Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
A house full of new furniture was the last thing the Bogue family ever imagined they'd be getting for Christmas.
Yet when mother Michelle answered a knock on her door Tuesday morning and saw the Walker Furniture delivery truck parked curbside with three rooms of furnishings inside, in came the biggest morale boost of a lifetime.
"This is the neatest thing that's ever happened to me," she said. "Somebody really cares."
The Bogues' small two-bedroom apartment was the first of 14 stops the delivery truck is making this week to fill with new furniture the homes of needy local families as part of Walker Furniture's third annual "Home for the Holidays" program.
With a chilly wind whipping leaves through the air outside, two delivery men handed Bogue a red rose before hoofing in three mattresses, a kitchen table with six padded chairs, dressers and lamps.
Young Clinton Bogue knew what was going on, his mother said as the delivery men shuffled past his bedroom. "I can see it in his eyes. I know he knows -- he's my life."
The 12-year-old boy was at the heart of a five-page letter written by Nancy Lewis, his former home infusion nurse and now family friend, nominating the family for Walker's giveaway.
A monthlong bout with pneumonia preceded a terrifying diagnosis four years ago that the Bogue's middle child had cystic fibrosis -- an often terminal genetic disorder that affects the pancreas' digestive abilities and compromises the lungs.
Today Clint is virtually a quadriplegic, the result of a second surgery to remove a recurring tumor in his brain stem.
His mother no longer works, living round-the-clock with her son and assisting with the third of three shifts as his nurse. Their insurance is about to run out. The family, including Starr, 14, and Colby, 4, survives only on child support from their father.
Tuesday night, Michelle Bogue slept in the living room on her new bed -- a plush sofa sleeper.
Also new in the living room are Queen Anne-style coffee and end tables in glossy cherry finish, which brought tears to Bogue's eyes.
"I've looked at those tables in the newspaper ads for years, but every time I had saved the money, it had to be spent on medical costs," she said.
And another surprise: All the furniture Walker showed up with was by chance in hues of forest green and dusty rose -- Bogue's favorite colors.
The letter nominating the Bogues was one of more than 2,500 received and reviewed by a panel that included Gov. Bob Miller and Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones.
Another recipient is Jarold Howard, for whom more than 500 Selma Bartlett Elementary School students wrote nomination letters.
Howard, a custodian at the school since it opened in 1992, is in his late 20s and has been receiving cancer treatments for nearly six years.
Since July, Howard has been at UCLA Medical Center recovering from a bone marrow transplant, which doctors have said was his last hope.
His wife and daughter now live with his parents, having lost their life savings to medical bills including vital anti-rejection medication, which costs $1,200 a shot. Their new furniture was scheduled to arrive tonight.
Others chosen to receive furniture:
* A family that for the past five years has provided foster care services for children with AIDS.
* A single mother and her four children who were homeless and lived for two months in their car. One of the children has diabetes mellitus and another severe asthma.
* A single father of two children who was recently critically injured and left disabled. His family has since lost their home and all of its furnishings.
* A grandmother raising four grandchildren in a small trailer without furniture, a car and very little clothing.
* A single father with three young children who lost their home to a fire in early December.
* A family with two young children. The father has terminal cancer and is expected to live 6 to 10 months, and the mother has multiple sclerosis.
* A single mother of two young children whose home and belongings were destroyed by fire Dec. 6.
"This community is the reason our company is a success," said Larry Alterwitz, Walker Furniture president. "Giving back to this community is very important to us. We wish we could help every family ... everyone we have given furniture to has been so excited, so grateful and it's been so needed. Giving does make a difference in people's lives."
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