According to hollywoodreporter.com, Oprah Winfrey’s father, Vernon Winfrey, has passed away at the age of 89 years old. Oprah confirmed his passing in Nashville on Friday via a post made on Instagram. She stated that, “Yesterday with family surrounding his bedside I had the sacred honor of witnessing the man responsible for my life, take his last breath,” She continued. “We could feel peace enter the room at his passing.” Just earlier this week Oprah surprised her father with a barbeque in Nashville for the Fourth of July and named the event, Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day. The event also included a barber chair to celebrate his long career owning a barber shop in Nashville for almost 50 years. Vernon also served as a member of the Metro City Council for 16 years in Nashville and was a trustee for the Tennessee State University. Oprah spent most of her early years at her father’s hometown of Kosciusko, Mississippi and in Milwaukee with her mother, Vernita Lee who died back in 2018, then back to her father in her teen years. In an old quote about it Oprah stated, “If I hadn’t been sent to my father (when I was 14), I would have gone in another direction,” Without Vernon’s influence and parenting we may not have the same Oprah that we have today.
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