The Privilege Of Growing Old (and who you meet along the way)
Today is my birthday. As a breast cancer survivor, I am acutely aware that there are tens of thousands of women who would welcome being proud card-carrying members of AARP, or beneficiaries of Medicare and Social Security as am I.
I have known them, and watched them wither away from this insidious disease in their 30’s and 40’s. As co-founder and CEO of Pink Fund, the joy that comes from fulfilling our mission also comes from great sorrow when breast cancer takes their lives.
February is also a month when we focus cardiovascular disease, the number 1 killer of women causing one in three deaths each year.
It is also a month when we recognize the contributions of Black Americans to our history, our present and our future.
Last month I had the surprise privilege of meeting and talking with a true American Hero of African American ancestry, whose legacy is encapsulated by his past, present and future work through the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human & Civil Rights.
I was in Washington, D.C. for a meeting with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, where I am serving a three-year term as a volunteer Director of the Board.
I was staying at the historic Kimpton Monaco Hotel, a more than 200-year-old building which once served as the US Federal Post Office and during the Civil War, became a hospital for injured Union soldiers. (You can learn more about this storied building here.)
While the building itself is historic, more history resides just across the street in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery where the painted images of many important Americans are on display, primarily Presidents and First Ladies.
Monday morning as I was waiting to join a friend for breakfast, I grabbed coffee and seated myself in the lobby near five people who looked like they were in D.C. for something important, so being a former journalist, I inquired, “What are you all doing here?”
“Well,” a woman answered, "Fred here," pointing to this distinguished man in a blue suit, "just had his portrait unveiled in the Smithsonian.” I was truly aghast when learning that “Fred” was Fred David Gray,
Martin Luther King Jr.’s attorney. I met Dr. King in 1968 when he spoke at my high school in Grosse Pointe Michigan, three weeks before he was assassinated. It is one of the seminal moments of my life. Well before black history month was made official by President Gerald Ford in 1976, I was living in a historical moment.
“Fred” as he kindly asked me to call him, also represented Rosa Parks who famously was charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to sit in the rear of a segregated Montgomery Alabama city bus. (That bus is on display in the Henry Ford Museum near where I live).
I could have pinched myself, once again experiencing history. A seminal moment.
The irony is that the woman who made the introductions, naming Fred’s wife, his son Fred Gray Jr. and his niece Karen Gray Houston (an award winning journalist and author of a debut memoir, Daughter of the Boycott, an ode to Thomas Gray, her father and Fred's brother, a Civil Rights activist who played a key role in integrating the Montgomery Alabama busses) remained anonymous while indicating that she too was a breast cancer survivor. (Because of course they asked why I was in D.C. and I told them all about my work with Pink Fund.)
You can read more about Karen here: Karen Gray Houston | Author
So while today, I am celebrating my birthday with family, eating a vegan dinner prepared by my daughter, and soaking outside in a hot tub in 21 degrees, I am thankful. Thankful for my long life the privilege of meeting historical figures who have enriched my life.