Rich Archbold: Mother Doris gets her wings and is with angels who were watching over her

One of the archetypal things you announcement erstwhile you participate the surviving country of Doris Topsy-Elvord’s location successful Bixby Knolls are the angels.

Angels of each sizes, descriptions and colors decorating the fireplace and mantel. Ones made of glass, metal, cloth. A beauteous 1 made of tattered rags.

Among the angels is simply a motion reading, “Angels Are Looking At Us.”

“My Momma conscionable loved angels,” her daughter-in-law, Jackie Topsy, said past week. “She would archer radical that angels were ever with america and watching america to support america retired of trouble.”

Now, Topsy-Elvord is mingling among the angels successful heaven.

Topsy-Elvord died peacefully astatine her location Wednesday, Dec. 15, from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. She was 90 years old. On Thursday, I visited with Topsy-Elvord’s son, Stephen, and his wife, Jackie, astatine the legendary matriarch’s home, wherever she lived for much than 20 years.

The location is simply a veritable depository of Topsy-Elvord’s life, filled with hundreds of photos, awards, figurines, books, paper articles, magnets and souvenirs from her satellite travels.

“When you would spell to sojourn her, you would find yourself looking for the representation of you and your family, and it would beryllium there,” said Cecile Walters, longtime person and main of unit for Topsy-Elvord erstwhile she served arsenic the archetypal Black pistillate connected the Long Beach City Council.

Jackie Topsy said her mother-in-law called the photograph postulation her “Love Wall.”

There are galore photos and mementos of erstwhile President Barack Obama, who Topsy-Elvord met erstwhile Obama was a U.S. legislator from Illinois. A ample broad covering the sofa has a drafting of Obama with different Black civilian rights leaders: Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. The blanket’s rubric is, “From Slavery to the White House, a Historical Journey.”

There are photos of the precocious Indira Tucker, who created and developed the African American Resource Center astatine the Burnett Library with Topsy-Elvord. Tucker lived lone 2 houses distant from Topsy-Elvord successful Bixby Knolls. The photos of Tucker reminded maine of a speech I had with Topsy-Elvord aft the erstwhile died successful 2012.

Tucker had chronic symptom and 1 day, she did what her longtime person called “a beauteous thing.”

“Indira gave maine a twelve roses, my favourite flower,” Topsy-Elvord told me. “I asked her wherefore and she said, ‘Because you’ve been truthful benignant to me, and you ever instrumentality clip to perceive to me. I conscionable privation to accidental I emotion you.”

Three days later, Indira Tucker died. Topsy-Elvord said she wanted to unrecorded a beingness similar her friend.

Topsy-Elvord besides had a postulation of elephants successful her house. An elephant with its trunk successful the aerial is simply a motion of bully luck and bully fortune. One of her favorites was a gold-colored elephant fixed to her arsenic a acquisition from Delta Sigma Theta, a sorority comprised chiefly of Black women dealing with assemblage issues.

Phyllis Venable, president of Sister Cities of Long Beach and CEO of Silhouette Consulting Group, said Topsy-Elvord was initiated into the sorority erstwhile she was connected the City Council successful 2001.

“She had initially pledged portion successful assemblage but was forced to driblet retired erstwhile her parent became sick and she was called home,” Venable said past week. “She ne'er relinquished her imagination to go a Delta.

“When she recovered retired that I was a member, she hounded maine astir joining and wondered if it was excessively precocious for her,” Venable added. “She made up her caput to bash it and ne'er looked back. The Long Beach alumnae section has ne'er had, and volition ne'er have, a much loyal and devoted sorority sister.”

Topsy-Elvord’s refrigerator, meanwhile, is filled with magnets of each kinds and drawings by her grandchildren. There are magnets from her travels to dozens of countries, including Russia, Vietnam, Australia, Finland, Sweden, South Africa, China and each of the European and Caribbean nations. There are governmental magnets extolling voters to “Make a Clean Sweep, Elect Doris Topsy-Elvord successful the Sixth District.”

Another magnet says, “Make Long Beach Proud Again, Elect Beverly O’Neill Mayor.” Another: “Vote for Change Obama ‘08.”

Also hanging connected a partition successful Topsy-Elvord’s location is simply a painting, “Precious,” by accomplished creator Synthia Saint James, who designed the archetypal Kwanzaa stamp for the United States Postal Service.

“She loved that painting,” her lad said. He said helium would support it successful representation of her.

What is going to hap to each of the different memorabilia successful the house?

Stephen and Jackie Topsy said they weren’t sure.

But they were definite of 1 thing: They are going to springiness Topsy-Elvord’s postulation of angels to Naeemah Simon, 1 of her a great-grandchildren. Naeemah’s parent is LaStar Topsy, a girl of Stephen and Jackie Topsy.

“Naeemah is an angel,” Jackie Topsy said, “and volition admit Momma’s angels erstwhile she gets older.”

Walters, who met Topsy-Elvord successful 1986 and became her main of unit successful 1992, said Topsy-Elvord was “an amazing, singular and phenomenal pistillate who gave unselfish work to citizens of the Sixth District and the full Long Beach community.”

While Topsy-Elvord was successful hospice astatine her home, Walters would sojourn and sometimes conscionable clasp her hand.

“She ever said, ‘We were the champion things that happened to each other,’” Walters said. “I americium blessed and grateful to person had her successful excavation and my family’s life.”

Walters said the angel postulation meant truthful overmuch to her friend, Doris.

“She is our angel,” Walters said, “and present she has gotten her wings.”

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