Meet Coy Featherston, a regular guy that fell on some hard times back in the 70’s and has been homeless ever since. Back in the day Featherston was a popular guy, even voted ‘Best All Around Guy in high school in 1971. He played baseball and football, and even went to college on a football scholarship. After that he made a living doing stage work for rock legend Frank Zappa for 15 years. However Featherston’s life took a turn around 20 years ago. He lost his job, which led to him losing his apartment, and on top of that his brother was killed. What seemed like a string of bad luck turned into a life on the streets, pushing a gathering of his belongings in a shopping cart near Austin, Texas.
Not long ago, his luck seemed to turn around when he was featured in an article by the American Statesman about homeless camping. His photo was featured in the article and captured the attention of one of his old friends from the class of ’71. Leea Mechling was just one of his classmates that saw the article and decided to act. She made her way to Austin to look for Featherston, and after searching for days, found him outside of a local church feeding some pigeons. After the two embraced, Mechling invited him over and packed up his belongings into her truck.
Another old friend named Don Vanderburg from Corpus Christi, Texas welcomed Featherston into his home when he found out the hard times his friend had been going through. Vanderburg provided the first bed that Featherston had slept in since he lost his housing 20 years ago. And his friends didn’t stop there. They continued to build him up by getting him new clothes and shoes, helping sign up for social security benefits, and even starting a GoFundMe page to raise money for a place of his own. “Coy is a smart guy with a real gift for art and music. What we’re doing here is to show him he’s still deep in our heart of hearts… always.”
“I kind of had a feeling it would do something. It’s been good for me.” says a humble Featherston about his life after the article. The people you meet in high school are some of the people that will be there for you all your life, and this inspiring story is living proof of that. Who knows where Featherston would be without the kindness of a few people that helped a friend in need.
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