On July 11th, 1988, a Montgomery lady (Marsha), 33 years old, rushed to the local hospital to deliver what most anyone would consider a beautiful baby girl, most anyone except for Marsha. Marsha had already had six abortions but, for some reason, decided to deliver her first child finally. Unfortunately, what is typically a great day for most new parents would quickly turn into a literal hell for Baby Stacy.
Although Stacy’s hardcore struggles didn’t develop until kindergarten, she spent most of her toddler life with her mother due to her father being in and out of prison. He was a well-known drug dealer in Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. Then kindergarten begins, and Stacy’s world starts to spiral out of control quickly. Marsha quit her job, stopped waking Stacy up for school, and refused to wake up long enough to get Stacy to school. Yet, even at such a young age, Stacy wanted to attend school. So she would get up on her own, pack her belongings, and walk to school along Atlanta Highway in one of the roughest areas of Montgomery at age five.
Marsha was a bit paranoid and forced Stacy to sleep with her each night. If Stacy moved, wiggled the slightest, or tried to sleep in her own bed, Marsha would beat her, punch her, or drag her by her hair until she cooperated. Finally, one evening things were so bad that Marsha left significant bruising on most of Stacy’s body. Stacy went to school the following day, and the teacher noticed the bruises, and DHR immediately questioned her. Marsha was able to convince DHR that Stacy was lying. To teach Stacy a lesson, Marsha took her on a 45 drive to a lake where she would eventually force Stacy to walk a beam and intentionally shove her to make her straddle the board. After breaking her pelvic bone, Stacy quickly learned it was best to shut up and not speak, or at least that’s how she felt at the time.
At six years old, Marsha started doing drugs herself. Remember, Marsha had quit her job and had no income. Stacy would become her income. Stacy was sold to men in exchange for money and drugs. By eight years old, Stacy was being traded to at least six men a day to have their way with her. That became everyday life for Stacy.
Food, water, and electricity were common for most people, and those things were taken for granted in many cases. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Stacy. She spent many days not knowing how she would eat, if there were water to shower, or heat in the winter. Taking cold showers became common, and still, to this day, she only takes cold showers. Finally, Marsha installed a heater. Stacy was so excited she got out of the cold shower one day and ran straight to the heater. She bent over to pull her undies up and ended up burning her behind. She was taken to the hospital with third-degree burns on her butt. Stacy spent two weeks in the hospital and missed several days of school because she could sit down. Marsha became very angry during this time because she couldn’t sell a burnt butt child to men for drugs. As the days passed that Marsha couldn’t sell Stacy, the more beating Stacy would take. She tried fighting back, but that made things worse, so she learned to take the beating and make life easier.
After being constantly told no one loves her, how much Marsha hated her, and the comments about wishing she would have aborted her, Stacy decided to attempt to live with her father and his stripper girlfriend. She finally built up the courage to tell Marsha she wanted to live with her dad. Marsha angrily threw her on the front porch, locked the doors, and said good luck finding him. Remember, cell phones weren’t really a thing back then. So Stacy was essentially thrown to the wolves in the middle of one of the roughest parts of Montgomery.
At eleven years old, Stacy’s father was building a home and asked her God Parent to help. Gerald, Stacy’s God Father, came over and noticed her. He gave her a smirk and proceeded to assist her father. Unfortunately, that smirk was the devil in disguise. Remember when Marsha began selling Stacy for drugs? Gerald was her first client and most frequent purchaser. Later that evening, Stacy asked her stepmother if they could eat out. Stacy had a very horrible secret to tell, and she felt comfortable telling her stepmother, thinking she might help. The two went out, and Stacy told her the stories of abuse she had been in with Gerald and the other guys that purchased her. The two returned home, and she told her father, hoping he would care. Unfortunately, he showed no remorse and immediately said she was lying, making her return home with her mother.
A few weeks later, Stacy told a friend of Marsha’s, and this nice lady was a saving grace that listened and believed her. Stacy was taken to the hospital for evaluation and placed in protective custody, where she was put into a group home. She was scared to death. Gerald was eventually arrested, and Stacy was allowed back home since her grandmother would be living with her during the trial. From Stacy’s window, she could see Gerald’s backyard, where he hung an adult and child skeleton from a tree while he was out of jail on bond to scare her from testifying. Finally, the trial came, and Stacy had to testify in front of Gerald, the judge, and the jury. As hard as it was to face him, Stacy had finally won. Gerald went straight to prison.
Stacy was twelve when the trial ended. She returned home to live with Marsha again. She couldn’t take life any longer and attempted to commit suicide. After swallowing several pills, Stacy woke up in a hospital with several tubes coming out of her body. She was placed back into a group home following her stay at the hospital.
When Stacy began junior high school, she hoped things would improve. But, on her first day of the 7th grade, while sitting in the cafeteria during lunch, a girl jumped onto the lunchroom table and stabbed the girl next to her in the eye with a fork. She was picked on for being extremely poor and ultimately didn’t fit in. Stacy bounced from group homes to foster homes and periodically back at Marsha’s. Then, in the tenth grade, Stacy was chased home by three girls with a knife. When she told the principal about the situation, he stated he couldn’t do anything since she wasn’t injured. She decided it would be best to drop out of school that day to protect her life.
At 15, Stacy got a full-time job, began hanging out with older boys, and became pregnant. However, she wanted to keep the baby. Marsha convinced her to have an abortion because of her age, which still haunts her to the core. When Stacy turned sixteen, she convinced a judge to emancipate her as a minor. The judge signed off, and she was finally freed of Marsha. Stacy then moved to Albertville to live with her family.
When Stacy turned 18, her father made contact after a three-year imprisonment to see if she would be willing to take a DNA test to prove that she belonged to him. She spoke to Marsha and asked if there was any reason for her not to take the test. Marsha insisted he was the father. Two weeks later, her father called screaming at her asking how she could do this to him. She was not his child. A few weeks later, Stacy had to appear in court where her father, for the last 18 years, insisted her last name be changed. He wanted nothing to do with her.
For 18 years, Stacy Lentini lived in a literal hell. Statistically speaking, Stacy should be dead or in jail, but God had other plans for her life. At the age of 19, she met a man named LaWayne Nunnelley. Five short weeks later, they would marry. They welcomed their first child Tristen, within the first year of marriage. The man that played the role of her father learned about Tristen and reached out to have a relationship with him. Although Stacy loved her dad, she couldn’t trust her baby to be around him. He was still struggling with sobriety. He was completely broken and severely depressed. He ended up committing suicide on March 24th, 2010.
The week after her father’s death, Stacy and LaWayne found out they were pregnant again. While walking down a flight of stairs, she fell, which resulted in a miscarriage. The two were devastated but almost immediately became pregnant with their daughter Beona. Beona was welcomed into the world in January 2011. By the age of 22, Stacy would have to have a hysterectomy from all the abuse she received as a child. It was a miracle she had Tristen and Beona, but God knew she needed them in her life.
Stacy will never forget her past, but she will not allow it to affect her future. Growing up, there were a couple of times when she felt God’s presence but at the same time questioned Him as to why He could allow the bad stuff to happen. At 22, while pregnant with Beona, she attended church and wanted to be baptized because it seemed like the right thing to do. However, nothing really changed in her life other than she had taken the dip. It wasn’t until February 2022 that Stacy truly accepted God as her Lord and Savior. A family friend had been inviting her and LaWayne to church for a while, and although they considered going, the two had several tattoos and piercings. What church could possibly accept them without judgment or stereotyping? So they decided to watch the live service on Facebook instead of attending church. After a month of Facebook services, LaWayne loaded up the family and thought they would give it a try. That day would be the day that changed their lives forever. No judgment, no stereotyping, only love was shown when they entered the doors of Cullman Nazarene Church.
Stacy Nunnelley still has her battles, in fact, she is battling cancer now. However, her spirits are high because she has put her trust in the hands of Jesus Christ. For 18 years, Stacy endured hell. She lived in what seemed to be hell. She overcame the impossible. Things were much better from 19 years old until she turned 33, but on that February day in 2022, Stacy Nunnelley’s life became renewed, her past forgiven, and she is living her best life with LaWayne, Tristen, Beona, and her church family.
