Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Vernon Winfrey is a TV host, author, and billionaire businesswoman Oprah Winfrey’s father, and he lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
- He has been a coal miner, then purchased a barbershop that still exists today and was also an elected city councilman.
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Vernon was born on January 31, 1933, in West Mississippi, Mississippi, to parents Elmore Winfrey (father) and Beatrice Winfrey (mother).
- He grew up with eight other siblings and started working on the family farm from a very young age. Born into a poor household at a time where it was quite difficult for African Americans to get equal opportunity, Vernon’s early life was anything but easy.
- It was very difficult for Vernon and his siblings to attend school as they had to walk three miles each way to reach the closest school. There wasn’t a kindergarten school, so they all only began school from when they were seven years old and could only study till eighth grade.
- Only Vernon and his two other siblings got the opportunity to study beyond that by going off and living in school dorms. He then decided to take a break from high school and joined the army for two years. He returned from the army and graduated high school at the age of 25.
Marriage and Kids :
- Vernon’s prodigious daughter Oprah Winfrey was born in 1954 when he was in the army to Vernita Lee, a single teenage mother and a housemaid.
- Oprah was raised by her maternal grandmother and her mother till she was about 8 years old and then came to live with Vernon.
- Vernon married Zelma Winfrey and remained married to her for thirty-nine years till her death. Zelma too welcomed Oprah wholeheartedly when she came to stay with the couple and helped raise her into the person she is today.
- Zelma and Vernon also helped in raising an adopted kid named Thomas Walker. Thomas’s mother had died when he was a young child, so he was adopted into the Winfrey household when he was eleven years old. He is now a Lieutenant with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Department in Nashville, Tennessee, after spending 23 years in the Coast Guard.
- In 2000, Vernon married again to Barbara Winfrey and stayed with her till 2013 when he filed for divorce over Barbara’s extramarital affairs.
Career, Job, Salary and Net Worth :
- In 1955, Vernon moved to Nashville, Tennessee, a few weeks after leaving the armed forces. He was looking for better job opportunities and started working as a janitor for Vanderbilt University for several years.
- He has also worked other jobs like working in a uniform company for ten years & also ran a convenience store for 14 years.
- After graduating from Hasla Barber College in 1963, Vernon served as an apprentice for a year and a half and later opened his own barbershop. He was also a deacon at Faith United Baptist Church.
- From 1975 to 1991, for sixteen years, Vernon was elected as a city councilman and was on the Metro Council. He has also served as a trustee for the Tennessee State University.
- Vernon’s barbershop has an attached grocery store, and in 2012, the building which houses the barbershop had gone into foreclosure. Oprah bought the building and saved the barbershop, but her stepmother, Barbara, was not too happy about it.
- Vernon Winfrey Death / Still Alive ? : There are many Google queries regarding if Vernon has passed away, but as of early 2019, he is still alive.
Mr. Winfrey worked hard and died in peace. I visited him twice and called him mola. I talked with him over the phone every other week till he passed on. May he rest in perfect peace.
Condolences to Oprah and her family!
I have been reading Oprah story since she found her sister. Oprah is one of a kind and I am just reading her story now and every day! My name is Patricia Pat Brown…I am from Alabama but live in Boston.