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Oprah Winfrey is making sure to celebrate her father while he is here. On the fourth of July, instead of throwing a cookout celebrating the holiday, she decided to pay tribute to her father, Oprah Daily reported. She organized a Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day event filled with food, family, friends and even a barber station. Vernon Winfrey was a barber for over 50 years. She also invited gospel singer Wintley Phipps to perform.
“My father is ill and so we wanted to be able to have all of his friends come and celebrate him while he’s able to receive the joy,” she said in an Instagram video.
Vernon Winfrey is battling cancer, so his baby girl wanted to give him “his ‘flowers’ while he’s still well enough to smell them.”
While paying homage to her father she acknowledged him “for being the kind of father who has brought honor to your life and honor to my life.” She also recognized him for his work ethic. Winfrey said when he ran his Nashville barbershop he “never closed that darn store; not during Christmas, not on the weekends.”
“I learned from your good work ethic, showing up, being on time – that is why for 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show, I never missed a show.”
Oprah Winfrey also surprised her father by flying in his sister, Christine, from Mississippi. When he saw her, they had an emotional embrace.
In the beginning of the video, Winfrey said her father was sitting in the barber chair and had no clue that the event was dedicated to him. Winfrey returned to Nashville to organize this and threw it at her childhood home.
Winfrey had went to live with her father when she was 14. Before moving with him she lived with her maternal grandmother in Mississippi and then her mother, Vernita, in Milwaukee.
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