NOTE: This tribute to my mother appears in the May 2015 issue of Birmingham Magazine. Happy Mother’s Day!
Chanda Temple holding a photo of her late mother, Ann Temple. Chanda Temple is a former journalist now working as the executive assistant to the superintendent and school board for Birmingham City Schools. (Photo by Major Colbert)
By Chanda Temple
Sitting on my desk is one of my favorite photos of my mother.
In it, she’s wearing a pressed dress suit, perfectly coiffed hair and a high-wattage smile — some of my favorite things about her.
My younger sister and I are standing by her side after the two of us appeared in a children’s fashion show — a norm in our young lives during the 1970s in Huntsville. As we walked out of the venue, my mother slipped off her heels, took hold of our little hands and started to escort us down a pair of concrete stairs.
Something about that image must have struck my father because he snapped the photo.
“Cheese!”
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