Vernell Grissett Lewis
Everyone I would like to introduce to you my mother. Her name is Vernell Grissett Lewis. She is one the biggest influence in my life. She has been married to my Dad (Roy H. Lewis Sr.) for about 48 years and counting. She knew she had her hands full with this little boy who was extremely shy, hyperactive and sensitive. I remember one day when I was about 9 years old I came running home crying because the kids in the neighborhood had surrounded me and began to tease me horribly. Before they were popular my Dad made me and my brothers wear the now famous Michael Jordan haircut. I have a funny shape head, so as it goes with most kids they will find some small imperfection to tease about. I came running upstairs to our second floor apartment crying my eyes out. My mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner when she heard me. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. Through my sobs all I could muster was “the kids are teasing me!” I told her why and I remembered saying something crazy like “Mom can I go to the doctor so that they could fix me head?”
She stopped what she doing and took me by shoulders and made me face her. “Son, there is nothing wrong with you head. Those kids out there are just so jealous of you. Son when they stop talking about you is when you really have to start worrying.” I didn’t get the wisdom in those words that she told me that day until years later. There would many more trips like that where I would come running to her being upset about something.
It's funny, I still do that to this day. She comforted me when I was deployed last year in Iraq. I am just one of her six children but I’m sure that my brothers and sisters have their own story to tell about her. My mom is a Presiding Elder in the Methodist Church under the A.M.E Zion denomination. She is the first woman in the state of Alabama to hold that position. My mother was also instrumental in leading my wife Wendy to Christ. I am very proud of my mom. I don’t even know where to begin to show her how much I appreciate what she has done for me over the years. What is also extra is that I look just like her!
I have always had a sensitive side to me and I think that I get that from her. My mom cares about people and it is so obvious when I come home to visit her at one of her churches that she oversees. The people just draw around her. I thank God for giving me a mother like her. Tears are welling up in my eyes now as I write this because the little boy in me still runs to her for comfort. My mom is one of 5 girls who my grandmother raised up in the city of Philadelphia. I just want you all to know who she is and why I am the man I am today. My zest for life, passion for people and commitment to God has been the examples that she has lived out right in front of me. I can only hope that I follow in her footsteps.