Life is unpredictable. One day you are down and the next you on the top of the world. Sometimes, however, it goes the other way around and your success is shadowed by something and you find yourself at the bottom. What is good to know is that things change, and no matter the obstacles, there is always a way out.
Marion Fleming, or Mimi Swift as everyone knows her, was a young girl from Scotland who spent her entire childhood going from one orphanage to another. She was convinced her rough start in life would follow her in the years to come, but then, her luck changed.
This then 13-year-old girl was spotted by one of the most famous singing couples, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. They were on a tour in the UK when they visited the orphanage run by the Church of Scotland where Mimi was residing. During the visit, Mimi was chosen to greet them with a song, “Won’t You Buy My Pretty Flowers?”
That encounter was serendipitous.
Just two weeks after their meeting, Mimi was on the plane to California. Rogers and Evans adopted her after they received a legal custody of her.
This is just one example of the couple’s incredible human qualities. Many said over the years that Rogers wasn’t just a singer and the king of cowboys and western movies, but an extraordinary man who made a change in many people’s lives. He and Evans adopted four children and had a child on their own, Robin, who had Down Syndrome and died before her second birthday.
Speaking of her adoptive parents, Mimi says how they always encouraged her to stay in touch with her biological mom and dad and her family in Scotland. They never wanted her to cut ties with her relatives.
She also spoke of the life with the celebrity couple and described them as amazing human beings. “When we were in the house we were just a family, they were not Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, they were mum and dad,” she says.
Roy and Dale lived a happy life together and had a huge impact on many people’s lives. They will always be remembered as humanitarians and incredible talents.