you can try and stand in my way ♪ ♪ you can say what you going to say ♪ ♪ i'm finding my way home ♪ finding my way home ♪ my way home ♪ my way home

[ applause ]

good morning. my name is ken hamilton. i first met vance january of 1960. and we were freshmen at cheney. and these are some of these brothers are vance's line brothers. we went over at cheney. [ applause ] january of 1961. i would like each of our brothers to come up and tell us who he is.

>> ralph patterson 1961 graduated from chiny 1963. we pledged with jim vance. >> my name is ronald watson. good morning. >> my name is bill nickels. we're now what is left of the soulful seven. with us was a dr. moegly, arthur and jim vance and then when we first started there was 11 of us. and it was many interesting people there. because of different situations these

with us. it's hard to talk about jim in the early days at cheney without talking about bradley who from this point on i will be referring to as moon. and actually we all have nick names. village, fumes [ laughter ] and i nicknamed vance brother recline because he was always so cool and laid back and that kind of fit. but he didn

that name so i will continue to call him vance. the frank sinatra song "my way" definitely had jim vance in mind. he insisted on doing everything that he did his way. my first friend at cheney was moon and he lived a half a block up the street from vance. i lived on campus. some evenings i would come home with moon. vance and moon had cars. vance had a 1954 chrysler. moon had a 1954 chevy. they both were very good self-taught auto mechanics. they can fix

they kept these cars running with the minimum amount of money because we had no money. sometimes we would go into the trash at the back of the garage and take used parts and make them work on our cars. i had a '55 olds and they fixed my car, too. when i came home with moon there was no food in the house because his mother worked two jobs and was hardly ever home so we would go up to vance's house for dinner. his mother would come home from work and cook for all of us. moon slept on a caught and i slept on the floor. when i saw where vance had bunk beds then i started sleeping at vance's house. [ laughter ] vance and moon wanted to pledge. they talke

we started pledging. pledging at cheney in the late 50s and early 60s was brutal. [ laughter ] i hear some of my other brothers over here can relate. i have often asked myself why did i do it? [ laughter ] and what good came from that? the only answer that i have come up with is that it bonded the seven of us into the greatest love and respect for one another that only death can come between. so the only thing that could have come between us and vance was death. vance was a rebel. he was going to do whatever it was his way regardless of the

himself, he was always able to land on his feet. several times he told me some things he did and i would say how is he going to get out of this one? and every single time vance came out better off than he was in the first place. as it was said before, vance was a ladies' man. all the ladies loved him. i never could figure it out. what it was about him they couldn't resist because the guys in my day who had all the ladies, they were light skinned and had curly hair. vance didn't have either one. one of the main things we had in common were we both had three wives.

kathie. but with all my wives they were in love with vance. they were always asking me about him. if he were coming over, if we were going to see him. my mother loved vance. she was always asking about him. when they would see each other she would kiss him in the mouth. she didn't kiss me in the mouth. she didn't kiss my father

mouth. [ laughter ] i always had a room at his house wherever he lived. when you married him you got u . as they know. regardless of how famous he got or how much money he made, i was always his boy. he attended all the mile stones in my life. maybe you have a friend that you don't have to see or talk to but you know that you are always thinking about each other, vance and i called it vibes. we used to vibe on each other. we didn't have to see each other or talk to each other but we knew who we were and how we felt about each other. our last personal conversation that we had where we both admitted that we

self-assured and we acted like we didn't need anybody, but for anything for age has humbled us is what we were discussing. and we had to face the reality that we do need help and how fortunate we are to have someone who ignores the huffing and puffing and is there for us. and for me it's my wife, jennifer. he said for him it was christina. and i would like to publically thank christina for seeing him through to the end because it was sad. [ applause ] vance loved to sing. we sang every time we got together. it was uly

of dawn juan sweet grape. only the oldest people would understand. vance had a great tenor voice. several of us sang in the choir. we are going to sing a song that we used to sing with vance many, many times. we have brought two brothers, brother charles gamble. he is going to take vance's place because vance had a tenor that was just next to none. a we are -- these brothers came after us. they continue the legacy of being singers. charles and barry are directors of the philadelphia alumni choir which i am a proud member. we are now going to do a song

written by a brother who did everything he possibly could to keep us but we persevered. thank you. [ applause ] ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ >> that time that the kappas came to a funeral and took it over. you will be able to tell your kids about that. >> the moon

to take the stage. >> hello, everybody. cheney state college, class of 1964. jim vance was my classmate, my fraternity brother and my friend through eternity. everybody talks about how cool brother vance was. i first met brother vance on the football field of cheney state college in the fall of 1960. he wasn't that cool then. [ laughter ] and neither was moon. played on the same team. they were just two away. whatever was open that is where they played. now, the reason cheney's football field was

wrapped in suburbs of philadelphia and the athletic director kept the field beautiful. it was also challenging because we went 0-8 that year. matter of fact, we only won one football game my four years at cheney. i didn't play. i was the manager which is a glorified term for water boy. the one game we won and we barely won that -- i didn't think it was that funny. there had been a lot of things said about jimmy today. one thing said that was true was his musical interest, his musical talent. jimmyo

many of you know what that means. as a part of that 0-8 season we started with 40 men. we ended with 18. after getting beat by mansfield which is way up in the northern most border of pennsylvania with new york, that's a long ride all the way down to philadelphia. what do you do? you lick your wounds and try to go over what you did wrong. what we did was we sang. do op, in the still of the night, earth angel, get a job, the moon glows. we sang. the athletic director went to the coach after that mansfield loss which was 52-7 and -- our athletic direc

and he said to the coach curly jim stevenson, called curly jim because he was bald. i don't understand why these birds are singing. they just got beat 57-7. coach said what are they supposed to do, cry all the way home. well, he shut up. jimmy j as the season progressed there were fewer and fewer men but we still sang. jimmy's vocal acumen not only involved doo-op. we had a very progressive and talented director of music at cheney. and we had a choir. we only had about 750 students but we had a choir of about 50 of which nick,at

were up here singing beautifully were all members. at a spring concert they sang gospel. they did some jazz. but the highlight at least for me was when jimmy, watson nick and three female singers, i think i have my numbers right, d did -- there may be a few people in here -- maybe more than a few who know opera and who know that it is one of the more difficult pieces in opera to sing because you have i think seven people and they didn't sing in rounds but they sang and they all had to end at the same place same time. i

have the record or the cd. and i haven't heard anything better than what i heard that spring conference with jim as a prime member of that. we talked about music a lot. never argued about it because the tastes were basically the same. doo-op and jazz. jimmy would sit and some of the most ridiculous cords and sounds i ever heard came out of his basis bass. he loved it and played it and played it with a joy. i even learned to like it some of those crazy cords. we moved on, we graduated. we started teaching. i have to correct. i feel

citation which said that jim vance got a bachelor's in journalism. jim vance did not get a bachelor's in journalism. jim vance got a bachelor's in secondary education english. ed bradley got bachelor's of science degree in elementary education which is indication of the education you got. sylvestor mogly within five years or six years after that he became head of pediatric icu unit at jefferson hospital, one of the major hospitals in the philadelphia area. i'm not going to do what others have done and will do which is talk about how cool and suave. i know what he was. what he was to me was vance or recline depending on the mood

was in. it wasn't because he was cool. that's not how he got his college nickname. i'm here to say that. trust me. i think the final and i will end on this which is an example of just vance. when i moved here in '72, vance, i don't know if he was anchor or not but he was on the air and he knew i liked baseball. so he said this is the last game for the washington. we went out and set up in the press box and got -- you didn't have to order your beer. it was served to you. the hot dogs. there were steaks and other things. i guess they were showing off because it was the last game. vance said after the game we are going down on the

so we went down on the field and the washington fans reminded me of what the philadelphia fans are said to be. they went crazy. there was one man with a power drill who was taking a seat, one of the seats from jfk. people running around taking turf, bases and what have you. every once in a while can i have your autograph. this just went on and on and on. towards the end they told us you had to get off the field twompt young ladies came up to jimmy and said mr. vance can we have your autograph. so he signed the of graph and one looked at me and said may i have your autograph. i said sure. she said i got jim vance and arthur ashe. you know what they

i know jimmy and i can say without fear of contradiction he never changed. he never changed from that gangly and from art moore and from there i would like to say that that is where he began all of the things that the people before me and the people after me have spoken about, the cool, suave vance. closing note, i have only been on a motorcycle twice in my life. first time was down in georgia. i don't want to talk about that. second time vance said let's play tennis. he said i will pick you up. i'm looking outside and there is vance on this harley that looked like a mack truck. it was the biggest thing i had seen in my life. i don't do motorcycles. but i did

i loved him. [ applause ]

wone of the signs of old ag are forgetfulness. the one most prominent is i was supposed to introduce moon light. into a group that he loves. spoke of often, the world renowned that means known in other places other than here. and they are good. without further ado, the moon lighters.

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♪ and you gave me ♪ yes you gave me ♪ well you gave me ♪ peace of mind ♪ peace of mind ♪ you gave me ♪ peace of mind ♪ you

♪ peace of mind ♪ you gave me ♪ yes you gave me ♪ peace of mind ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ahh ohh ♪ ahh ahh ♪ yes you gave me ♪ well well you gave me ♪ yes you

♪ peace of mind ♪ peace of mind [ applause ] >> i'm sorry i'm not there to help celebrate jim's life with all of you. my memories of jim were associated with our tv interviews with him and his buddy george michael. what a contrast. george, hyper, yelling. i got to tell you, this is going to be a great show. i 't

i don't really care if it's a great show or not. this is not my world. then on the other side of that you had jim. calm, collected, thoughtful but always with real feeling. think about this, both of those guys helped make a living off of second guessing me. so many times we disagreed or we'd have arguments but i think the one thing that i consider myself was a friend of jim. i know that many of you there today had the same feeling. jim was a great person and i considered it an honor to be considered his friend. washington has lost a great legend. our thoughts are with jim's family and all of his

[ applause ] good morning. my name is johnny allen and i'm a personal long term recovered from addiction disease. i'm real happy about that. nearly 30 years ago jim vance spoke at my recover for the sixth anniversary. he said you have to find joy in who you are. he had only a few months of recovery at the time but we stayed together helping each other to truly know ourselves and find joy in that continuing discovery. at 17 i began my adult life as a police

knoxville journal. we were told to report then write, listen then share. i wascurious. i got the listening part down but i was a amateur compared to vance. for jim no story was too small. no story was without consequence. no story could fail to teach us something about ourselves, our world, our values and our hopes. that was the magic of jim's life and career. our own stories proved over time that overcomers do overcome. addiction disease is first enticing and then painfully devastating. your fall from everything you believe in and have worked for is messy and humiliating. jim walked through that valley once honored, admired then shunned and feeling alone. jim walked through

with hope. his resilience and dead indicati -- dedication to excellence came with a touch. imagine strengths he had to have to do in a professional way knowing that it could all slip away in a moment. he won. he came with me and others to found the columbia recovery center this 1991 which created the codoza club. hundreds of citizens in every walk of life began their recovery journey in that clubhouse. returning to work in his nightly duty to all of us in the metro market, he made time every day to share with others on the recovery

vance's story never ends. in person and on tv he's inspired so many. his story continues to pull people to the best that they can be. hever forget me if i did not remind everyone within the sound of my voice that they are valuable. your story is precious. take care of yourself. you don't have to look for people to help. just love the ones who cross your path. that's how we help each other. to me vance is my companion and everything related to addiction and recovery in our love of d.c. i did not have a harley. i go fishing only occasionally. once a mopnth through all these years we shared breakfast and gossip and love of life. he said you know johnny it could have gone the other way.

had what they call a spiritual laugh. it started in the toes, erupted through his body to escape his jolly face especially his shining eyes. it was not contrived. it was not planned. it was general wexpression of j. god bless you jim. d bless. [ applause ] ♪

♪ ♪ keep in my heart ♪ i do believe ♪ someday we'll all be free ♪ we will be free ♪ i may not know ♪ how long we'll be ♪ someday we'll all be free ♪ we will be free ♪ someday we'll all be free

♪ hold on my brother ♪ give me your hand ♪ someday we'll all be free ♪ we will be free ♪ learning to love ♪ we'll find our way ♪ someday we'll all be free ♪ we will be free ♪ someday we'll all be free ♪ we shall overcome ♪ we shall overcome ♪

♪ someday ♪ deep in my heart ♪ i do believe ♪ we shall overcome ♪ someday ♪ will you join and sing with me ♪ ♪ we shall overcome ♪ i know that ♪ we shall overcome ♪ i know that ♪ we

♪ someday ♪ oh ♪ deep in my heart ♪ deep in my heart lord ♪ i will believe ♪ i do believe ♪ we shall overcome ♪ i know i know that we shall ♪ we shall overcome ♪ i know that we shall overcome ♪ ♪ we shall overcome ♪ someday ♪ deep in my heart ♪ i do believe ♪ someday we'll a

♪ someday we'll all be free ♪ we shall overcome someday [ applause ]

>> thank you pastor, phipps. he spoke at my parent's wedding. it's very fitting he would be here today to celebrate pastor's life. on behalf of vance's children and family, i want to express our heartfelt appreciation to each and every one of you for sharing in today's wonderful celebration of our father. many of you traveled long distances to be here and all of you took time out from your busy schedules to join in out pouring of love, laughter and reflections we have experienced today. a special debt of gratitude is owed to the nbc 4 team who worked exhaustively to make sure this memorial was a fitting tribute to a man so beloved by so many. a sincere thanks to jackie and her team and all involved for making today such a special day. couple

passed, vance and my sister were going through boxes of his old things. picture, articles, commentaries and personal writings. they came across personal pages of handwritten thoughts of life, love, god and so forth that he scripab scribbled down a few years ago. it included a number of insightful messages but there was one that stood out as poignant and apt for this occasion. in it he said, quote, who gets to live to 72 years old before the fog of doubt and self-revulsion is lifted. eyes open to the wonders of extraordinary life. this guy does. what a perfect summation o tf t journey his life represented. my 4-year-old, sloan, asked where grandpa vance would be from now

her while he would no longer be physically present, he would have voice in our lives. guiding us, providing strength in difficult times. i acknowledge that such a statement may sound trite, the kind of thing any parent says to a child, that quote i just read exemplifies for me how true it is that his spirit continues to endure. not a day goes by when i don't draw on a lesson he taught me directly or by his example whether as a parent, husband, professional or as a hman generally. his voice, presence and infectious laugh are consistently in my mind and heart. i know my sisters and the rest of our family feel the same way. you see, for whatever basaccola vance received for being a trail blazing journalist, an iconic fixture in the culture of d.c., he was an even

the meticulousness he demonstrated in his professional career for over 45 years, he also applied to what he regarded as his most significant responsibility, raising family. he would be the first to tell you that his characters and values were cultivated in him by the family that raise him. while unfortunate li his father died when he was only nine years old, his father was one of 16 siblings and vance was fortunate enough to be raised collectively by a large, close knit and proud family consisting of aunts, uncles and cousins. many of who are here today. it was a family that placed a value on education, generousty and dignity in an honest day a work. from their frequent table debates, he learned how to develop opinions and articulate and defend them. from his grandfather, father and many uncles who were plumbers by

businesses when during a time being a black man with a business had obstacles. he learned it demand skill but a steadfast refusal to accept immedia mediocrity. this was the foundation he was built and by the principles he strode to live his life. he worked hard to pass these values along to us both in word and deeds. he became a father at the age of 19 when dawn was born. he was in college and not well positioned to assume the substantial demands of fatherhood. he did not shirk his responsibilities either to his daughter or to his own education and enrichment. he remained enrolled in college, took on five different jobs at a time and enthusiastically and lovingly cared for his daughter every single day. even at such a youngage when many kids would be concerned how many likes they got for an instagram post, van

to stand before major life change and forge his way through it for the betterment of himself and his family. while vance made clear to us that he expected us to live up to the rigorous stands impressed upon him from his own upbringing, he was never preachy, overbearing or authoritarian. he communicated with us in a matter for our dignity add people and the ability to comprehend what she whe was tryo convey. his love could be delivered with honey or vinegar but he was always satisfying. we've been touched by those rememberances. the things most compelling by the story s they haven't centered on something impressive he himself did in those encounters but how he made them feel when they were around him. for someone who had such

commanding presence who never entered a room unnoticed he had an uncanny ability to make those around him feel like they were the moe important pern in tson room. it was just who he was. for me, my friends and countless other black children in the city growing up in the '70s and '80s, he served as a direct and tangible affirmation that it was not inconsistent with professional, intellectual or financial success. it was almost inconceivable that a black man would occupy that chair. he did so with an afro and cadence familiar to the black community that had not been seen on such a platform before. he never became the black anchor for most but the anchor man of record for the

[ applause ] what many don't know is after he lost the afro he would still show up in the news room in a tailored suit, beautifully hand crafted tie and a purple dur -- du rag on his head. to the end he stayed true to who he was wand never once tried to being a diluted version of himself. we will miss him deeply and there will be gaping void in our lives. i miss with him about the state of our local professional football team. this would be a good week for that topic. sharing our positions on politics. making fun of his odd but

and debating whether hip hop music was more important than d dowop. he had a story for any occasion. it would have you on tej of your seat or in stitches with lau laught laughter. we expected him of taking artistic liberties with the facts from time to time but having personally witnessed him calmly stare down an eight foot alas alaskan grizzly with an attitudes and bad intentions and the grizzly ran. i for one am convinced that anything was possible with that man. i want to leave you with one antecdote that characterizes type of father he was. less than 48 hours before he tied, he asked us to come to hus room to talk. this was rare. he never asked us to conduct a meeting. he was in intensive care and we had to put

enter the room. when we did his speech was painfully labors and it was clear to all of us it would have taken a miracle for him to recover. he got the strength to say while things looked grim, he wanted to fight. he said y'all have a lot left to do and i intend to help you do it. at a time when his body would barely permit him to draw a breath, he felt it was imperative to explain to his kids that he was fighting for us. the very next day in his last hours amani was by his side. he was in and out of consciousness and even less capable of speaking than the day before. a few hours before he die his eyes open and he pulled amani close and said, please tell dawn and brendon i'm sorry. i tried my best. his eyes closed again only to reopen shortly to say

baby. i love you. to his last breath his concern was the extent to which he had served his family. well, vance, i know you're listening today. i want you to know amani passed that message along. we want you to know that absolutely no apology is required from you. you faulgt for us your entire life and have given us gifts that will last our lifetimes and those of your grand children, great grand children and beyond. rest easy now. you lived an extraordinary life and made the world a better place for everyone blessed to have been in your presence. thank you. [ applause ]

>> when you wake up in the morning don't you wake up with anticipation about the day. that's what i do every morning too. when i am going and they put that up there, it will speak the truth. it's been one hell of a party. [ applause ] >> well we all know jim vance loved to party and we all know that jim vance loved jazz, dowop and music in general and it's appropriate that we conclude today's fitting celebration with a new orleans style second line jazz band, including one of vance's former co-workers joel albert to lead us out this morning beginning with the front

rows. thank you all so very much for joining us this morning and to paraphrase another one of vance's favorite quotes, may the blessings in your life never stop flowing. [ applause ] ♪ ♪

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born and raised incian, dr. rrural virginia went to vmi. trained at johns hopkins. an army doctor who treated soldiers seriously wounded in the gulf war. eighteen years as volunteer medical director of a children's hospice. as lt. governor, he's fighting to expand healthcare in virginia. he'll get it done as governor. ralph northam: i'm ralph northam, and we need to provide access to affordable healthcare for all virginians,

standby, everyone. we're live in five, four, three, two, one. directing traffic. indiana jones. >> get out! >> go! come on, come on, come on! >> i've seen everything in new york, but i have never seen that. harrison ford actually right there in the middle of traffic, to the rescue, directing traffic after a tunnel backup in manhattan. that is crazy. >> play the indiana jones music. there he goes right in there. he's not a movie star. he's a new yorker. he's