Della Reese

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Biography

Della Reese lives in Bel Air, California with her husband, producer Franklin Lett. Her parents were Richard Thad Early,and Nellie Mitchelle Early. Della's father…more

Born

Detroit, Michigan

Birth Name

Delloreese Patricia Early

Gender

Female

Credits

Trivia and Quotes

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  • Trivia

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    • Della Reese attended Bishop Grade School because it was close enough to her house that she was able to walk home for lunch each day. While Della and her mother ate lunch together Della's mother and Della listened to the midday radio show that they both loved. Kate Smith was first, and she was followed by Our Gal Sunday, and then Helen Trent. Like the movies, the radio was another way for them to dream and travel to other places. After they finished listening to the radio during Della's lunch time she would go back to school.
    • When Della went to kindergardten the teacher told her that she was much more advanced than the other children in her class and that she belonged in the first grade. Whe the teacher ask Della how old she was Della told the teacher that she was 4 and a half years old. When the teacher told the principal how old Della was the principal told the teacher that she would start next week in the first grade. Della was to start in One A, as opposed to One B, which was how they split the grades up in those days according to the level of the students. And that was how Della skipped kindergarten and began school at the age of four and a half in the first grade.
    • While Della was still bedridden and recovering from rheumatic fever, there was a lady that came into her life. Her name was Bernice White. She was a beautiful young lady in her early twenties. Bernice was a pretty, bright, and a most loving human being. Bernice and her husband moved into one of the apartments downstairs in the same building where Della lived. Bernice would come and stay with Della when Della's mother worked at the restaurant. Bernice had fun entertaining Della during her recuperation. Unbeknownst to Della at the time, she was actually teaching Della by inventing all sorts of educational games. Therer were games that taught Della my letters, games that taught her to spell. By the time Della fully recovered from the rheumatic fever and got up out of bed, she could recite her alphabet and say her numbers to one hundred. Bernice was an excellent teacher for Della. Of course Della didn't know it at the time.
  • Quotes

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    • Della Reese: In the event you haven't observed yet about me as a small child, I've always been an all or nothing kind of person. When I was three years old I was pronounced gravely ill with rheumatic fever. Of course that was over sixty years ago. Without all the medical advances that have been made since then, rheumatic fever was a very scary thing back then. Rheumatic fever is an infection that first attacks the joints. In it's most severe form it affects the heart and can do permanent damage. The systoms tend to recur and recurring attacks tend to weaken the heart. The doctors told my mother that I had the worst case possible. They were very pessimistic. The illness would damage my circulatory system, and I would never walk again. Of course my mother didn't fear it. She said that there was no way she was going to accept their prognosis. My mother told me that I was going to be well soon and that the illness was not coming back, and the reason why was because she had prayed and God was taking care of it. My mother took me to see her faith healer whose name was sister Kenny and when my mother's faith healer told her that God was taking care of it and he did. After I was healed I rarely ever got sick again. My mother was a strong believer in prayer and believed that God would answer all her prayers and he did.
    • Della Reese: My parents were my angels who taught me the lessons of self reliance and to belief in myself. At the same time they also taught me that God would always be there to help me with whatever I couldn't handle on my own. This is called faith. I learned that my father was practical and my mother who was a dreamer. I learned it by looking at a man who had nothing but who provided everything. I also learned it from listening to a woman who told me, that God will find a way out, and with me I couldn't argue with success.
    • Della Reese: I am so very blessed to have entered this world through my mother and to have spent my formative years in her love, tenderness and tutoring in the basic principles of my life. I am also so very blessed to have received from my father and my mother the groundwork which gave me the strength to weather the life situation and challenges I've had to face on the road out of the slums to the top of the mountain, where I now reside in the greatest of comfort. I didn't suspect my parents envisioned where I would come to, but that wasn't important. The important principle that they taught me was to live successfully where I was, not to strive for another better day to be happier but to make the best of the present.