Guest Book

Hey Now. Thanks so much to all of you for the Kindness sent our way. The viewing is today and the funeral and burial is tomorrow. Mom was a very unique individual who had a strong passion for living. She was very opinionated and always spoke her mind which at times got her in the dog house with her children. She had a powerful Love for her 15 Grandchildren and 17 Great Grandchildren. Us kids have had a few laughs as we have met and talked about her the past few days. She shared my Love for music. I'm sure the minister will have quite a bit to talk about tomorrow. Thanks once again to all of you for helping make a difficult time much more tolerable. I appreciate your Love and Kindness. Peach.

Another legend has passed on - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Odetta, the deep-voiced folk singer whose ballads and songs became for many a soundtrack to the American civil rights movement, has died at age 77, her manager said on Wednesday. Douglas Yeager said Odetta passed away late Tuesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, after a decade-long fight with chronic heart disease and pulmonary fibrosis in her lungs. "May Odetta's luminous spirit and volcanic voice from the heavens live on for the ages," Yeager said in a statement. "Her voice will never die." Odetta Holmes, born in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 31, 1930, told the Times in a 2007 interview the music of the Great Depression, particularly the prison songs and work songs from the fields of the deep South, helped shape her musical life. While she recorded several albums and sang at New York's Carnegie Hall among other prominent venues, Odetta is perhaps best remembered by most Americans for her brief performance at the August 1963 march on Washington, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement at which she sang the song "O Freedom." The Times said Rosa Parks, the woman who launched the boycott of segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, was once asked which songs meant the most to her. "All the songs Odetta sings," was Parks' reply. Odetta, who moved from Alabama to Los Angeles with her mother in 1937, earned a music degree from Los Angeles City College. But she told the Times her training in classical music and musical theater "was a nice exercise, but it had nothing to do with my life." She said she found her true voice by listening to blues, jazz and folk music from the African-American and Anglo-American traditions. Odetta began singing professionally in a West Coast production of the musical "Finian's Rainbow," but said she found a stronger calling in the coffeeshops and nightclubs of San Francisco. Her first solo album, "Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues," influenced another American folk legend -- Bob Dylan. "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta," Dyland said in a 1978 interview with Playboy magazine. In that album, Dylan said he heard "something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record," which included "Mule Skinner," "Jack of Diamonds" and "Water Boy." In the early days of the civil rights movement, Odetta said her songs channeled "the fury and frustration that I had growing up" in segregated America. The many benefits she headlined helped underwrite the movement's work. While Odetta's career cooled and her performances and recordings became fewer after the late 1960s, she retained her vocal and dramatic power even late in life. "Odetta's voice is still a force of nature," critic James Reed of the Boston Globe wrote of a December 2006 performance. She remained "a majestic figure in American musician, a direct gateway to bygone generations that feel so foreign today," Reed wrote. RIP Odetta - so glad I did get to hear you live

(((Nic & Pam))) So very sorry to read about your loss. You're in my thoughts & prayers. You're so strong, keep on keepin' on. Love y'all SO much!! your Sista, Bluz

Nic,I am so sorry for your loss.I hope your family will see a rainbow soon. We will talk......Peace,Love.

Nic, I'm so sorry for your loss. My prayers are with you and your family.

Prayers sent for Nic and his family....

Nic, I'm so sorry to hear the news about your mom. I will be keeping you, Pam, the kids and the entire Nicodemus family in my thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Love you brother, stay strong.

🙂 The day my ears STOP ringing is when i'll worry 😉 hope you all have a good day! lunch is over for me so i have to get back to (gasp) WORK. I have a mortgage i'm responsible for now so i can't just throw caution to the wind and surf HTN like i've done since 2002 😉

Nic, sorry to hear about your Mom, hope the treatments are going as well as can be expected. Merry Christmas to you and Pam.