Relative RTO newcomers Greg and Mary Humphrey learned leadership through service – thanks to a broken promise and 80+ foster-care kids
This is the story of a man whose parents went into the rent-to-own business later in life, and who – with his wife – has done the same. But mostly, it’s about their journey during that generational gap, and how the rest of their life as a team in service is now serving them well in RTO.
Greg and Mary Humphrey both grew up in small-town environments – but the similarities of their youths end there. Greg enjoyed an idyllic childhood in Springfield, Missouri, with a police officer father and a stay-at-home mother who welcomed all the neighborhood kids to the Humphreys’ yard to play.
“With our two neighbors’ yards, we had the space for baseball, basketball, riding bikes, playing hide-and-seek,” recalls Greg. “All the things we did with the neighbor kids were at our house, so [my three siblings and I] almost never left our home. We had a really great and positive upbringing.”
Mary, on the other hand, grew up in the tiny Texas town of Kendalia, which even now hosts a total population under 500. Her family ran a country general store, while her uncle ran both the little post office and grocery store – all the town’s main businesses – but there were few youngsters around to befriend.
“I learned to be comfortable on my own, doing my own thing,” Mary remembers. “But my home life, my family, was very black-and-white – there was no room for grey or different or special. So by the time I turned 18, I was ready to leave. I took a three-month medical secretarial course, got my first job in New Braunfels, Texas, and worked there for the next four years running the front office of an ear, nose, and throat doctor.”
Meanwhile, back in Missouri, though Greg insists his only goals through middle and high school were “to play basketball and date girls,” he somehow managed to wrap up his high-school education by the middle of his junior year. The school administration permitted Greg to stay enrolled via participation in the state’s A+ (now Scholarship) Program; rather than remaining in regular classes, Greg completed a vocational track in carpentry and went to work for a company building homes.
And this is where Greg and Mary’s story really begins.
Like so many stories, this one begins with seeking.
“I grew up heavily involved in the church,” says Greg. “But when I was 17, I began questioning what I knew about God because all I knew was what other people had told me – from sermons, classes, study groups, etcetera. It was my parents’ religion, not mine. So I spent two years reading the Bible from cover to cover, and it became the foundation of my relationship with God.”
“I didn’t go to church much growing up,” Mary says. “So when I got out on my own, I was searching for the answers to life; there had to be more than just getting up, going to work, and coming home day after day. I had gone to a friend’s church I liked once as a kid, so I went out looking for a church like theirs, and the people there were extremely kind and took me under their wings.”
As luck – or providence – would have it, both Greg and Mary discovered a spiritual internship program based in St. Louis, Missouri, that piqued their separate interests. Mornings were spent in Bible study, afternoons and evenings were dedicated to serving the community – from reading the Bible aloud to people to raking their leaves, and every type of good deed in-between.
Mary and Greg were paired up as partners for five months of their community service, and they became good friends, period. But a turning point materialized as both agreed – still separately – to be part of a group of 18 moving to Portland, Oregon, to start up a church in the town of Hillsboro, the second-least churched area in America at the time. Greg and Mary’s relationship turned romantic, and as their connection deepened, conversations took on a serious timbre.
“One day, Mary asked me, ‘Do you want children?’” Greg remembers. “I said, ‘Yes, I really do.’ And she said, ‘Well, I don’t want to have children; I don’t know that I’d be a good mother based on how my family brought me up. But if you promise we won’t have children, then I’ll marry you.’ And I said, ‘I love you enough that yes, I’ll promise that.’” “We got married in 1980,” notes Mary.
“We were the first couple married in the new church we helped start,” Greg adds.
Meanwhile, back in Springfield, Greg’s dad retired from the police force with 29 years of service and began selling off rental properties he had been managing as a lucrative side hustle, deciding they were too much hassle to keep up with. A friend introduced him to ColorTyme in 1985, and eventually, former Officer Humphrey was operating two very prosperous rent-to-own locations. But we’ll come back around to that.
They all need a stable home to come back to and crash when they have to; we provided a safe, soft spot for them to crash.
The new Humphreys – who had now each found their faith and one another – spent the next 16 years in Oregon. Inspired by a close friend who single-parent adopted a special-needs daughter, Mary and Greg participated in some foster and adoption classes. As they moved toward a mutual breach of the promise not to parent, the pair decided they might need the support of extended family, so they moved to San Antonio, Texas, to be closer to Mary’s clan.
Greg got a job working at a children’s emergency shelter – the place where, when police officers or social workers take kids from their families, they bring the children to live for 30-90 days, until the youngsters can be placed in foster homes.
“Greg came home with all these stories every day,” recalls Mary. “About a group of siblings who came in, a child’s tragic backstory, or how he had to hold one for 45 minutes until they calmed down. We applied to be house parents, working with a specific group of kids; we became relief house parents, switching between two girls’ houses for a week at a time to give the regular house parents a break from their 24/7 jobs.”
Six months later, the Humphreys became house parents at a Church of Christ girls’ home, and for the next two years, honed their teamwork to a T.
“We learned a lot about parenting, and our business skills helped us raise the kiddos and help them through their trauma,” Mary attests. “They all need a stable home to come back to and crash when they have to; we provided a safe, soft spot for them to crash. Greg excelled at listening to them and talking through things with them; I kept them organized and moving forward, and helped them deal with the stuff of life.”
In 2000, Greg and Mary returned to Springfield. With the intention of fostering and/or adopting, the twosome felt Greg’s extended family would be more supportive and helpful. They underwent more training, got certified, and that summer, were given a 12-year-old girl to foster. Just a couple of weeks later, the caseworker also wanted to give the Humphreys two boys, 10 and 13; the couple initially balked, but eventually took in the brothers – who had been in the foster system for five years.
“The girl ended up staying with us for only about two months,” says Greg. “It was her first time leaving her birthfamily, and she was holding so much anger. It was tough.”
On the flip side, the boys had their own traumas and rage from being in the system for so long.
“The older boy, Chris, had been in and out of 12 foster homes and the psychiatric hospital a few times before he came to us,” Mary affirms. “The younger one, Kodi, had such anger, he hadn’t been able to make it anywhere but group homes. It was a rough ride for several years.”
But it took only one for the Humphreys to adopt the brothers.
“They’ve been our forever kiddos for 21 years now,” effuses Greg. “Chris is 36 and has a daughter who is almost 5; Kodi is 32 and is a father of four.”
Mary and Greg supported their new family by following Greg’s parents into real estate, buying, fixing up, and renting properties, and by working at a boys’ home.
“A 15-year-old boy came back there from a foster home one Thanksgiving week,” Mary says. “His birthmother had died, and his birthfather was incapacitated in a nursing facility, so Quinton wasn’t adoptable. When he graduated from high school, he had nowhere to go, so he stayed with us. Quinton’s birthdad died about a year later, but we believed we couldn’t adopt him because now he was over 18.”
Six years later, an attorney friend informed Greg that adoption of an adult is fully legal and possible, and so, at 24 years old, Quinton officially joined the Humphrey family – as did his wife and daughter.
Over the years, between youth homes and their own home, the Humphreys have cared for over 80 foster children – a legitimately miraculous accomplishment . . . but what about the RTO?
This business lets people enjoy good stuff – furniture, appliances, electronics – while they’re raising their families – now, while they’re living their lives.
Well, about six years ago, as Greg and Mary approached their sixties, they reviewed their financial future and determined their retirement plan should have a third leg – in addition to real estate and Social Security – for senior-living stability.
“We remembered how well my folks had done with rent-to-own, and thought maybe we could do the same,” says Greg. “Starting from scratch seemed overwhelming, so we began the hunt for an RTO store to buy. We didn’t have much luck until we contacted the Missouri Rental Dealers Association. They let us come to their tradeshow as guests, talk with dealers and vendors, and sure enough, a lead popped up for us.”
It was a struggling store in Clinton, Missouri, about 90 minutes north of Springfield, 60 minutes south of Kansas City. With their real estate holdings as collateral, the Humphreys secured an ample loan and bought the business in June 2017, launching Transformation Investments LLC, dba Rent It 2 Own It.
“The first year was a straight-up learning curve,” Greg confesses. “One big reason the store wasn’t successful was its terrible location, and about a year and a half in, we got blessed with a sweet location on Clinton’s second-busiest street. Most people thought we were a brand-new business because at the old location, they never even knew we existed.”
“About the same time, I took over as store manager,” adds Mary. “I stayed in an apartment in Clinton for about two years, working hard to turn the store around. Now we’ve got a store manager, assistant store manager, and a three-man delivery team we’re comfortable and confident with. I mostly work in my home office in Springfield and go up to the store in Clinton about once a week. We’re celebrating our five-year anniversary this month, and we feel good about the level the business is at.
“But it’s not about just the fiscal success,” she continues. “It’s amazing how much rent-to-own helps people. In our generation, you worked hard, saved your money, and once you hit mid-life or so, OK now you can afford to have nice things. But some people – because of health issues or life crises or whatever – don’t get to enjoy those things, even though they worked hard and saved their money all their lives. This business lets people enjoy good stuff – furniture, appliances, electronics – while they’re raising their families – now, while they’re living their lives.”
One of the funny side-effects of raising children beginning at the ages of 10, 13, and 15 is that you miss all the stages prior to that – so when grandkids arrive, you don’t have a clue how to take care of them.
“We have literally had to have our children instruct us on how to babysit our grandchildren,” Greg chuckles. “We had to learn how to change diapers, for goodness’ sake! And the first few times, it took both of us – one holding the wiggly kid and the other holding the diaper, saying, ‘Which is the front and which is the back??’”
People have different hurts, and they see things differently depending upon the families they come from and how they grow up. But everyone wants the same things: to be loved, to be valued, and to have a happy life.
In addition to plentiful family time, Mary and Greg remain active in their church, and teach a weekly Bible study for people in recovery.
“We have many very humble and very kind people participating, really wanting to change their lives,” notes Greg. “We see many successes and some failures, but we often see them return and try, try again. It’s wonderfully rewarding work.”
“The road is rocky, no matter what you’re dealing with – whether it’s foster children or adoptive children, or any of us, really,” Mary elaborates. “People have different hurts, and they see things differently depending upon the families they come from and how they grow up. But everyone wants the same things: to be loved, to be valued, and to have a happy life.
“I’m so very grateful that God allows us to change, and puts people into our lives who help us get where we need to be,” she concludes. “And he also provides us with the opportunity to repay that through what we do for others. Greg and I, we’ve been very blessed to find ways to serve – meeting our own needs by helping meet someone else’s.
Kristen Card has been a contributing writer for RTOHQ: The Magazine for more than 15 years.
Foster Care Facts
The median age of American foster children is 6.1 years old.
At least 40% of children in foster care have learning difficulties, and foster kids are 3x more likely than other students to be suspended or expelled from school.
Foster youth are less likely to graduate from high school, and only 3-11% of them earn a college degree.
About 20,000 children between 18 and 21 age out of the foster-care system each year.
The U.S. foster care population declined from 426,500+ on September 30, 2020 to ~407,500 children on September 30, 2021. The reduction – 19,073 kids or 4.47% – was the largest decrease within the past decade, and the lowest number of children in foster care since 2014.
Interested in fostering?
Contact the local or state agency overseeing your foster care system – the fostering process is typically administered by the state, so it differs depending upon where you live. Contact a local foster care agency to learn more about what it takes and what it’s like to foster a child; there’s likely an orientation session you can attend to get an overview of the process.
