Can't believe I remembered my password the night before Harper Lee Died

After several years of not knowing the password to this blog, I finally remembered it and was able to post last night. Then I woke up to the headline at al.com and the article by Connor Sheets telling the world that Nelle Harper Lee has died.

I only met her once, but safe to say it was a memorable day!

Kim Agee, Jim Rotch, Darlene Rotch and Harper Lee at the reception prior to the Birmingham Pledge Award ceremony

Someone on Twitter said, "Harper Lee can now be the recluse she desired to be."

I replied, "She wasn't really a recluse, she just didn't like fame." And I think that's the truth.

Anyway, here is a video I shot of Harper Lee meeting students from Fairfield Prep and Mountain Brook High School in 2006 when she came to Birmingham to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Birmingham Pledge Foundation.


(The gentleman at :26 is Stephen Black. He is the grandson of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, Yale Law grad and founder of FocusFirst. It's a non profit that trained college students provide vision screenings to pre-school children throughout Birmingham, specifically in low-income areas.)

A day prior to the event, Lee rode the train unaccompanied to Birmingham from Monroeville, Alabama. She then spent the next day touring the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and meeting students who were there that day. A luncheon was given in her honor, prepared by legendary chef, Clayton Sherrod.

Nelle Harper Lee & Chef Clayton Sherrod at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Miss Lee was then accompanied by Birmingham Pledge Foundation founder Jim Rotch and his wife Darlene to a pre-event reception held at the Alys Robinson Stephens Center. Lee graciously spent several hours standing to meet fans and admirers. I noted then that she had on very sensible shoes!

She also met with students from Fairfield Prep and Mountain Brook High School who were putting on a join production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in Birmingham. The students came directly from play practice and were in period costumes. I started shooting video at that point because the the air in the room changed, for lack of a better way to describe what it was like when Lee looked up to find the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird walking towards here.

The young man playing Dill leaned over and asked, "May I give you a hug?" Lee exclaimed, "Of course!"

Then it was on, Nelle Harper Lee hugged every one of those kids or shook their hand if it was proffered.

That action starts at about 1:26 of this Harper Lee video. Great evening, needless to say!

Later, she accepted the Lifetime Achievement award from Birmingham Pledge Founder Jim Rotch, Cathy Ovson Friedman and Judge Houston Brown.

After several minutes of a standing ovation Lee said, "I have a speech prepared," and paused. People gasped. No one expected that!

Then she continued, "But my heart is too full to make it. All I shall say is thank you, thank you for one of the greatest days of my life."

Wow, I finally remembered the password to this blog about the time I met Harper Lee!

I'll try and upload some photos soon.

And nah, I passed on her "new" book.