Miss Della Reese Was A Lady, And Don't You Forget It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                I became aware of Della Reese, midway through my childhood.  My parents had bought me a clock radio, which I loved to fall asleep listening to, mentally whisking myself off to glamorous Manhattan, where everything was happening, because it sure as hell wasn't, where I was.

                                  The name "Della Reese" would creep into my head by osmosis, through television, and occasional hearings of her classic hit, "Don't You Know?", which I had no idea, till years later, what it actually was.

                                   As a singer, she straddled somewhere between Aretha and Mahalia, but never making that A-list.  She was part of the Fifties craze to popularize classical music for the non-cultured.  It wasn't until years later I realized "Don't You Know" was actually "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's "La Boheme."  I think I was well aware of this, long before I saw "Moonstruck."

                                   She reinvented herself, in 1994, with the role of Tess in "Touched By An Angel," featuring Roma Downey, and John Dye, as Andrew.who left us all too soon on January 10, 2011.  At first I resisted this show, which I thought to be treacly, but in time I came to regard as spiritually comforting.

                                     The episode I most remember involved Piper Laurie, as a woman who was slowly going blind, but was desperate to see Venice, Italy.  Who could blame her?  Using the power of suggestion and recreation, Tess,  Monica, and Andrew delivered this woman a trip to Venice that was seen in the woman's mind.  It was deeply moving to know that we get our dreams, if not in the way we think we will get them.

                                        Della was no spinster, honey.  She went through two marriages, but, maybe because of Tess, and her spiritual strength, which carried her into a church ministry, she always seemed the quintessential spirit of independence.

                                           She was a woman of many talents, succeeding in a business which demanded she constantly reinvent herself.  But, from all accounts, she was also a good person.

                                             So, when Della died, on November 19, 2017, at the age of 86, I knew we had lost someone special, but that Heaven gained a special angel.

                         Here is Della's classic hit, "Don't You Know."  The arrangement and concept may be cheesy, but the voice was Heaven sent.

                         Rest In Peace, Della!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!