My interview went extremely well and lasted well over four hours and honestly probably a little over five (I lost track of time). And that was after i started to rush him a bit at the two hour mark. I only had to ask i believe three loaded questions and he took the show from there. It was not as if he was rambling either, because almost all of what he told was in a narrative format (interesting ones at that) and had what seemed like he had almost total recall, which is amazing in itself considering he is 86 years old. Almost each one of his stories had a much wider theme about life including the hardships of racism, love one another, perseverance, importance of education, the hardships that many go through, etc. It is hard for me to even pick a favorite story from him because they are so varied and he was an extremely good orator. The story about the time he meet and had small talk with Martin Luther King Jr. was especially amazing. However, the story about when we worked in West Virginia with Senator Jay Rockefeller advocating for health care aid, but more specifically Alzheimer's, was equally moving.
Honestly, this is a man that I feel I have been completely lucky to have meet and my life is more enriched because of the time I have spent talking with him. And the fact that he was so humble about everything makes it even more amazing as he said "you know it does seem as interesting having lived through it."
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