LaDonna Byrd, March 27th, 2008

LaDonna Byrd, March 27th, 2008

In this interview, LaDonna Byrd recalls her encounters of living in the city. Byrd tells the stories of what life was like growing up in Detroit.

Detroit Historical Society

Detroit Historical Society

en-US

LaDonna Byrd

LaDonna Byrd was born on April 25th, 1960. She was the sixth of seven children. After tragically losing her parents and oldest brother at just 7 years old, she went on to make an impact and raise her own family.

Carmen Byrd

Detroit, MI

3/27.2008

51:07

Carmen Byrd: The name of the interviewer is Carmen Byrd. The name of the interviewee is LaDonna Byrd. Today's date is March 27th, 2008, and this interview is taking place in my home. Madonna I just wanted to make sure that you have read and understood the interview, agreement and purpose, and I have your consent to record this interview.

LaDonna Byrd: Yes, you do.

Carmen Byrd: So how do you feel, Donna?

LaDonna Byrd: I'm fine, thank you very much.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. Well, let's get started with this interview. When were you born?

LaDonna Byrd: I was born April 25th, 1960, in Lincoln Park, Michigan, which I just find that I'm not too long ago. And I was applying for a passport. All this time I thought I was born in Detroit, Michigan.

Carmen Byrd: Oh, wow. That was a real shocker, huh?

LaDonna Byrd: Kind of.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. And you were raised in Lincoln Park, Michigan?

LaDonna Byrd: No, I was raised in Detroit for the most part. Yes, raised in Detroit.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. Okay. And what was your childhood like?

LaDonna Byrd: Well, let's see. How was my childhood? It was fun. You know, back then, we we play, you know, with friends in the neighborhood were able to just go outside and go up and down the street and around the block. As long as we were home, the street lights were on. When the streetlights came on, we were okay. My I remember sitting on my father's lap when he would come home for dinner after work, and I would sit on one side and my brother would sit on the other side and we'd pick out his food. I remember when my mom would come home, she would be tired because she would be standing for the most part of the day. On her feet. And so my job was to rub her feet. And I remember in the summertime when I'd have to do that and I would be one that came back outside quickly and I would be in the room and I'd rather feet real gently and softly trying to get it to go to sleep real quick so that I could just run back outside and play. And then my favorite mama's favorite time as a child was Christmas, you know? And the reason that I enjoyed Christmas so much wasnt the the gifts because we had quite a few kids in our family. I was number six of seven, so it wasn't the amount. I guess it was just the the atmosphere. And everyone in our house was the house that everybody gathered at and came to. And it would be who wouldn't have cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents all in the house. And so it'd be a lot of people, it would be a lot of food, it would be a lot of conversation. And it was just a fun atmosphere and I enjoyed it a lot. And those are those are the main things that I remember about my childhood. It was kind of love to me, I guess. You know, my my memory of my childhood was kind of cut short because. Because it's a tragic incident that had occurred. And so. That's what I mostly remember about. Those are good things that I remember about my childhood.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. Well, so I understand that you were born and mainly raised in Lincoln Park, Michigan. Detroit, Michigan. Right. Okay. And Lincoln Park is the birthplace.

LaDonna Byrd: It was the house that I was born in the hospital at the park.

Carmen Byrd: Oh, okay. And childhood was fun for you playing with friends. And what time exactly? The industry lights Come on.

LaDonna Byrd: Well, I don't know. I just know that when the city lights came on, he had to be at home.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. And what would happen if you weren't at home when the streetlights came on.

LaDonna Byrd: You got in trouble, and you might not be able to go outside and play the next day.

Carmen Byrd: You didn't want that to happen.

LaDonna Byrd: No. No, not at all. Not at all. Okay. Okay.

Carmen Byrd: And so. So what were your parents like? I heard you say that your mom used to stand on her feet all day. Most of the time you would come in and rub her feet. What did she do? And Father doing everything.

LaDonna Byrd: Well, my mom was a dietitian at a hospital. And it's funny because my sister just became a dietitian, So I guess it just mean I work in health care for my mom. Ran through our in our blood. But she was a dietitian, so she would be on her feet all day with getting me the meals and things like that for the patients. I believe that the hospital she worked at was the Veterans Administration has payroll, which I think was in Lincoln Park. Yeah. And my father was an electrician. And. He worked hard. They both worked hard.

Carmen Byrd: Yes. Do you care to elaborate on the the tragic event?

LaDonna Byrd: Oh, well. When I was nine, I was seven years old. I wasn't quite eight yet. And my parents, we had had Christmas the holiday season. And my parents had went and picked up my grandfather, who lived in Georgia, my father's father, and brought him up for the Christmas holiday. And when everything was all said and done and had a very, very happy holiday and it was time to take my grandfather back, my father and my mother and my oldest brother and his new wife drove my grandfather back to Georgia. And on their way on their return trip, coming back home, there was an accident. And there was a truck that a double banana truck. But I understand that had jackknifed on the freeway. And there were no no hazard lights or signs or whatever. And my parents didn't see it and ran right into it. And the car burst into flames and everybody everyone was killed except for my sister in law who was thrown from the vehicle. So so in that instance, I lost my my mom, my dad and my oldest brother.

Carmen Byrd: I'm sorry.

LaDonna Byrd: Yeah, it's been a long time. A very long time.

Carmen Byrd: So how did that affect everything afterwards?

LaDonna Byrd: Oh, it changed everything. It changed everything. At least from what I remember. I remember being a happy kid in my parents home. They were, you know, I had brothers and a sister. They were much older because my I was I was seven and my baby brother was four when it happened. But the next person after me was 15. And then it was everybody else. And there were five kids after me and they were like 15, 16, 19, 20. And then my oldest brother who was killed was like 21. So. I was young and at the time, you know, I was just I was just a kid. Everything was was fun. It was, you know, playing go to school and play some more. I didn't have I didn't have a whole lot of responsibilities that I knew. And I did, you know, like love my parents and I was happy and home. So when this happened, it just turned everything upside down. My second oldest brother, who was in the army, was discharged. And we we he he tried to keep us all together in our family's home. But he was young and we were all young. And he wasn't married, so he didn't have a wife that could help. And and he couldn't do it. And so after a while and not too long, maybe, maybe a year, but after trying to do that. Everybody started dispersing. I family at home wasn't the home where everybody gathered anymore. I guess mainly probably because the main people weren't there. You know, my parents were there. And then the the rest of us, we kind of dispersed out my. Older brother, he him and my next brother. They went back up to they went to eastern Michigan where where my brother was going to school. And my sister, she went to live with another uncle because they had a daughter who was around her age. And then myself, my baby brother and my brother that was eight years older than I, and he was still in high school. He we all went to stay with my uncle and aunt. My uncle was my father's brother and my aunt was his wife. So we went there to stay. And it was it was difficult. It wasn't an ideal situation. There were a lot of things that occurred, you know, while we were there. Eventually, not too soon after, we were we were there. My older brother, the one who was eight years older than me, Keith, he was he he left. So it was just myself and my baby brother. And times were my my uncle wasn't there much. He worked and he spent a lot of time in his garage and and working on cars. To me, looking back on things, I felt that she was resentful and she was hateful and vengeful. Just just mean. And it was well, you know, and it was mostly to me, it was mostly to me, at least that's how I felt. She was born in the time rate and raised in a time where the women did everything and the men, you know, did certain things like clean up, clean as, you know, clean up outside and take the trash out, that kind of stuff. And the women did everything else. They did the house, they cooked, they watched, did all of that. And so. And and so I was because I was the only girl there. She didn't have any kids. She couldn't have any kids. And because I was going to other than that man, I had to do everything. So I did all of the I did the washing at walls and floors and this and that. And then there was my baby brother. And then she had two of her sister's children who are both boys. So was three boys. And they had to take out the trash and pick up the yard. And I thought that it was pretty lopsided.

Carmen Byrd: Pretty unfair.

LaDonna Byrd: Yes. Yes, very much so. And yeah, and then my and then, you know, my aunt and my uncle didn't have a really stable relationship and my uncle left leaving us in the care of my and my. I was yeah, she wasn't a blood relative. She was, she was married into the family. So I think that, you know, that was one of the things that she within it was the fact that she had they they as a couple had taken us in and then my uncle left. And so she was responsible for raising kids that she didn't really care for. And so I think and as I think that she became resentful of that and resentful of the way that my uncle left left. And and so she kind of took that out, I believe, on on us. Yeah.

Carmen Byrd: You mostly.

LaDonna Byrd: Mean mostly. Yes. Okay.

Carmen Byrd: Well, I guess we could talk about the 60s and 70s. You probably don't remember too much about the 60s because you were born in the 60s. You were still little.

LaDonna Byrd: Yeah, well, that's true. I don't remember much. And what I do remember I've just told you about being, you know, with my, my parents and the fact that they were killed and you're living with my aunt and uncle and everything that was, you know, all of that was from 1960 to 19 70s in the air and then in the 70s, you know, those were my teen years. Then I, you know, I then became a teenager. The the things that I remember. Oh, goodness. Living on the on the black. We were still in southwest Detroit, so I was still in Detroit and near my own home. But then out there, I went to River Rouge High, which I think was a great school to go to because the way we were just set up, you had elementary schools on different on both sides of railroad tracks. And on one side of the railroad tracks was elementary school that the black children went to. And on the other side of the tracks was the elementary school that all the white children went to. But we only had one high school. And so you had to come together in that one high school. And I thought that it and since then, graduating and being out in the real world and everything, I've always felt that I'm going to river retired gave me a good basis to be out in society because. You're not in the real world. You're not working for the most part, and you don't work with just black people or just white people. And you don't go to your everyday life and don't encounter people of other races. You, you know, it's all intermingle, is all intermingled. And you do deal with people of other races and other cultures. And by growing up being in a school like that, it. It gave me the opportunity. I was given the opportunity to learn and to be able to socialize with people of a different race. And when I came out of that school, I came out with the realization that, you know, basically we're all the same, the bottom, we're all human beings. And that the only, you know, the color of the skin is just. Is just the appearance. But underneath it all, we we are we're all the same. We all believe we all have issues and we all want a lot of the same things. So, you know, so I thought it was a good school to grow up in and and learn. I had my first boyfriend and. He was a boy and she liked him. And so she would let me date. She would let me date him like I could go to the movies and stuff with him, but I kind of wanted to venture out. So every every summer when we got a summer break, I would break up with him. Oh. Hopes that I could find a new boyfriend over the summer. And then in the fall, I go back to school and we'd be we'd date. We'd be back together because I never could find another boyfriend. And it took you back? Yeah. Yeah.

Carmen Byrd: He was really.

LaDonna Byrd: Liked. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.

Carmen Byrd: And how old were you when you were, you know, on and off with this boy?

LaDonna Byrd: Well, I believe it started when I was like, I want to say that. 13 or 14. Because back, you know, I went to River Rouge. The elementary school went from kindergarten to seventh grade. And then you start in high school in eighth grade. So I was high school in eighth grade, and I met him at the ice cream parlor one summer and went to get some ice cream. And he was there. And and then when I went to school in the fall. In high school. He was. He was there.

Carmen Byrd: See, we were the same age.

LaDonna Byrd: He was two years older. Which I think is good for. And that's something that I've taught my girls and my son. I'm working on him. But, you know, no more than two years older because I feel that. Boys, you know, who are older than that. Expect more from you and have, you know, ventured and had and had experiences and things that you haven't had. And because of that, they want you. They want you to act a certain way or want to be involved and do things that they're used to doing already. And you haven't gotten to that point yet. I think that if you're dealing with someone who is, you know, no more than two years older than you, then you know, you more or less have a more level playing field and you won't get. To you won't get and for lack of a better word, is suckered into doing something that you wouldn't normally do. So yeah, but, but but the 70s were good times. Out of the more hot pants we had. I remember the jeans that people were wearing were we had bellbottoms and then the straightening jeans came on and I thought that would never last. And they're still here today.

Carmen Byrd: But what are hot pants.

LaDonna Byrd: Hot pants are shorts basically that's what they wear. But you had like these these outfits where you would have I remember my favorites were you would have a like a mini skirt. I mean, a mini dress. The top was not just a short top. This topped at your waist. It went down to maybe maybe the middle or just a little further on your thigh. And then you had a pair of shorts that were the same, same material, the same design and everything of that of the mini dress. And those shorts would go on under. And so, yes, your dress was real, your dress was short, but then you had only shorts up under it. That was that was just like the material stuff. And that was hot pants. And I guess they were hot because they were short. They're not as short as some of the shorts you see today, that's for sure. So I guess, you know, those were hot pants, I guess. Today's pants are hot hot pants? I don't know. Think those were those. Yeah. Dealt with something else so and I in the 70s I ran away from home from your my aunt's house. Yes. I ran away from my aunt's house. And that was the beginning of the next section of my life.

Carmen Byrd: And you ran away because of her being these few feeling issues, resentful towards you and. Yeah. Yeah.

LaDonna Byrd: And she was. She was just mean and nasty. And. And I. I remember. Pacing back and forth in my bedroom that night. And I was talking to myself and not only with talking to myself, but I was done and sent back in. And as that and I was thinking this is not good. And I felt that if I didn't leave and I think that because I still had another year of high school to go and I was trying to figure that out, but I felt that if I didn't leave and I stay, then I would be crazy. By the time I was by the time was time for me to graduate from school. And I didn't want that to happen. And so I made the decision to run away. And with the help of my baby brother, who was still there with me, I was able to do so. And I ran to my sister's house, who my sister was living in, my parents old house. And she wasn't there. So I went across the street to family, friends, and they contacted my brother and my brother came and he got me and I told him that I wasn't going back. And if they took me back, I was just run away again. And next time I wouldn't come to them so they wouldn't know where I was at. And they took me to they took me to their home the next day and found out that my baby brother ran away too, because he didn't want to stay there without me. And he ran away and he ran to my sister's house. But he was, I guess, you know, he was a little bit smarter. He went into their basement to my sister's basement window. So while he was over there in my sister's house, in the house, I was across the street at a neighbor's house because I couldn't get into the house. But so we eventually they ended up staying with my brother and his wife and his family for a while. I was I was able to go ahead on and graduate from high school. I was in my senior year. I had completed all of my curriculum for a lot of my curriculum. So I had work study because I only had to go to school in the morning. And then in the afternoon I had my first job. I was a receptionist at a podiatrist office and I had a little car. So I would get back and forth to school and to work and everything. And I worked hard.

LaDonna Byrd: I raised money through different fundraisers and all of that stuff so that I could get my senior pictures and buy my class ring and go on our class trip, which was to Florida, okay. And we were gone for a whole week and we had a really good time. Graduation was wonderful. And I and I went on and I went off to college. I went to college at Wayne State University. And that that was the beginning because I was on my own, basically. And I and from then on, I've been on my own and I, you know, and stayed in apartments and I stayed on campus for a semester waiting for my apartment. I, you know, learned through a lot of trial and error to, you know, take care of myself and pay my bills. And, you know, I just learned how to how to live and how to be a person. And I I'm happy to say that I did graduate from college with a bachelor's degree. Okay.

Carmen Byrd: That's wonderful. Well, okay, So basically, the 70s, when you're going to high school and it was no longer segregated anymore and you were able to graduate, you ran away from home, you had your first boyfriend. How long that relationship, the on and off relationship, last.

LaDonna Byrd: All the way through high school. I went to his prom and he went to my prom.

Carmen Byrd: And then after that. You guys are two separate ways.

LaDonna Byrd: Yes. Yes, but when I graduated after prom and after graduation, that was it. And but we remain, you know, like friendly. And and I've kept in touch with him throughout the years, although not so much lately. I haven't talked to him in over ten years, probably. Mm hmm. Yeah. But, you know, the funny part about it was he was the is the cousin of one of my best friends in high school, and we're still really good friends. I see her every day during the week because we work together. And then she's one of my one of my best friends, So she's a part of my once a month girls night out. So and I haven't talked to him and actually I have you know, I think I'm going to ask the.

Carmen Byrd: Man that, you know, I told him this telephone. I'm going to do one of this stuff on. But let me just check on and see how he's doing. okay, so move on from the 70s and go on to after your bachelors at Wayne State and marriage. When you when you finally get well not finally but when you got married now how was that.

LaDonna Byrd: Okay well let's see. Marriage. How is that. Oh, well. I realize that I got married when I got. At the time, I didn't notice. But looking back on things and further down the road, I realized that when I got married, I wasn't ready for it. And the reason I felt I wasn't ready is because I didn't know myself. I didn't know who I was and what I wanted and what I liked and what I didn't like because I didn't have that that time in my life as a younger person to date. And I've felt that over the years. And like I said, looking back and think about I think that the situation that I was in and my and my aunt, you know, she was very overprotective and constraining. And so she kept a tight rein or me. And I can say that I could just date that one guy, you know. And so I wasn't I wasn't able to socialize like other kids and get to know myself and and, you know, take part in different things and and feel comfortable with myself as well as get to know learning how to get to know other people and learning different things about other people that night and things that I didn't like and trying to figure out what were basically what you called deal breakers in a relationship. And so I didn't know that. And when I met my husband, who eventually became my husband when I met him and we, you know, hit it off and things were going well and stuff, I kind of latched on to that. And so over the years of dating him, regardless of things that occurred within the relationship, I, I still I clung to the relationship. I didn't, you know, like say, okay, well, that's it, you know, and go on off and think that there was somebody else and not even being concerned about whether there was somebody else just being happy for myself and with myself. I didn't do that. And so. I went on ahead and hung in with that relationship till we got married. And then we got married and nothing changed. You know, and that's another thing, you know, you learn that you don't change. You can't change a person. The only person you can change is yourself. And you know, that ain't easy either. Yeah. I've been trying to lose weight for a while, and I ain't been able to work that out. But you just. You. The only person that you can change is yourself. You can't change somebody else. So no matter how much you want them to be a certain way or do things a certain way, you know, they have to want that, too. And as you as you grow, if you learn who you are and the kind of things that you want, then when you are with someone dating someone and you see, oh, you know, they're doing things that you know you don't you don't like and things that you, you, you won't put up with, then you realize that that's not that's not the person that you want in your life as a mate. And so, you know, you'll know how to deal with that at that time. And you won't end up marrying that person, you know, because they're not compatible with you. And so, you know, so I did learn those things. And and but what has happened is, you know, I've learned over the years the things that I mean and and right now. Yeah. I mean that that has that has helped me. But marriage was hard, you know, And throughout my marriage, I had five wonderful children and that and, you know, even though they were wonderful not to take away from that, having children made it more difficult because I felt that, you know, for a long time because I had kids, it was I was trying to deal with the marriage. And, you know, because I didn't think I could do it by myself. I didn't think I could, you know, take care of kids, you know, without his help. And, ah, but one day I came to the realization that I can do bad all by myself if and that's what our relationship was and that's what my marriage was. And the whole state of events was, it was just it was bad. It was a bad relationship. It was a bad marriage. It was. It wasn't. We weren't we. We weren't doing things. Together. It wasn't what I wanted. And I didn't want that for my kids growing up in that. And and I did. I came to the realization that. Even if we were together and I was doing bad like we were doing as a couple, if I was doing bad, I could probably be happier doing bad by myself or and with my kids then in that situation. And I'm happy to say that since being divorced, I have grown tremendously. I have been happier. I've done a lot more, I've accomplished a lot more. And I think that I have set a really good example. At least I hope so for my children that they don't have to settle, that they can do things, they can accomplish things, and they don't need to have someone else in their life to help them to accomplish those things. They can do that on their own and that an additional person in their life is just the compliment can be a complement to their life, but it's not necessary. That's what I hope instilled into my children. And words to live by?

Carmen Byrd: Okay, so you married. You've had five children. Five wonderful children.

LaDonna Byrd: Yes. Yes. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful children. Love them to death.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. Okay. Um. Okay. So let's talk about. Came to Detroit. I understand that you left Detroit and then came back.

LaDonna Byrd: Mm hmm. Yeah. Well.

Carmen Byrd: After we were married.

LaDonna Byrd: My husband got a job, and he. We had to move to Vermont. And Vermont is not. Well, weather wise is not too much different than Detroit. But it was a culture shock because it's small, predominantly white. And I didn't know anybody. And so it was it was difficult. And then, you know, and I already said, you know, marriage wasn't great. So, you know, I was it was it was a difficult transition being in Vermont. But eventually, you know, things got better. I got involved with well, we we were going to church. And in the church I met a lady who did Mary Kay, and she got me involved in the Mary Kay process. And by doing so, I was able to. By by becoming a part of the Man Kay process. I got to meet other people and make friends. I got into the work force in Vermont and I found that living in Vermont, it was it was, you know, after maybe a year or two, I became comfortable with their way of life There It was it was different from Detroit. In in Vermont, you went to the gas station and you would pump your gas and then you pay and you go to the bank and there was no Plexiglas. And you could, you know, actually talk to the teller and face to face. And that was, you know, all of those things were different for me. The lady who did the Mary Kay. She she had me scared to come by and pick up my mom products. And when I went by, there was nothing to know what was there. The the the door was open and you could see right in. And I was like, okay, well, I went back home and later she asked me, you know, if I come by to get my stuff. And I said, Yeah, but nobody was there. And she told me, she said, Well, you could have just walked right in. And I left it in the hallway for you. And my thought was, walk in. You know, you don't just walk in other people's homes. They don't just leave their doors open for you like that, you know? But that's what they did there. You know, they didn't lock their car doors. It was just it was totally different. It was totally different from being in Detroit. And I was going to like that, especially with kids. You know, it made me feel like my kids were back when I was younger because back when I was younger, like I said, my parents had me go out and play and it was a matter of be home when the streetlights came on and you knew that. And I was young and I was all over the neighborhood, you know, all around and black and down the street and at the store and all that kind of stuff. And my parents didn't worry about me being snatched up and, you know, different things like that. And so being in Vermont, it was similar to that. My kids could go out and play. They could ride their bikes. They, you know, they didn't have all of those constraints that you did that people were having, mainly in bigger cities and things like that. So the school systems were good. My kids were learning French. They had computers in their rooms and classes. And so it was it was a good life. It did become a good life. However, Vermont is expensive to live in. The cost of living is high. And they didn't they don't have industry like we do here in Detroit. And so there's more white collar over there. So it was, you know, it was it was of it was it was good. And it opened my eyes to a different way of life as well as I think it instill some things in my children, too, because I, I had two additional children while living in Vermont. And they said. The schools and stuff of it. I think that they built they even built some relationships of with kids that to this day they still remember them. And and you know, with technology and stuff that they have now they can get on Facebook and and Myspace or whatever and say, you know, find people that they used to know which they have done. So, you know, all in Vermont was good. But yes, I lived there for ten years.

Carmen Byrd: Ten years in Vermont. Yes. Yes. Okay. So Vermont was you felt that your family was safer in in Vermont, kids were able to, you know, have fun and play like you used to when you were younger. Yeah. So that made you happy? Yes. Yes, it did. And then you moved back to Detroit after living in Vermont for two years?

LaDonna Byrd: Yes, I did.

Carmen Byrd: And how did that affect everyone? Like, including you and and, you know, the kids and the changes there?

LaDonna Byrd: Well. When you when everything in life, when you look back on things, you can say, you know, okay, well, this and that. But when you're in the in the moment when when it's happening or whatever, you just do the best that you can. You do what you think is right. Looking back on it, I know that when we were living in Vermont and we would come to visit Detroit, I was always feeling this anxeity when we would get, you know, when we over into Detroit or whatever, because of all of the different things that you hear about that's going on in the city are murders and murders and and break ins and just, you know, violence. Together with Vermont, you didn't have, you know, that the most you heard about was a cow and doing, you know, being on the road and things like that. You didn't hear about murders and break ins and stuff. So it was a different it was a different, you know, atmosphere. So looking back on that, I had a thought about that, then I probably would have said, Oh, no, I don't want to move back to Detroit at all. But one of my children was saying, you know, they didn't want to come come here. They wanted to stay in Vermont, but trying to keep the family together. And my husband wanted to wanted to be back here because of his parents. And they were getting older and he wanted to be around for them. And we made the transition and came back to Detroit in November of 1997. And. And although. I feel like I had I really thought about it, I wouldn't have moved back, even though even though I say that I have. A lot of accomplished a lot here in Michigan. I made more money in my job, at my job here in Michigan than I did in Vermont. And that and more than I think I would have been making in Vermont because of the industry. You know, there was a lack of it, you know, And then. I've made a lot more accomplishments on my own. I've gotten divorced. I bought a house. My kids are doing well. I'm I'm happiest. I think that being in Michigan, I was afforded the ability to do things because it's bigger, because I have more support than I than I did, than I would have in Vermont. I made a lot of accomplishments. So. Everything happens for a reason. And, you know, Vermont was wonderful and it was a great time in my life. And I think that it was it also helped build a base for my children. And, you know, and being here is has been you know, has been a different part of my life. But it's been a growing part, you know, and the next phase is Tennessee. I'll be moving to Tennessee in June.

Carmen Byrd: So it's wonderful. Yes. Okay. So thinking about moving back from Vermont to Detroit, do you have any regrets or anything?

LaDonna Byrd: I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no to that because I feel that with all the things that I have gone through, they have made me the person that I am today. And I like who I am.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. All right. And do you have any worries? No. I'm on the line in the future or anything.

LaDonna Byrd: Yes, I do. I do. My major my my major worry and I guess is is because my parents died when I was so young. And I have grown up without my. I'm sorry. But I've grown up without my parents. And I had to deal with everything that I've had to deal with throughout my life without without being and without being able to talk to them and get advice from them and and have them in my life. So. My biggest worry Is for my children. I want to be there for them. I want to be in their lives. I want to be there to see them graduate from high school and college. I want to see my kids get married. I want to be there to be supportive. I want them to be able to come and talk to me. And and and because my parents were killed when I. Excuse me when I was so young, that my biggest worry is that something would happen to me and I won't be here for my children. And so. What I do is I try to instill in their independence. But at the same time, I've tried instilling them that I want them to be supportive of each other because I know my mother and my.

Carmen Byrd: Brother and my sister have.

LaDonna Byrd: Supported me immensely. And if it weren't for their, I wouldn't be. You know, a lot of I wouldn't have been able to accomplish a lot of things. So I want them to be there for each other. And and I try to let them know every day that I love them. And I give them hugs and I give them kisses because if something happens, I want them to to remember that. I want them to remember how much I love them and and that I will always love them.

Carmen Byrd: Are you okay? Yeah. Okay, So today we talked about where you were born in Detroit, Michigan, and what your childhood was like. Fine. Riding bikes with friends, playing stuff that's about your parents and where they worked. Father was an electrician, and your mother was a dietician and used to wear your feet. She came home and sit, On Dad's lap peacfully. You know he was hungry. Talked about the 70s when you were a teenager and going to school and having your first boyfriend and talked about marriage and how that was and how out of a marriage you had five wonderful children and how you moved to Vermont, mainland Vermont for ten years. And it was, you know, a nice experience and a lot safer for you in the family. Yes. Yes. And we talked we also talked about how you moved the family back to Detroit and how it was completely different from Vermont and how it affected everybody and everything. And you also stated that you have no regrets with anything that you've done. Okay. And I know is there anything else that you want to talk about today? Anything else on your mind? Oh, no. I see you've.

LaDonna Byrd: Got basically all of it.

Carmen Byrd: Okay. Well, I would like to thank you and participating in this interview, and we really appreciate it. Okay. Well, you're very welcome. And I'm glad I could be a part.