OPRAH MOURNS FOR HER LATE FATHER WHO DIED AT 88, 2022!!
Oprah Winfrey took to Instagram on Saturday to share a tribute to her father, Vernon. He died on Friday after a long conflict with cancer. He was 88.
“Less than a week ago, we respected my father in his backyard,” Oprah captioned a clip of her father alongside gospel singer Wintley Phipps. “My friend and gospel singer Wintley Phipps greeted him with a song. HE FELT love and reveled in it until he could no longer speak.”
“Yesterday, with my family around his bed, I had the honor of witnessing the man responsible for my life take his last breath.” “We felt peace enter the room as he left. That peace will last. Everything is alright. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.”
Details of funeral plans were not immediately released.
The tragic news arrived less than a week after Oprah surprised her father by hosting a Fourth of July barbecue for him in Nashville, which she called “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day.”
Vernon was a renowned barber in his community and served as a Nashville City Council member for 16 years. Oprah’s mother, Vernita Lee, passed away in 2018 at 83.
Oprah spent her childhood in her father’s hometown of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and in Milwaukee with her mother, who died in 2018.
However, she also stayed with her father in Nashville between the ages of 7 and 9 during her teenage years.
“If they hadn’t sent me to my father (when I was 14), I would have gone in a different direction,” Oprah told the Washington Post in 1986.
“I could have been a good criminal. I would use those same instincts differently.”
“I knew my mother was at death’s door,” Winfrey told People in December 2018. “My sister (Patricia) called me saying she thought it was over.”
She continued, “I was sitting with my mother. I said, ‘I don’t know if you can make it. Do you think you can make it?’ She said, “I don’t think I am.”
“So we planned a backyard barbecue; it’s more than a backyard barbecue. It’s for ‘Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day,'” she said in the clip below. “My father is sick, so we wanted all his friends to come and celebrate him while he can receive joy.”
During the celebration, Winfrey accredited her father as the person who taught her work ethic, noting that her father rarely closed his business for the holidays.
“I learned from your good work ethic, showing up, being on time — that’s why I’ve never missed a show in 25 years of The Oprah Show,” she said.
Many stars sent their condolences to Winfrey.
On Father’s Day, Oprah shared another tribute to Vernon on her Oprah Daily website, reflecting on how he raised her during Winfrey’s childhood in Nashville.
“My father was strict, disciplined, and always afraid that I would stray from the path of righteousness that he tried to put on me,” wrote Oprah. “So today, I salute my father, Vernon Winfrey, and all the fathers who did the best they knew at the time to give us the guidance and support they were able to. I know firsthand how a life’s trajectory can be changed by the positive influence of a good father.”
“We lift his name in honor right with you. May God shower grace and mercy to you and your family” wrote “Entertainment Tonight” host Nischelle Turner.
Niecy Nash wrote: “Sending your family so much love Beauty, sorry for your loss but also happy for this precious time and love you shared.”