Dolvett Quince is an entrepreneur, fitness model, podcast host, actor, and personal trainer best known for his role as a trainer for six seasons of The Biggest Loser.
Before reaching all that success, however, he was a young boy living in foster care. Thanks to a social worker’s compassion during these challenging chapters, the story of his life was rewritten for good.
He was separated from his mother at age 10 and later adopted with his siblings
Quince’s father left his home when he was just five years old. He recalled that his mother was so fixated on getting him back that she “neglected” her children. This eventually led to police coming in and separating him and his siblings from their mother. Quince was ten years old at this point.
Thankfully, all four of the siblings eventually found a home with a Jamaican couple. However, they had to endure intense discipline.
“My adoption was bittersweet, because I had parents who were loving enough to [adopt] four strangers,” said Quince. “That’s a beautiful story, however, they’re very old school with a ‘you spare the rod, you spoil the child’ sort of mentality. So they only knew what they knew– and that was to beat it out of me.”
However, what made these difficult chapters bearable was one social worker who took special care. Not only did this woman fight to keep the siblings together, but she handmade Quince a priceless gift to keep his spirits lifted and remind him of his inherent worth.
A book to make sure he’d never forget where he came from
One day, she asked Quince what his favorite color was (he loved orange). The next time young Quince saw the social worker, she had an orange book for him. In it were handwritten details of his life story—the time of his birth, the hospital he was born in, his family tree—along with childhood photos. She also left the last few pages blank so Quince could fill it in himself.
The “It’s Gonna Be Okay” book, as Quince would call it, was meant to help him “always know” who he was and where he came from. Which did prove useful, as he had memory gaps from that time as he grew older.
Now he’s trying to find her
Time moved on, and Quince created a life for himself. While he always remembered what that special social worker did for him, he couldn’t recall her name. Then, he went back to the “It’s Gonna Be Okay Book.” The name was right there: Lois Huntziger.
Even with this information, however, Quince is having trouble finding her. He’s recently collaborated with Upworthy’s Pls.Find Instagram page, which aims to use the power of the internet to help people find those who have touched their lives in some way.
In the description, Huntziger was described as “A social worker in Stamford, Connecticut in the late 70s to early 80s,” likely with the “Department of Children and Youth Services, which later became the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.” According to Quince, she worked with him when she was about 30 years old, making her in her late 70s to early 80s today.
If you have any leads, you can send a DM to the Pls.Find Instagram page
