“My mom worked for 36 years at the same job, retired, and bought and paid for a house while she was living. She's the one who taught me to be steady. She passed away in March, but I think about her every day. I miss her being around; I’m at home and I think, ‘I’m gonna go see Mama’, but she’s not there anymore. I wish I had a picture of her with me, but I don’t. She was a good-looking lady in her day, my color, medium tall, not a big woman. She taught me the rules of life and to be truthful and honest, although I have to say I haven’t been either one of those all my life. I’m human. She lived to be 93 years old; she was the baby of 11 children and the last one to pass. She kept her memory up until the end. She couldn’t see that well, but she remembered everybody. She remembered things from 40, 50, 60 years before and told stories about them. She told me about people I never knew who passed before I was ever born.”