Stillwater grad makes peace with painful past

Editor’s note: The Daily Inter Lake is following up with six young adults who were profiled as high school seniors in a series recognizing noteworthy graduates from the Class of 2016 that highlighted students who turned challenges into personal triumphs.

The week of high school graduation was the first time Natasha McClure saw her biological brother in a decade.

“I was really scared and really nervous to meet him, because of the time rift it caused a lot of differences. We were raised differently,” McClure said.

Despite all the differences after being raised apart for so long, she described the reunion as a “dream come true” in easing the uncertainty and the tears of how — and where — he was.

“It definitely put some peace into my heart finally being able to see him,” McClure said.

Since graduating from Stillwater Christian School, the 20-year-old has worked on making peace with a painful past.

Born in Ukraine, McClure was a toddler when she and her brother were placed in an orphanage after witnessing their mother stab their father. In the orphanage system, McClure was separated from her brother up to a year at a time. She also suffered different forms of abuse and neglect.

At 8, she and her brother were placed with an American family in California, but the trauma of her young life surfaced and she wasn’t equipped in understanding how to handle her emotions. After being hospitalized she was placed with Ranch for Kids near Eureka.

She was again separated from her brother. It wasn’t until she was adopted by Greg and Theresa McClure that she had a permanent place to call home — and people to call mom and dad who stuck with her through difficult times, assuring her she wouldn’t be sent away.

“I had the best support I could of ever had. Two loving parents who dealt with my emotions,” she said. “My mom is a very tough woman who grew up with eight siblings, definitely a challenge for her, definitely glad she was the one that raised me and helped me be the woman I am today.”

Today, McClure is a sophomore majoring in criminal psychology at Liberty University in Virginia with sights set on entering the FBI Academy.

“From there on out we’ll see how things go for me,” she said, noting she wants to eventually get a master’s.

Originally she wanted to go into law school, but was intrigued by the mind — people’s thoughts in connection with their actions.

“I enjoy learning things that deal with the mind — how people think, how they feel, why they do what they do,” McClure said. “I wanted to dig deeper into that myself.”

Moving into young adulthood, she has found one of the biggest challenges is time management, balancing coursework, activities, working as a nanny, hanging out with friends and talking to family — but she said all of it helps keep her occupied.

And she has thought about returning to her birthplace in Ukraine and the orphanage she was placed in after she completes her undergraduate degree.

“I hope to be ready to go back to those things and not have it affect me so much,” McClure said.

She also hopes her biological brother will be at her side.

“We’ve been through so much. So many things and difficulties that in a way, if we go back, we can lean on each other for support,” she said. “Although I think I’m more curious than he is. He may not be as ready yet.”

One day she might even be ready to visit her biological mother in prison.

“I want that firsthand experience of what she feels what happened; why did it happen; what emotions were going through her head when her kids were taken from her after the incident,” McClure said.

“Kind of let ourselves heal from the situations that occurred,” she later added.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.