I had the pleasure of meeting Bertha McKinney at a family reunion several years ago. She really impressed me as a warm and knowledgeable person, and to make things even better.....she's a relative. At the time she also told me about the passing of her daughter Lisa. She was trying to get the Lisa Nicole McKinney Foundation up and running. Being a music person I was amazed at Lisa's accomplishments in the field of music.....and even more excited about the future she would have had, had she lived.
Lisa was one of so many talented young women to leave us far before her time. I
think of people like Minnie Riperton, Laura Nyro, Syreeta Wright and a host of others, even my own mother Bettye McCall left this earth at the age of 42. This thing called life is the most precious of all gifts God has given us, which puts a great emphasis on the true significance of family reunions. Had I not been at that
particular family reunion I would have never known about Lisa McKinney.
One day while crossing Easton Avenue in New Brunswick I happened to notice one of the buildings of Rutgers University was renamed McKinney Hall. Of course I knew it wasn't named after Lisa, but it started me thinking about her again. I never knew this extraordinarily talented and beautiful young lady also who attended Rutgers University at around the same time that my daughter Joy was there. It is such a pity that they didn't know each other since Joy was just a few years younger. This just shows the importance of knowing your family members. We are fortunate in that we have people like Claire, Gwen and Ishmael (and others) who are historians of the Foster-Mcall family who do pain-staking family research just like Bobbie did when she was alive.
It is my hope that we as a family keep the memory of Lisa Nicole Mckinney alive by
contributing to the foundation which will give money to outstanding young students at The Wayne State University School of Music. Bertha and I will elaborate further
on this topic at the 2010 reunion in Somerset, New Jersey. See you there!
Peace Claude
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