Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey
Dear Oprah Winfrey,
My Aunt Mary thought very highly of you. She was a working woman before that was the norm and she was a senior executive in a male dominated world. She did not suffer fools and had little sympathy for people who didn't go out and work for what they wanted. On the other hand, in her department, she treated her employees like family--not the give me a hug kind of family--more the "what are you doing to make your life better," nagging, "what are you going to do when I'm gone" kind of family. One year she gave everyone a coin collection starter kit. She hired girls fresh out of high school and trained them to attain very lucrative positions. She had not gone to college, but she encouraged others. She pretty much made it possible for me to not only finish college, but to go on to law school. She never gave me any money, but she was always there to smooth over obstacles.
She did not like the idea of giving to charitable organizations, because it seemed to her that they all spent more money on soliciting funds than on the actual good works. I don't know what made her first admire you so much, but when she found out about your Angel Network in which you cover the administrative costs and 100% of the monies donated go to the good works, she was very grateful to find your charity.
Mary did not like to watch movies later in her life--due to her many health problems, she slept intermittently and couldn't keep her interest in them, but she loved television. She's never told me that I have to watch something until you had primetime episodes and then she wouldn't let it go. She'd practically quiz me, because she couldn't believe that everyone didn't love them as much as she did. This was extremely unusual for her. In her last years, she was plagued with ill health and was mostly uncomfortable. Very few things gave her pleasure. Your show gave her pleasure. Thank you.
Mary died this past week and I am asking people to send contributions to your Angel Network in lieu of flowers.
My Aunt Mary thought very highly of you. She was a working woman before that was the norm and she was a senior executive in a male dominated world. She did not suffer fools and had little sympathy for people who didn't go out and work for what they wanted. On the other hand, in her department, she treated her employees like family--not the give me a hug kind of family--more the "what are you doing to make your life better," nagging, "what are you going to do when I'm gone" kind of family. One year she gave everyone a coin collection starter kit. She hired girls fresh out of high school and trained them to attain very lucrative positions. She had not gone to college, but she encouraged others. She pretty much made it possible for me to not only finish college, but to go on to law school. She never gave me any money, but she was always there to smooth over obstacles.
She did not like the idea of giving to charitable organizations, because it seemed to her that they all spent more money on soliciting funds than on the actual good works. I don't know what made her first admire you so much, but when she found out about your Angel Network in which you cover the administrative costs and 100% of the monies donated go to the good works, she was very grateful to find your charity.
Mary did not like to watch movies later in her life--due to her many health problems, she slept intermittently and couldn't keep her interest in them, but she loved television. She's never told me that I have to watch something until you had primetime episodes and then she wouldn't let it go. She'd practically quiz me, because she couldn't believe that everyone didn't love them as much as she did. This was extremely unusual for her. In her last years, she was plagued with ill health and was mostly uncomfortable. Very few things gave her pleasure. Your show gave her pleasure. Thank you.
Mary died this past week and I am asking people to send contributions to your Angel Network in lieu of flowers.
posted by KathrynVH @ 8:27 AM
1 Comments:
At January 17, 2007 at 1:15 PM,
Sean M. said…
That is a very nice letter. I hope you are actually going to send that to her; you may end up on TV! Your aunt really was a great woman.
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