CHICAGO — At 2 a.m. Sunday, Quinniya Hearn was startled when someone knocked at the door of the Auburn Gresham residence she shares with 3-year-old daughter Phallyn.
The sound was coming from 82-year-old Louise Crawford, who has advanced Alzheimer's and had been wandering from her home at 91st and Ada streets three miles away in Washington Heights since 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
"She could have easily ignored her, but she didn't," said Crawford's niece-in-law, Angela Bryant. "We have Quinniya to thank for her life. We did not know whether we were going to see [Crawford] again dead or alive."
Hearn is no stranger to adversity. A few months after receiving her master's degree in social work from Loyola University Chicago and serving an internship as a case manager to help the homeless, Hearn was unemployed, nearly broke and had nowhere to live. She and Phallyn were forced to move into an Englewood homeless shelter in March 2014.
"Miss Louise's family were in awe that God had led their aunt to a social worker and homeless survivor," said Hearn, who has lived in her new place at Princeton Park Homes in the 9100 block of South Stewart Avenue since July of 2014.
"We all wondered how she managed to get out to my home, of all places, traveling in the dark, alone, crossing many busy streets and railroad tracks and defeated the ultimate circle maze of Princeton Park Homes," Hearn added. "Sometimes I get lost in my car going home in this maze."
Hearn welcomed Crawford into her home, talked to her and tried to keep her calm. She then called 911 and kept her company before an ambulance took Crawford to Roseland Hospital. Crawford's family had called police and found Crawford after hospital officials recognized her description from a missing person report. Crawford and her family were reunited around 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
"When learning that a person was so caring and conscientious with our aunt, we wanted to thank her," said Bryant, of the Near West Side.
Justin Breen says the two families will pray together Sunday:
Bryant and other family members traveled to Hearn's home later Sunday, and they struck up an instant friendship.
This Sunday, Bryant and her family will visit Hearn's church — Apostolic Faith Church in Bronzeville — and they will be in attendance Aug. 16 when Hearn competes in the Miss Voluptuous Diva USA Scholarship Pageant at King College Prep.
Hearn, 34, who now volunteers at a homeless shelter in Garfield Park and is a case manager for wards of the state, said she was "entertaining an angel" when Crawford was at her home.
"It always pays to be good to people," Hearn said. "I believe in divine intervention, and I did what I was told to do. The whole night was divine."
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