Former Mayor Beverly O'Neill stepped outside of her comfort zone and delivered a Good Friday speech centered on how deep faith and helping others helped her family persevere through a childhood marked by economic and family struggles.
Speaking to a crowd of 700 at the YMCA of Greater Long Beach's annual breakfast at The Westin Hotel, O'Neill described how her strong mother, the late Flossie Lewis, worked hard at a cleaners during a period where her father battled alcoholism and lost several jobs.
Even though it was not openly discussed much at home, it was faith, she said on the day that Christians believe Christ was crucified, that gave her optimism that she would grow up to seek an education and a career.
"I believe in God," she said. "Not the intangible spirit in the sky that we hear about as a child, but the God who warmed me when I was little, that provided food when I was hungry, that provided opportunities to grow, to have a Long Beach Day Nursery where I found stability and consistency in my confusing world, to provide the children's dental clinic that allowed me to have healthy teeth."
(More to come on this at Press-Telegram.com)
