SALISBURY, N.C. – Josiah Lawson is a name most people around North Rowan High School know.

“You don't have a conversation with Josiah without him telling you that he loves you and how important you are to him,” North Rowan Principal Meredith Williams says.

During Lawson's sophomore year, his mother and his father died just months apart. Lawson and his twin brother found themselves alone and without a place to live.

“He was almost lost,” Joel Smith says. “I just didn't want them to fall by the wayside.”

Smith and his wife knew Lawson and his family from church. When his mom died, the Smiths decided they would give the brothers a place to live. Smith says it was a calling from God.


“That was the weirdest thing. Why in the world God want would us to take children in when we have never had children?” Smith asked.

What a difference a few years can make. Lawson's contagious smile is back. The senior, who was born premature and has a learning and physical disability, recently moved into his own apartment, and the Smiths are there whenever he needs them.

“I see myself better than when I lost my parents...my life has changed completely,” Lawson says.

This fall Lawson will return school but this time in an internship role. And while his future looks a lot different today, Lawson has done anything but forget his past.



“I know they're (parents) watching down on me. They know that I have succeeded. I know they're probably saying that they're proud of me right now,” Lawson says. “You don't know what day you're going to lose them. I just want that for everybody just to honor their mother and father.”

It's a lesson learned too young, but one this high school graduate will continue to pass on. Lawson will start his internship working as a custodian at North Rowan High School in the fall. The Arc of North Carolina, which works with people who have intellectual disabilities, helps subsidize his apartment.

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