My Little Richard Story

Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, died yesterday, May 9, 2020. I once had the pleasure of talking with him.

In September 1997, my company sent two co-workers and me to a two-week training class in Los Angeles. There were perhaps twenty students in all. The company put us up in a nice hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. There were two students to a room, and the rooms were along one hallway. In a suite at the end of the hallway resided Little Richard.

We students often left our doors open so we could easily visit each other. From time to time Little Richard passed by with his small entourage, likely security or business associates. Little Richard would wave to us in our rooms and say hello.

The training ended October 3. While I sat in the hotel lobby waiting for my co-workers, for us to take a taxi ride to the airport, Little Richard arrived with his entourage, and he sat near me. We started to talk. He asked me where I was from and about my visit to Los Angeles. I asked him about where he was from. It was an ordinary conversation. I asked him for an autograph for my older sister, and he gladly gave it. He then handed me a small religious book called Finding Peace Within and a photo of himself. The inscription on the photo was pre-printed. He then got up to leave. We wished each other a good day, and he and his entourage were off.