M:\u00a0 Where did you grow up, and what was your early life like?<\/p>\n
T:\u00a0 I grew up in El Centro, CA. Born to Betty and Leon Harper. \u201cTootsie\u201d was a nickname my mother affectionately called me because I was long and lanky like a \u201cTootsie Roll. My older sister Leondra, \u201cCookie,\u201d and I were instilled in church as our foundation.<\/p>\n
M:\u00a0 Moving from El Centro to San Diego, how did your life change?<\/p>\n
T: In San Diego, my mother met and married a handsome sailor named Hubert Bell, Jr. They had my little sister Kenya. We lived as a happy family for years. I graduated from Morse High in 1980. Later, after my mother passed, my father married Susan and I called her \u201cMom\u201d. We became a blended family with a little bit of every ethnicity.<\/p>\n
M: How did you find your music calling?\u00a0<\/p>\n
T: We lived around the corner from True Vine Missionary Baptist Church. There, I discovered that my friend from 1st grade in El Centro, Timothy (Tu-Dee) Clemons, played the organ, and his father, Timothy Clemons, was Pastor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One day, Tu-Dee said, \u201cToot, I need a director.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cFool, I can sing, but I\u2019m not a director.\u201d Tu-Dee began to teach me the basics, and we worked together for years as I directed the choir.<\/p>\n
M: Did you have a regular 9-to-5?<\/p>\n
T: In 1980, my sister Cookie got me a job at UCSD. I started in the Nutrition Department. I worked my way up to Telecommunications and retired in 2023.<\/p>\n
M: How did your mother shape your life?<\/p>\n
T:\u00a0 My mother brought me up to stay in church, and her teachings have always stayed with me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
M: This event on May 17th, \u201cGiving You Your Flowers While You Can Smell Them,\u201d is well deserved. What would you like to say to San Diego?<\/p>\n
M: When I sing, I want to reach people who just need to hear a word through song. I am nothing without God, but with God I can do all things. I am an ordinary person to whom God has given an extraordinary gift. I am truly humbled.<\/p>\n
Please join us in celebration of Toot Bell Day in San Diego County, May 17, 2026 at Morse High School Auditorium from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.00. Producer: The Aztec Duplicate Bridge Club, Inc.\u00a0 ..\u00a0<\/p>\n
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