Article Discussion

So sad to read that Bill Withers has left us. Because this is little known, I want to add to the narrative with one memory. My Griffith grandmother in Beckley had a best friend who also was her housekeeper—the two would sit and talk for hours and were like sisters more than employer-employee. I knew Agnes well as a child and loved her too. She came from a coal mining family of 13 and was one of the older of the brood—you may see where I’m going here. Her much younger brother Bill Withers, cited here in the WV Encyclopedia, went on from West Virginia to achieve success heard ‘round the world. But he never forgot his family—I well remember when, at the height of the popularity of “Lean on Me,” he invited his big sister to Los Angeles and gave her a trip of a lifetime. It wasn’t all razzle-dazzle, as I remember her recounting, but she was able to place in her mind and heart where he was living, what he was doing, how he was loved by so many, and how—most importantly—that none of it was as important as his West Virginia family. I hope someone someday reads this and knows that, beyond his fame, this man kept his WV values intact. A few years ago I tried to find Bill in all the conventional ways and could not..he was a private person but I wanted him to know that Agnes beamed with pride at the kindness of her baby brother.