Former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said his mother Georgia Rose Peat West likely was saying, “Dang K, you trying to send me home on a rocket ship?” as she looked down on the service celebrating her life on Thursday at Saint Paul Baptist Church.

Gospel luminaries Tramaine Hawkins, BeBecq Winans and Erica Campbell (formerly of Mary Mary) each honored West’s life and comforted her sons Johnson and Ronald West with songs such as “Goin’ Up Yonder” and “Stand.”

Major League Baseball legend Dusty Baker shared that his mother, a longtime African studies teacher at Sacramento City College, wished she could have opened a bookstore with Johnson’s mother.

City Councilmember Rick Jennings read several resolutions, including ones from Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui. Newsom thanked West for her bold vision and steady leadership for the bookstore founded by St. Hope in Oak Park.

“Underground Books has become a defining feature in the Oak Park community, known for its accessibility community events and robust partnerships with local schools,” he wrote. “Her management of Underground Books, combined with her 27-year career as a registered nurse, are true testaments of her unwavering commitment to uplifting her community.”

West, who died Dec. 23 at 75, ran the bookstore from the time it opened in 2003, focusing on literature and nonfiction that elevated voices and stories from the Black diaspora. Former state legislator Holly Mitchell recalled how the California Legislative Black Caucus partnered with West to send books to legislators to educate them on Black history.

St. Hope CEO Cassandra Jennings, one of West’s frequent co-conspirators in elevating Black voices, often joined her on Saturdays when West welcomed children and parents for story time when she would send both parents and children home with books.

Ronald West saluted his mother with a video capturing her exuberant laughter, her fondness for a joke and her antics in the stands at ballgames. Photos in front of the pulpit captured West’s her childhood and youthful beauty as well as the elegant matron who would come to be called Mother Rose by both her family and many students at her alma mater, Sacramento High School.

After the service, former St. Hope CEO Jake Mossawir said West often asked bookstore visitors to sit with her and share stories about what was happening in their lives.

“Mother Rose made everybody feel like they were the most special person in the world, so you could see so many people felt a connection to her,” he said. “When you came into Underground Books, you were the focus of all her energy.”

Before the service, Judith Hollins and Wanda Brown said their families often supported West’s work to improve the lives of children and youth in Oak Park, whether it was during her tenure at St. Hope, the nonprofit that Johnson founded, or programs at Underground Books and the Guild Theater.

More than a dozen young people, a number of whom had worked at Underground Books, carried in flowers and candles to place on a table that honored West’s memory. They and the West, Peat and Johnson family walked down the aisle and into the sanctuary to the music of “Georgia On My Mind.”

When the family was seated, singers Patricia Burks and Nicole West sang an a capella rendition of the song, and the lyrics seemed to encapsulate the raw emotions that Johnson later said he and his brother had been experiencing since their mother’s death. One passage they sang:

“Georgia, Georgia

A song of you

Comes as sweet and clear

As moonlight through the pines

Other arms reach out to me

Other eyes smile tenderly

Still in peaceful dreams I see The road leads back to you”

In one story after another, speakers captured West’s personality. Mitchell said she realized how much West loved to party as she stood in line with her, waiting to get into a Christmas party at the White House when Barack Obama was president. It was cold Mitchell said, but she was warmed by Mother Rose’s antics.

Ronald West shared a memory of waiting for a plan at Los Angeles International in 2001 when two men walked up to him and asked, “Are you Ronald West?”

 He couldn’t think why he was suddenly famous until these strangers said, “Oh, my God, we love your mom. Your mom’s amazing.” They then began peppering him with questions about her, as though she was a celebrity, he said, triggering laughter from the audience.

West and Johnson repeatedly thanked attendees and the entire Sacramento community for the outpouring of sympathy cards, donations and love coming their way. Donations are going to the “Mother Rose Fund” at St. Hope to maintain West’s legacy, and they can be mailed to Underground Books, P.O. Box 5447, Sacramento, CA 95817.

Johnson said his mother was a tower of strength and a fierce Mama Bear when it came to her sons. She could be slow to embrace change, he said, but once she did, she was all-in.

Her strength really showed, he said, as she battled small-cell lung cancer, a diagnosis she did not share broadly until months before her death. Mother Rose was first diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 2014, he said. “The doctor told her she would likely live 12 to 18 months. She had Stage 3b advanced cancer, and within a few months after that, she had Stage 4 cancer.”

Johnson, Sacramento’s first African American mayor, said he learned that, if you have Stage 4 cancer, only 50% of the people live longer than four months, and doctors said only 3% of those with the condition lived for five years. The survival rate for 10 years is less than 1%, he said, and West was among them.

“She had countless, countless rounds of radiation, chemotherapy, immune therapy, clinical trials,” he said, “and some of the time, she even drove herself to those appointments. She kept working the whole time in Underground Books, and no one knew.” In West’s final hours, Johnson said, she asked him to give his brother a message for her after she died, and he shared it with him during the service:

“Tell Ronnie his kindness is unmatched. Tell Ronnie his spirit is unparalleled. Tell Ronnie his determination is his own. Tell Ronnie his intelligence exceeds, and tell Ronnie to always remember he’s got my DNA.”

Although Johnson feared the front office wanted his mom’s performances to end, he said, the opposite was true. They told him they loved her routines and that they generated more excitement than the halftime shows, but they wanted him to call the fan and see if he could smooth things over.

It all worked out, Johnson said, and his mother continued as a Phoenix Suns superfan for the rest of his years there.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/obituaries/article299035975.html#storylink=cpy