Shattered nerves and alcohol. That’s what became life for Wilbur Jones, a man once known for his wide smile and many friendships. Back in those brighter days, his goal was to become a physician like pop, who young Wilbur wanted to make proud. …

Ella Fitzgerald was shy, and she loved to dance. But most of all, she loved to sing. “The only thing better than singing is more singing,” she would say. Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1917 to unmarried parents who separated about two years after her birth. She…

She told her parents that life was long and youth was short and that she wasn’t ready for marriage. “I want to sit in cafes and drink cappuccinos and read books and feel the romantic aura of Paris,” she said, the scene dancing in her eyes. “Who wouldn’t?” her father…

The hug from John was warm, loving, the kind you’d expect from an affectionate type. He smiled his toothy grin, both soothing and mischievous, and he put his large right hand on my shoulder. …

“Little can be done under the spirit of fear,” Florence Nightingale would say. More than just words, though, she lived this mantra. Born in Florence, Italy, while her family traveled there from England in 1820, she found life purpose while in her teens. It was a “divine calling.” She wanted…