Ann’s Place in Akron, Ohio has hosted Rev. Jesse Jackson and his son, and plenty of professional football players. But none was more special to Josephine “Ann” Harris than President Barack Obama, who visited early Friday morning. He was her hero.
“You know it’s great,” Harris, 70, said Friday morning, shortly after Obama left her family-owned restaurant on South Hawkins Avenue.
Harris, who didn’t know Obama planned to visit until earlier that morning, sat at a booth with a wet towel around her neck.
“He treated us like one of the brothers,” she said. “He hugged all of us and … got his picture taken with all of us.”
Within hours of Obama’s visit, Harris, who had been ill for some time, complained of fatigue and a tingling feeling. She was rushed to Akron General Medical Center, where she died about 11:15 a.m., according to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Her family members and beloved customers were saddened by her death, yet they were pleased she was first able to meet the president.
“I’m sure this was her highlight,” said Frankie Adkins, Harris’ sister, who lives in Tulsa, Okla., and had heard about her sister’s sudden death from family members. “She loved Obama.”
The president’s campaign offered condolences to the Harris family.
“As a small-business owner, a mother, a sister, a grandmother, a great-grandmother and friend of many throughout the community, Ann led an exceptional life and will be missed by all who knew her,” Greg Schultz, the Ohio director of Obama’s campaign said in an emailed statement. “Ann and her family are in our thoughts and prayers.”
Obama’s trip to Ann’s Place was his first stop in the second day of a bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania. He made campaign stops in the Toledo, Sandusky and Parma areas Thursday, then stayed overnight at the Hilton in Fairlawn. He concluded his tour Friday with an unannounced trip to a Boardman manufacturing plant and public events at an elementary school in the Youngstown area, then at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
via TheWordEyeHeard
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