Our story
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Sandra A. Linen-Ward
My big sister. That’s funny because I am so much taller than she is! Sandra is a strong woman to me because she is the “turn-the-other-cheeker” in our family. My other sister and I always joke about how she never would be the one to stick up and fight, but would be silent and wait for things to blow over. Some may think of this as a weakness, I probably did growing up. Now I see it as a strength. Many earthly matters are so trivial, yet people tend to allow things to simmer and consume them. Not my sister. Oh how we fight, actually I fight! I am CONSTANTLY riding her about something (you’d think I was the elder!) and the next time I see her she will be the same Sandra, no grudge, no anger, bending over backwards to do something for me. That is our relationship, I’m the spoiled brat younger sister and she’s the older sister who deals with me. Bottom line, we love each other.
My sister loves telling stories about me. She’ll be the first to talk about my accomplishments in school, at work, in Zeta, etc., she is always proud of me. She would do just about anything for me. When I was in college, she was my “dad.” Whenever my mom headed for Syracuse, my sister was right there. She probably got her first car for that very reason! We all give her a hard time and don’t always agree with her decision-making, but she has a passion for this family. She still supports me in all that I do, from school to step shows, she’s always there. And if all of that is not enough, she has given me one of the greatest gifts in my life, my little princess, my niece Nadja.
Marpessa D. Wiley (Pess)
What a leach! My confidant. For many years, the bane of my phone bill’s existence!!! For more than ½ my life I have looked up to this woman. We are so much alike, yet sometimes so different. We understand one another’s passions, what makes the other tick. We are free with one another. We can cry over broken hearts one minute and chase each other around the dining table with the threat of an “indian burn” or “wet willie” the next. 5 years apart and we could not be closer. We could fill a river will the tears that we have shed together. But they could never outweigh the great times. Many female friendships experience hardships due to pettiness, jealousy, resentment, competition, questioning one another’s motives, lack of trust, men! Not us. We only want the best for one another. I have depended on her input so much in my life that sometimes I didn’t know where Pess ended and I began! Our lives and our relationship have changed drastically over the years, but not our love for one another. We are like an old pair of shoes, always comfortable even after the years have worn us down! We’ve never used the term “best friends” because that doesn’t say enough. My sister, my sister to the end.
Mayneiata Huntt (Neiat)
“Li’l Thitha” How did this start? Thessalonia Baptist Church, Youth Fellowship. Our entire lives revolved around TBC in our teen years, didn’t it? 2 years her elder, I was too old to be her friend in the early days. Then, at some point, those years meant nothing. So much, if not all, of my spiritual growth has been shaped by people at TBC. Neiat is one of those people. Not because she has spent so much time lecturing me, not at all. Actions speak louder than words. I remember when Neiat would put vaseline on her face and pull out her earrings if someone even looked at her wrong! What a roughneck!!! Now, she is a warrior for God. Mayneiata is my spiritual role model. I have watched her metamorphosis over the past 10 years and through her I see the evidence of God’s power.
As I said, at some point our age became a non-issue and we became inseparable. The night I left for college Neiat came home with me after Youth Fellowship to help me finish packing, although that meant that she and her sister would have to walk home late that night. At Youth Fellowship, we were not inside the church anyway, but sitting outside on the basketball court, where we had spent so much time over the previous years, knowing that it’d be a while before we would be able to do it again. Neiat came up with my mom for my first Parent’s Weekend and a month later, when I made my first trip back to the Boogie Down, I went straight to the church to surprise her. She was the first person I saw when I got there and she ran and hugged me so hard that it knocked both of us on the floor! I love you so much, May. Sometimes people don’t say that enough. Our lives have certainly changed from the long phone calls we shared in high school and the long letters once I left for Syracuse. But my love and admiration for you remain the same.
Jacqueline Epps
Hey Aunt Jackie! It’s so funny calling someone Aunt who took you to your first party at a club! Aunt Jackie and I have a special relationship. She is “the aunt” so she has a level of authority that I have always and will always respect. But we are close enough in age to be able to share our lives. I can’t even write some of the things that I want to say because I don’t want to get anyone in trouble :-} But Aunt Jackie is “the grown up who let me grow up.” She was my saving grace in Dunbar. Yes, I know you have never heard of it! There ain’t much going on in Dunbar!!! But when I was visiting, Aunt Jackie made sure I had a good time, sometimes too good :-}
Aunt Jackie is a riot. We love to laugh and cut up together. That’s one of the things that I love most about her. She is still a responsible adult though, but never overbearing. She never made me feel like a little girl, she always gave sound advice, but never pushed it or forced it. She is the “cool aunt” that everyone wants to have.
April Wheeler
Hahahahahaha! I laugh just thinking about our friendship. April and I, actually, I’m not sure why or how! But she is one of those TBC sisters that I love so dearly. I love laughing and talking to April. April is a genuine person, they don’t make many like her. She is not perfect, and does not profess to be. She is just humble and real. She truly cares about people, from the depths of her soul (like I said, they don’t make many like her!) People tease April a lot because she cries at the drop of a dime. I think that is one of the most precious things about her. April loves with her whole self – no half-hearted mess from her!
We don’t hang out a lot, we don’t even get on the phone a lot. Besides, she can’t visit me because she’s afraid of my cat! But we make the most of all the time we have together. I look for April when I get to church. Sometimes I don’t even sit next to her, I just look for her to see her face. When I drive April and her kids home after church, no matter if it’s Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday I can’t ever seem to get home!!! It only takes about 7 minutes to get to April’s house from the church. It takes me about an hour to drop her off! Once we get to her building, we sit and talk and talk and talk…and talk, and talk! The kids know it too. When I pull up they just get out of the car, say good bye to their mother and go upstairs! I don’t know what makes our relationship go on, people would say that we don’t even have a lot in common. Whatever the reason we have clicked, I’m glad about it!!!
Myra Y. Linen
Groom
Kevin D. Miller
Mother of the Bride
Sarah A.Linen
Brother of the Bride
Ronnie Linen
Mother of the Groom
Viera Miller
Father of the Groom
Lawrence E. Miller
Ladies-of-Honor
Mayneiata Huntt
Marpessa D. Wiley
Sandra Linen-Ward
April Wheeler
Jacqueline Epps
Auntie's Little Princess
Nadja Linen-Ward
Best Men
Gregory J. DeCastro
Curtis Hobdy
Sanford E. Brown
Junior Best Man
Javon Bell
Praise Dancer
Ijnanya Weaver
Musician/Soloist
Kirsten Holden
