I was delighted to learn that Jerri Churchill received your first “Rosie” award for being the Mother Of The Year, and thoroughly enjoyed reading those inspired and loving letters from her sons.
I met Jerri and her family under most unusual circumstances, involving a trek I made up a mountain near their home for which I have been labeled (by The Malibu Times) as The Mystery Woman On The Mountain. It was actually Jerri who was the first to figure out who I was and stopped me on the mountain one day with a car full of family to ask me if I was the Memory expert. When I asked how she knew that, she showed me a cassette product with my face on it that her husband Frank had in his vehicle.
For a long while after that (until Jonathan Friedman “outed” me in this column) only Jerri knew I was the ‘Mystery Woman’ on the mountain. I would often see a passel of handsome young wonderfully energetic boys in Ralphs Market and then hear “Hello, Miss Hilton” and it would be Jerri reminding her boys that I was the lady on the mountain. I was always so impressed with Jerri and her sons and their behavior. Being a career person and the mother of only one child (my daughter, Espree, is now fully grown and in her 20s), I always marveled at Jerri’s ability to balance a career and to handle so smoothly being the mother of so many.
Over time I have seen her as a loving mother and a beautiful person inside and out. She is resoundingly deserving of your award. Major kudos to Griffin, Frankie, Winston and Kems, for making that happen.
Hermine Hilton