Pennsylvania dairywoman Mary Lou King was the grand-prize winner of the “Unstoppable Mom” contest from the television show “LIVE with Kelly and Michael.”
How did your participation in LIVE’s search for ‘Unstoppable Moms’ come about?
This all has been a surprise from the beginning. Back in January, Kelly, our oldest daughter, heard this advertised while at work.
She’s a nurse at Tel Hai Nursing Home. She decided to write a letter to the show and sent a family picture.
This was one of 20,000 nominations. She never told me about it until a producer of the show called her from New York and needed to talk to me.
What was the filming process like?
After phone interviews with different producers (there are 10 producers for the show), we scheduled two days of videoing at our farm.
We had a lot of fun with the cameramen and producers, all from New York City and none had ever been on a dairy farm before.
Three hours of tape had to be downsized into a five-minute clip for the show. We just kept trusting they would portray this small, family-run farm in a positive way.
We received a lot of positive feedback from those who watched the video. That was a little scary for us because the first time we saw it was when it was televised nationwide on the show, but we were very pleased with the way they were able to capture the passion we have for family and dairy farming.
They also captured the love that our daughter Kandy brings and how she completes our family. And even though our faith wasn’t mentioned, I hope everyone could tell that that’s what holds us together.
All of this led up to the live TV show with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan the week of March 11.
The show featured four finalists, then opened up the voting to viewers. What would you say to those viewers who voted for you?
What an incredible blessing this whole experience has been for our family. We are so grateful and humbled by all the support and votes, especially through the dairy industry. Thank you!
How will you look back on this experience?
My daughter wrote an amazing letter, and God took it above and beyond, further than we could have ever imagined.
Quite divine! I hope everyone knows that Kelly’s letter and the appreciation our kids have for their upbringing means more to me than the grand prize and everything else that has come with this recognition. PD
PHOTO
From left to right, Kelly’s husband, Kyle Stoltzfus; Kelly (King) Stoltzfus; Neal King; Colton King; Kandy King, seated; Mary Lou King; and Kristy King. Photo courtesy of Marilyn Hershey.
