Thank You: The Boy That Made June Smile

Nov. 25, 2008 — -- When June Baumgart was a kid, she said she was awkward, unpopular and mercilessly bullied by the other kids. Now, she said her life is completely different: She's self-confident, has a lot of friends and affects lives daily as a nurse.

Today on "Good Morning America," Baumgart finally got the chance to thank the one person who changed her world forever, simply by talking to her more than 20 years ago.

Click here to tell "GMA" about someone you'd like to thank.

Steve Myrvold who attended college with Baumgart had no idea that when he talked to her during their freshman year, it would have such an impact.

"The first year of college is a bit lonely for everybody," Myrvold said. "You're making friends with everybody you can. She had a good sense of humor. That goes a long way with me."

But for a girl who grew up with notes in her locker that said "why don't you die?" his small act of kindness went a very long way with her.

Baumgart grew up as a poor girl from a dairy farm in northern Minnesota.

"I got my first store-bought shirt when I was 12 years old," she said. "We had absolutely nothing. I was an oddball. I was heavy, had bad teeth... and just didn't fit in anywhere."

She said taunting and bullying were cruel.

"I was spit on literally," she said. "The teachers would join in. I had a teacher call me 'June the Balloon.' It was a daily torment so I quit and spent the next two years on the parents' farm hiding."

Then, in 1981, Baumgart left the farm for college and her life took a dramatic turn.

"In the dorm we had a group of popular kids and one of the leaders was named Steve [Myrvold]. He was very personable and he could do anything and everybody would follow him," she said. "And we started talking and when the cool kids would have a party I'd go hang out."

She said whenever anyone tried to make fun of her, Myrvold came to her rescue.

"He would stand up and say 'this is my friend. You got a problem with her? You've got a problem with me,'" she said. "I was just amazed, you know, why be nice to me? And after I realized, that's him."

Pretty soon, Baumgart said she had plenty of reason to smile more than she had ever before.

"He was very handsome so anyone that wanted to date him suddenly became my friends so I met a lot of women. He gave me confidence that gave me laughter, which gave me friends... which gave me confidence, which gave me laughter. It just snowballed and it made a difference," she said.

After college, Baumgart never saw Myrvold again until today.

When Myrvold's wife, Debra Myrvold, heard the story, she was not surprised.

"It makes you proud that that's my husband," Myrvold said. "I look at my boys and they're growing up to be like their dad."

Today Baumgart finally told Myrvold what she had been waiting all these years to say.

"I would want him to know that I'm grateful," she said. "Because of one person stepping up, I went on to do incredible things and I changed lives. I affected lives every day and that's him through me."

Myrvold demurred when confronted with the realization that he had profoundly changed Baumgart's life.

"It's normal. I don't know," he said. It was a reaction Baumgart had expected.

"Knowing him, from remembering him, he wouldn't think anything of it," she said.