Winning Gamble

Darlene Gamble Played Multiple Roles In Leading Her Household And She Remembers Every Aspect Of Them As She Led Her Family To Success

By Kia Lisby

Mitchellville resident Darlene Gamble is a single mother who’s raised her now 22-year-old son, Sean, with the help and support of family and friends.

Like many women, she played multiple roles in leading her household and she remembers every aspect of them. Today, Gamble’s a 2016 retiree who was a career professional for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. With Gamble’s 1984 degree in computer science from Southern University in Washington, D.C., she also worked in web analytics. She developed alternative solutions to help people develop content search engines for the content they posted on their websites.

But she also took seriously what she needed to do to successfully raise Sean.

Although there wasn’t a male present within her household, Darlene made sure to have male influences in Sean’s life. “It was important for me to have positive male role models in Sean's life to teach him things from a male perspective which can be entirely different from a woman's/mom’s perspective. I did not want Sean to feel as if he was missing anything in his life. I wanted Sean to have all the support and encouragement possible,” she says.

Darlene’s brother, Zack Gamble, lives in Washington, D.C. and was available to help with Sean – giving the youngster weekends with Uncle Zack and his family. Darlene says Sean’s godfather and godmother (Maryland residents Kelvin and Karla Allen and their children) were present in Sean’s life. “Sean's uncles and his godfather were always there for him when he needed a male perspective or male influence. It was not just about sports but life lessons from a male perspective,” she says.

In the summers, the young mother sent Sean to spend time with her brother, Chris, in Atlanta.

Gamble was always involved with volunteer work and community support—balancing her time between work, Sean, his future and hers.

“Sean often spent time with my cousin Naomi Simmons who lives in DC when I attended Delta Sigma Theta meetings or meetings at Antioch Baptist Church,” she says.

Things changed. The greatest challenge Gamble said she faced in raising Sean was when he left Riverdale Baptist School to attend Charles Herbert Flowers High School. It wasn’t the academic location that made the difference, it was Sean’s adolescence.

“Sean attended Riverdale from K3 through 8th grade,” Gamble says explaining Sean’s academic focus before he became a teen.

“He loved technology and robotics, so he tested to get into the science and technology program at Flowers. My child was so amazing and awesome until [his] transition to high school, when he became a teenager,” she said with a beaming smile in her voice.

But then her tone slowly changed.

“The [same] child who would always listen to me and love me started acting as if he could no longer understand the English language. The boy would skip school thinking I wouldn’t find out. The

school would call saying he did not attend school that day. We went back and forth until I couldn’t take it any longer trying to keep him in school and working every day. I called Chris in Atlanta and told him my son was trying to kill me and has lost his mind.”

It was a phase that her brother recognized and had no trouble dealing with.

“My brother said ‘send him to me I will help him find [his mind]’. So, from 9th to 12th grade the boy was in Atlanta with Uncle Chris and my sister-in-law, Debra,” she says.

Gamble says the hardest part of being a single parent was in managing it all: working to keep her son involved in extra-curricular activities and church, staying on top of homework and his grades, managing the bills – and without Sean being aware of the amount of stress she was under.

A typical day started at 5 a.m. She’d get ready for the day and drop Sean off at before-care in elementary school, before getting herself to work by 6:30 a.m. She picked Sean up from school after she got off work and took him to any activities he was involved in, all before going home and having to cook, help with homework and prepare him for bed. By the time Sean was in middle school, he was able to do more for himself, so things became a little easier for Darlene.

Despite all the challenges and adversities, Sean himself was Gamble’s motivation to keep going. “I wanted to make sure he had the structure and support he needed,” said the retired computer professional. She would reach out and find guidance resources such as The Patriots Technology Training center (Lego Robotics) or Project Manhood, a mentoring program at First Baptist Church of Glenarden, to help shape the child’s character.

Gamble says she’s taught him to “always try to see the best in people and be helpful, especially with seniors.”

The most rewarding part of parenthood for her is seeing how Sean has become independent and thrives on his own, but still confides in her when situations stress him out. She also finds reward in knowing that the traits she instilled in him are becoming a part of who he is.

Gamble still volunteers in her community—including service as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) working with foster care children. She participates as a mediator at both the Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center in Annapolis and the Prince George’s County Collaborative Conflict Resolution Center. She’s an active member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden as a member of the Legal Ministry and various discipleship ministries.