Saving Grace

When Cin’Que Wilson was in college, he called his mom after encountering a homeless man standing in the cold outside a grocery store.

“He doesn’t have any food. He’s hungry. Can I give him my grocery money?” Carroll Sutton, a Modern Woodmen member from Darlington, South Carolina, recalls her son pleading to give away the $50 she’d sent with him.

Carroll said OK. Cin’Que rushed outside. The man was gone, but Cin’Que was undeterred. He drove around until he found the man and handed him the money.

After graduating from Benedict College, Cin’Que worked as a behavioral specialist at an elementary school and coached middle school track and football.

“When they told the children Cin’Que passed away, one of the students broke down. He said Cin’Que was the best teacher they had,” Carroll says. “For a long time, this kid – who gave Cin’Que the most trouble – had a hard time because he loved Cin’Que so much.”

‘God got my attention’

Cin’Que didn’t grow into a man who helped others turn their lives around – he was born with the ability. After an “ugly divorce,” Carroll didn’t have full custody of her six children, the youngest of whom was 7. Carroll was almost 40 and believed she could no longer become pregnant. Then Cin’Que came along.

“I was stressing about having a child out of wedlock,” Carroll says. “I was afraid of what people would say, but Cin’Que was my saving grace. When he came into my life, I was going down the wrong path. God got my attention and showed me it was going to be OK.”

With Cin’Que, Carroll cherished aspects of parenting she’d missed out on with her other children.

“I experienced it all with him,” she says. “From the moment Cin’Que was conceived until the moment he died, I was his mom.”

‘He couldn’t save himself’

Carroll was grocery shopping when she had an unsettled feeling about 9 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2022.

“Something in my spirit said to call Cin’Que,” Carroll says. “But I said, ‘No, don’t bother him. He’s okay. He’s having fun.’ And I ignored that voice.”

Carroll and Cin’Que talked on the phone for two hours that morning. He was coming home the next day to help his brother move, but he was celebrating that night with some college classmates.

About 30 minutes later, Carroll felt it again – the tug to call her baby, the boy she’d always spoiled. But now he was 25 – a man who deserved space. She knew he’d be drinking, but he promised he wouldn’t drive.

Cin’Que kept his promise. He wasn’t a drunk driver – nor did he ride with one. Carroll was told he was hit while crossing a roadway in the rain on foot.

“My son was in the prime of his life, but he couldn’t save himself,” says Carroll, who still has so many questions about what happened that night.

“It’s hard to lose somebody and not have answers. Being told this happened to your son and having to plan arrangements – it’s a lot.”

‘The comfort to bury my son’

Carroll called her Modern Woodmen financial representative, Jamont McRae, who’d helped her cover Cin’Que with life insurance when he was a baby.

“My sister had life insurance on her daughter, and I figured she knew what she was talking about,” Carroll says. “It was extremely affordable, and I thought it would be there for him when he got old. I never had it in my mind that I’d use it to bury my son.”

Jamont told Carroll to plan her son’s funeral without worrying about costs; the life insurance on Cin’Que would be enough.

“Life insurance gave me the comfort to bury my son,” Carroll says. “There was no stress over how to pay for his service. I didn’t have to skimp on what I wanted for him.”

The funeral cost almost $15,000. And Carroll still had money afterward to pay off her son’s car loan.

"If their child died, how many people could come up with that kind of cash instantly?” Carroll says. “That’s what life insurance did. That’s powerful!”

‘Thank you, Cin’Que’

Carroll and her son had been planning to meet with a banker to discuss buying a home. Cin’Que died a few days before that scheduled meeting.

“Of course, that didn’t happen,” Carroll says.

But the next August, she made their dream come true. She used the remaining insurance money for a down payment.

“When I walk in my door and look at my home, I always say, ‘Thank you, Cin’Que,’” she says.

Even in death, he continues to turn lives around.