My mother always read the papers and knew what was going on. She always kept her finger in the political pie.

My mother was a phenomenal speaker. She used to amaze me. There was not a note in front of her. It was just the way she did it, off the cuff and from the heart.

It was a matter of trying to find what's lacking here and filling the void. We wanted to develop outside events that students and faculty and the public could attend, aside from classes. We try to present a whole bunch of things, a variety that will appeal to someone.

[But she was closer to her mother.] I adored my mother. She was very formal and proper, but she was so full of fun when you got to know her. ... Because she was really like me, without the cover. You know when you take the shell off a tortoise? There's my mother. I live a lot the way she lived. I have a very formal home and my daughter was brought up strictly and all that.

I wasn't actually trained by my mother, she said she never taught me but she was a great singer herself and I can't remember when I didn't listen to her sing and imitate her.

My mother could make anybody feel guilty - she used to get letters of apology from people she didn't even know.