Oprah Winfrey's mom Vernita Lee dies on Thanksgiving at age 83 [View all]

Oprah Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, died at her Milwaukee home last week, her family announced Monday.

Lee was 18 when she gave birth to her first child in rural Mississippi, naming her "Orpah" after a woman mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Ruth, but many mispronounced it as Oprah and the name stuck.

She died this Thanksgiving at the age of 83.

Lee was a lifetime member of the NAACP and her daughter joked at the dinner that Lee had been asking her for years to come to Waukesha County to speak at the Freedom Fund event.

She is survived by her daughters Winfrey and Lee, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

At: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/obituaries/2018/11/26/oprahs-mother-vernita-lee-dies-her-milwaukee-home/2113618002/

Vernita Lee, 1935-2018.