'Makeover' winner has inspiring personal story
But the story of what Dirks has experienced would move anyone, and certainly moved the selection committee at Bella Medical Spa. Late last year, the spa developed its own Extreme Makeover contest with the hope of helping a local person who was struggling. They received 50 entries, and Dirks was just named the winner.
"I feel guilty because so many people have had a bad year," Dirks said. "I'm not anybody special. I'm just like every other hardworking person out there."
Over the next three months, Dirks will receive up to $20,000 worth of donated laser, medical spa, health club, hair and makeup services.
"She has been through a lot of things in a year's time that most people never go through," said Bella Medical Spa's Nicole Shaver, one of the employees who chose Dirks. "She was one of the first entries we got. Even from that point, she stood out, from the beginning."
Shaver's co-worker Natalie Finney agreed. She said it seems Dirks is looking for a fresh start to boost her self-esteem. A single mother for the past eight years, Dirks is hard on herself, and feels she failed her three children in 2009. That's because last February, she lost a job she loved, and was suddenly unable to support her family.
"I was always the provider, the caregiver, the one in control," Dirks said. "I lost all that when I lost my job."
Dozens of resumes and interviews went nowhere, but Dirks worked any temp job she could get.
"I made less than unemployment, but I had to get up, get out, go to work," she said.
A week after losing her job, Dirks' bad news became truly tragic. She learned her brother had come home to find three men waiting for him in his home outside New Orleans.
"They attacked him when he walked in the door," Dirks said. "They beat him, then strangled him to death."
The shock multiplied in the next 24 hours. The person arrested and charged with Mario Scramuzza's death was his own wife, the mother of his now 14-year-old son, Gianni. She admitted under police questioning that she hired the men to kill her husband, authorities said. "We all adored her. She was my sister for 19 years," Dirks said. "The betrayal alone, of somebody you trusted and loved ..."
This weekend, Dirks welcomed her nephew into her home. Gianni had been living with Dirks' 71-year-old mother, but will now live with Dirks and her 12-year-old son, Lucas.
"I knew he was so worried about Gianni," Dirks said about her brother. "I want him to know he's going to be OK."
Despite reduced means and increased responsibilities, Dirks is grateful for her situation.
She was thrilled to get a job at Fort Campbell Credit Union in September, so her financial outlook is improved. She is still haunted by thoughts of her brother's final moments, but Dirks keeps moving forward. She said she has the Clarksville community to thank for her ability to weather a rough eight years and the tragedies of 2009.
"The people I have here that have stayed with me through the past eight years, this community, they're my family," Dirks said.
"I'm proud to be from this area. I've lived here 22 years. When Katrina hit, we had family come in. This community pulled together and helped us pull through."
Mario Scramuzza was a paramedic, a first responder at Hurricane Katrina even as his own relatives were displaced. Dirks is propelled by her love for her lost brother and his son, Gianni, and her love for her children, Lucas, Chad Dirks, 23, Amanda Osborne, 22, and grandchildren, 6-week-old Gracey and 4-month old Jon Mario, named in memory of her brother.
But her friends are also family, in Dirks' heart.
"I'm truly blessed by my circle of friends — Mary Baggett, Sissy Rankin, Lynnetta Drye, Sondra Shields, Angel Dirks and so many others," Dirks said. "Their strength is what carries you."
All are wishing Dirks a much happier 2010.
(Article written by Stacy Leiser of the Leaf- Chronicle)
