On Friday, February 11, 2005 I received a call from one of my best childhood friends, Helen Bowens-Valdez. We talk frequently and usually our conversations are full of laughter since Helen is as hilarious as Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg and Joan Rivers all put together. However, this conversation was full of sadness. Helen called to inform me that one of our childhood friends, Candauce “Candy” Dominique Warner had been brutally murdered.  

The Rocky Mount Telegram reported that “A Rocky Mount homeless woman died Wednesday, and police are looking for her killer.” She died from head injuries she received from an assault Tuesday on the 500 block of Woodland Avenue. The police had charged Aaron Deonta Wiggins, 21 of the 400 block of North Parker Street with her murder. He is accused by authorities with hitting Candy during an argument about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Two years ago, the suspect was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury, and the case had been continued to March 28, 2005. The suspect also spent two months in prison in 2003 for an assault conviction on a law enforcement officer. 

Candy Warner was the first wealthy person that I ever knew. She was the granddaughter of our local undertaker, Mr. Chauncey Stokes, the wealthiest and most influential black man in Rocky Mount, North Carolina at the time. She was the daughter of a prominent attorney, William Warner and his wife, Rocky Mount Socialite Norma S. Warner. The Stokes family and Warner family were loved by everyone in the city because they were some of the nicest people you could ever meet. 

Candy Warner had a childhood full of privilege. She had a loving family and money to burn. She was humble and down to earth, characteristics often not found among the Black Upper Class. Candy’s siblings graduated from Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. Candy attended Fisk University. What happened to Candy? How could this child of privilege end up homeless in a town where her family was the wealthiest black family? 

I had not seen or heard from Candy Warner in 33 years, but I kept up with her through mutual friends. I always felt a debt of gratitude to Candy because of the way she treated me and other people who had far less resources than she had when we were children. I credit Candy with teaching me how to treat the less fortunate. She treated everyone as her equal. She had a huge heart and a winning smile. Candy simply loved everybody. Unfortunately that is probably what led to Candy’s spiraling downfall. When she met TOM, DICK and HARRY she couldn’t turn them away and they got the best of her. 

When I was interviewing Alabama death row inmates for clemency on behalf of the Governor, it was the lesson that I learned from Candy Warner on how to treat the less fortunate that allowed me to treat these condemned inmates as if they were the President of the United States. Candy was always the first to speak and the first to smile. She had an electrifying personality. She had the world by the tail until she met TOM, DICK and HARRY. 

I consider the lesson in humility that I learned as a child from Candy Warner to be as much a contribution to my own success as my undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, my two law degrees from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Boston University School of Law. I was so grateful to Candy that when I heard about her problems a year ago I made a special trip to Rocky Mount, North Carolina to try and locate her. My family and I stopped by her Uncle’s house on the visit. It was full of memories. I remembered that I had been there many times selling things as a child. Candy’s grandmother, Mrs. Stokes would always buy whatever I was selling. I always knew that I could make a sale at her house. When I went inside religious music was playing. I waited a few moments while one of the servants told Candy’s uncle that I was in the den. He came out and greeted me. I told him that I was one of Candy’s childhood friends and that I wanted her to contact me. I gave him my card and asked him to pass it on to Candy. I never heard from Candy. I wish I had been more specific as to why I wanted her to contact me. I wanted to tell Candy what a great effect that she had on my life and that I wanted to do whatever I could do to help her get her life back on track. 

As people throughout the world read this article over the Internet, I want them to know thirty-three years later Candy Warner is still teaching me about humility and life. I will forever remember her kindness and the difference she made in my life. Candy and her mother, Mrs. Norma S. Warner are on my Sixth Birthday Party picture that sits on a table in my study.