When Lee and Mandy Tincher first got married, they had their fair share of struggles. They sometimes had to work multiple jobs just to stay afloat, and Lee eventually joined the Air Force. This left Mandy to have to cope without having her husband around all the time while raising a family of their own.
Jump ahead decades later, Lee is working close to home at Lockheed Martin, they have five wonderful children, and they do everything they can do to give back to the people they care most about.
“Their faith in God is really neat,” Lee’s brother, Robert, said. “We’ve been apart for so long, but I can just see their faith and their love of family expressed every day. They are really close to their family, and they even convinced me to move from Oregon to South Carolina.”
Years ago, Robert was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but more recently it has become a struggle to walk and do a lot of things he used to be able to do. Lee and Mandy told him he should move to South Carolina with them so he can get himself back up on his feet. After contemplating this idea, he eventually obliged.
“My parents taking in my uncle to set him up on his feet has shown my siblings and I that family means family,” their oldest daughter, Joslynn, said. “A sibling’s bond shouldn’t end when adulthood begins. This also isn’t the first time they’ve taken someone in. In fact, my uncle is one out of a handful of friends and family that my parents have helped out. It’s their mission to be a light to our loved ones.“
That’s just who Lee and Mandy are. No matter what stage in life people are in, everyone needs family and loved ones around them, and Lee and Mandy realize this. That is why they are always there for anyone in need, and why they show such compassion to their family.
Robert cannot express enough how much all this means to him, and he does not know where he would be at if it were not for his brother and sister-in-law taking him in when he needed it most. It has taken his mind off his MS, and he said it was like a weight lifted off his shoulders.
“The dinner table is huge and always filled,” Robert said. “It has never been like that for me before, but I am glad it is now. They are a goofy bunch, and their faith trickles into all the kids. You can tell with what they watch and what they listen to, they have God in their lives.”
Beyond everything else, Lee and Mandy have instilled the importance of faith in their five kids’ lives. They know they could not do this life without trusting in God before all else, and they live their lives like it as well.
Their kids learned early on that with God, all things are possible, and their kids live like that as well. They are thankful for the things they have learned from their parents, faith and beyond, and could not imagine better parents in their lives.
“To my siblings and I, my parents mean home,” Joslynn said. “We know that no matter what we do, we can always come back and be loved. They always tell us, ‘Never be afraid to ask for help.’”
Love has no bounds and knows no age, and Lee and Mandy will emphasize this to anyone and everyone. Family is the most important thing outside of their relationship with God, and they will not ever let go of the importance that family does play in their lives.
“We were really close growing up,” Robert said. “Lee is my younger brother by 14 months, so we always had somebody to play with. We always had each other no matter where we moved to, and we were always together.”
Things have come full circle, as Robert and Lee are around each other all the time, just like old times. Lee looks after his brother, and vice versa, and that is not going to change.
“Mandy has always reached out and sent me texts here and there,” Robert said. “She always sends me pictures on holidays, and she has always put it out there and made me feel welcome.”
Loved ones come first, plain and simple, and Lee and Mandy look after their own. Their expression of welcomeness and love and care is appreciated by all, and anyone who knows them knows what giving people they are.
Lee and Mandy would do anything for the people who mean everything to them, and they do not plan to ever change this attitude. Everyone is worthy of having people who care about them be there for them all the time, and they make sure people know that.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done. I may have been the trouble child, but y’all always helped me and made sure I was loved when no one else did.” – Joslynn
“I’m so thankful and grateful. I’m touched by feeling this family to be this way. Growing up it didn’t feel like this. I’m so proud of all they’ve accomplished. I’m totally grateful and touched.” – Robert
