Take Lots of Pictures NOW!

Capturing images of loved ones now is critical to having their photos later. I have a few of my mother, but not nearly enough. She was a character, in more ways than one, and I often see myself in her -- her poses, her smile, and, yes, her features. The older I get, the more I resemble her.

What a woman.

If I had been on my job, I would have posted this in March for National Women's Month. Her accomplishments and the lives she touched over the seven-plus decades of her life were a testament to her character and beliefs.

She founded the first kindergarten for Black children in Screven, Georgia.

She was the first cook and dietician at the Screven Elementary School cafeteria.

She was an evangelist and lived a life mission of introducing and teaching others about Jesus Christ, her Savior.

She was an in-depth communicator and never met a stranger.

She was a seamstress and taught many of the young women in the community how to sew and make clothes out of old clothes or hand-me-downs, as we used to call them.

She was a mother and grandmother to many in Screven and Mount Rainier.

She believed that education was the key to success and survival, and that you should learn something new daily.

She was a woman of character, integrity, and responsibility, and held herself accountable for her outcomes.

She was a community worker -- she believed in taking care of the sick, feeding the hungry, giving to the poor or those less fortunate than she.

She could sing, dance, read poetry, and throw one heck of a party or other event.

She was multi-talented, and when she put her mind to a thing, it got DONE!

She was and always will be my mother!

Thank you, mother, for instilling some, if now all, of your values in me.

Her name was Florence Brown. She gave herself her middle name, Henrietta. She married my dad and became a Williams, making her Florence Henrietta Brown Williams or Florence H.B. Williams.

But to most, she was simply Miss Florence -- non-pretentious, unassuming, down-to-earth, and always willing to lend a helping hand.