Clara Silliman provides a touch of fall to help make the Transitions of Dyer County house a home. [Click to enlarge]

Clara Silliman had barely begun her second official day at work when she began teaching.

She wants the residents of the Transitions of Dyer County home to know she's there for them. Lesson No. 1 came when she insisted on being there as one underwent an outpatient operation. The resident told her that she didn't have to come but Silliman emphasized she wanted to because it's what a mom would do.

"I've got to get across to these girls how moms act and families behave," Silliman said, a few hours after the incident.

Silliman is the resident manager at Transitions. She began the position on Oct. 29, a few days after moving into the apartment adjacent to the house.

For Silliman and her husband, Abe, the new position brings a change.

The Sillimans have been a team throughout their married life. Abe has been a pastor for 41 years, during which time she has followed him. Now, the tables are turned as he assists her where he can in her new position.

"We're in between churches right now," she said. "We don't know where God is leading us."

Silliman learned of the position through her eldest daughter, who is friends with Transitions' treatment director Ella Bentley and is involved in a similar ministry.

(Advertisement)

"Ella invited her to come out and see what she was doing," Silliman said. "When (my daughter) was leaving, she told her husband, 'God brought me here for a reason.' Ella told her they were looking for a mentor. My daughter called me and said she'd found the perfect job for me."

After talking with Bentley, "the Lord spoke to me in a very real way," Silliman continued. "This is where I'm supposed to be."

As a resident manager, Silliman has the job of being housemother, mentor, and life teacher to residents of Transitions. Primarily, she hopes to "show them how to make a house into a home."

As part of the Transitions program, residents have to learn a new skill, like cooking a dish, sewing or crochet, every week. Those skills "may help them earn a living," noted Silliman, who is a professional cake decorator and caterer. "Part of the arrangement is they have to cook. We rotate who cooks, which includes planning the menu and buying the groceries. We've made the agreement that whoever doesn't cook that week cleans the kitchen."

Through Transitions, residents have "a structured environment with teaching and things that have to be done," said Rose Clardy, a volunteer with the ministry. "Clara is responsible for keeping the structure and rules."

Resident applications for Transitions are being accepted. For more information, call 287-0461 or write to Transitions of Dyer County, P.O. Box 265, Dyersburg, TN 38025.

To be accepted into the Transitions program, applicants have to fill out a detailed application and go through several interview processes.

"The main thing is they have to want to come and to come for the right reason - they recognize they have a problem and they want to change it," Clardy said.

"And make God a part of that change," Silliman continued. "This is very God centered. If you don't come with that in your thoughts, you won't be able to live with the rules and regulations here."

Transitions began when a large group of concerned citizens came together on March 2, 2005, to discuss a way to assist women as they get out of jail make the transition to a responsible life. The idea was to provide a home environment, providing a place for them to stay as they learn how to overcome their personal obstacles and how to become productive citizens.

In the summer of 2006, Transitions received the location to make that a reality when it purchased the New Life Youth Home building and grounds from the Dyersburg-Dyer County Union Mission. Over the next several months, through fund-raisers and donations of time, talents and items, renovations were made on the home. It opened in mid-April 2007.

"Everybody who comes in talks about what a peaceful atmosphere it is," Silliman said. "It's set on a beautiful place."