in ministry including directing The Legacy of a Kid
Brother of St. Frank on the reservations, a vision
started by Rich. David shares with Faith Filled
Family how the Ragamuffin story came to be, and
why it is a story we all need to hear, because every
one of us is in need of God’s grace and love.
Faith Filled Family: Mr. Mullins, whose idea was
it to do the story of your brother’s life?
David Mullins: It was David Schultz. He directed
the movie, and was one of the key writers. It was
his project from the start to the finish.
Faith Filled Family: Tell me about your relationship
with your brother, Rich. Was he close to you and
your siblings growing up?
David Mullins: My relationship with him was a
little different than a lot of the siblings growing
up
because he was 12 years older than me.
By the time I was six years old, he was leaving to
go to college. So we didn’t spend the typical kind
of growing up together. Now my older sisters, they
were two and four years apart so they had
the more of the typical sibling growing up together
thing. Then my other brother is two years older
than me, so he was the same as me as far as
growing up with Rich.
Faith Filled Family: In the movie, Rich briefly
mentions the baby brother who died in infancy. Is
there anything you can share about that?
David Mullins: Yeah, when he was six months
old, he got Meningitis and went from being a
completely healthy six month old, to dying in I think
about 24 hours. It was 10 years before I was born.
It was a really difficult time for obviously my mom
and dad and the oldest three of my siblings.
Faith Filled Family: One of the hardest things
to watch in the movie is the way the father, John,
was so negative toward Rich when he was
young, with his words especially. It
seemed
like he just couldn’t do anything right. Was he like
that with
you and your
other siblings?
David Mullins: A fair amount, yeah. I think my
dad’s approach to a lot of things was, “If I have
to
tell you I love you, then I’ve failed.” It wasn’t
something that was never said. The way he
addressed most things was, “Face what’s wrong.
If you don’t hear from
me, then you know
you’re okay.” But he could be pretty harsh. I think
some of it
too, like those scenes you see in the
movie with Rich, we grew up on farms and when
you are not mechanical and mess up tractors and
such like you see in the movie, life depends on it.
Where we lived, if it doesn’t work, then we’re in
trouble. It created quite a bit of stress. So yeah
he could be harsh, but I don’t think he was a bad
man.
Faith Filled Family: Did Rich ever share with you
about how he felt about his father?
David Mullins: Sure. I think a lot of the things you
hear him saying in the movie like, “My dad
was the hardest working man I ever saw.” He
was just unable to do some of
things that Rich
needed for him to be able to do. That was always
there, but I think there was a lot of love there. It
just was a love that never quite connected right.
Faith Filled Family: That brings me to my next
point of how Rich wrestled with the question,
“Does God really love me?” Do you believe he
ever found the answer?