NEW ORLEANS — A drumming ceremony was held Saturday afternoon at the Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans to celebrate the life of Portia Pollock.
Those who gathered had one clear message: the value of life.
"Mama Portia", to many who knew her, was full of life, love, and a big light in her community.
"She was loyal, she was a trusted friend. She cared deeply, and more than anything she loved New Orleans to her core," Pollock's niece Fatima Muse said.
Before her demise, she was getting ready to teach young children one of her passions, drumming. A gift she was excited to share.
"She impacted these children in just a very short time, but that's who she was," friend Jamilah Peters-Muhammad said. "And because many of our children don't get an opportunity to express grief or to understand the circle of life, it doesn't end with death but moves on to the next place."
"She saw these little faces just a couple of days before she was taken away from us and I know how excited she was about it, and I'm grateful that they had an opportunity to be in her presence because she was such a wonderful, wonderful person," Muse said.
A wonderful person who left an impression on anyone that met her.
"Today's celebration is an opportunity for all of us to find a little piece of joy in so much sorrow. I think there's something revolutionary about joy, especially when there's so much pain," Muse said.
The playing for Portia and her family was also a message that 'as long as you're remembered, you're never truly dead."