StoryCorps: A lesson from an unlikely mentor

We all have a favorite teacher. Someone who was much more than an instructor. Someone who stepped in when we needed them the most. When her mother was ill, 24-year-old Sophia Simon-Ortiz found that someone in 72-year-old Edythe Boone – an arts educator who found her own inspiration from an unlikely mentor. They sat down together in San Francisco’s StoryCorps booth.

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SOPHIA SIMON-ORTIZ: Who do you think in your life have been the most important in being there for you?

EDYTHE BOONE: My mother used to be a maid for this lady named Ms. Gilmore. And from the time I was 10- or 11-years old,  I used to go with my mother to help her clean. This lady and I became friends. You know, my mother’s employer. Sometimes we would talk on the phone. She would send me books. She had a factory of clothing. I would go down there and get clothes. I used to dress really good.

SIMON-ORTIZ. You still do.

BOONE: Thank you. I used to dress really good. I used to get very expensive clothes. She really took an interest in me and encouraged me. So one day she said, “Edy, I would like you to come when your mother is not here. I would like to invite you to tea.”

So I got all dressed up. At that time people used to wear hats and gloves. So I got all dressed up, and I mean I was really fine. And so automatically, I was like, “Oh, I can go through the front door.” This is Park Avenue. I can go through the front door because I’m invited for tea. So as I was walking in they said, “Uh uh uh uh, you can’t come through here.”

I said “I’m invited to tea. I was invited by Ms. Gilmore. I’m not working.”

“I’m sorry, you still have to go around. “

 I said, “I refuse.”

 He said, “I’m going to call the cops.”

 And I said, “You’re going to have to call the cops because I’m not going.”

 And she [Ms. Gilmore] comes down the stairs. “How dare you treat my guest this way.”

SIMON-ORTIZ: Right on.

BOONE: Yeah, she stood up for me. She said, “You did the right thing standing up for your self.”

This interview was edited by Mitzi Mock and recorded at the StoryCorps Booth at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in downtown San Francisco.

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