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Lenora Kelly, known to her grandchildren, greats, and great-greats as "Big Mama," began telling me about her life in October, 2015, when she was 93 years old. During our weekly visits, she told stories and shared old photographs. Between our visits, I took my rough, typed notes and turned them into a narrative, which I would then read back to Big Mama at subsequent visits. Chapter by chapter, we created this autobiography. Big Mama's Story is a testament of "life, love, and joy" by an extraordinary woman who grew up during the Great Depression on a peanut farm in Surry County, Virginia; witnessed and participated in the Great Migration; and lived a life of service to family, friends, and strangers.
Big Mama's Story is now available on iBooks, Amazon Kindle, and other formats. For more information,