and comforted her.

“He just had a smile and a sparkle in his eye,” she said, according to The Detroit News. “There was something about him. He was really a special guy.”

Then, at the end of 2017, Brocker stopped seeing King at his regular corner, which she thought was odd.

Just a month later Brocker was serving the homeless downtown with the Pope Francis Center and was hopeful that she would see her friend. She asked around and some of his friends informed her that he had gone to the hospital.

It wasn’t until April 21st that she learned he had actually passed away. She began crying, but remembered an encounter with him on a particularly cold day.

She asked King where he was staying and he pointed to an area under a nearby bridge, which also made her cry, but he reassured her that he was alright.

As she meditated on that past encounter, she felt an overwhelming feeling of peace at the news of her friend’s death. She wrote, “I knew then, too, that Gordy was alright, resting in the arms of our savior.”

She couldn’t get the news of King’s death out of her mind; she wanted to know if he had been properly buried.

Brocker asked an out-of-state friend who worked in the funeral business how she could find out more information. When she contacted the Wayne County morgue, she discovered that they were still searching for his next of kin and that his body was still being stored there.

That’s when she decided to plan a funeral for her friend of almost six years. She set up a GoFundMe account to cover the costs of the headstone and service and began spreading the word.

Brocker’s 13-year-old son was actually the first donor. As soon as he heard what his mom was doing, he ran to get $25 he had recently received as a birthday gift.

“Someone who is on the street should have a nice funeral and somebody who has been really nice to our family, we should pay them back,” the young teen said.

“Mother Teresa said if you can’t feed 100 people, feed just one,” said Brocker. “It is our duty to take care of each other.”

She said that as she began planning the funeral, God seemed to be divinely placing people in her life to help make it a reality.

The service was held on August 9, 2018, at St. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church, eight months after his passing. Some of King’s friends from over the years were able to attend and pay their respects.

“I don’t know Gordy’s favorite color or favorite childhood memory,” Brocker said during the service. “What I do know is that he was a child of God, and that we were meant to meet.”

Brocker’s eulogy shows just how big and kind her heart is for those around her, like King. She said, “There are so many people around us who need to be fed, not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually and it truly does not require much effort on our part to feed them.”

“Every act of kindness, from holding a door open, to making eye contact and smiling at a stranger, to visiting an elderly neighbor or family member, to buying the person in line behind you a coffee, to donating to charity, to burying someone with no family, not only makes a tremendous difference for the receiver of your kindness, but the ripple effect will impact many more.”

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