“Yesterday, with the family by her bedside, I had the sacred honor of witnessing the responsible man in my life, taking his last breath,” Oprah said in a tribute to her father shared on Instagram. “We heard Peace coming into the room as she passed.”
A tribute written to Oprah Daily, Oprah’s lifestyle, said Oprah was able to spend time with her father in Nashville during her final weeks.
On July 4, Vernon was surprised with a “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Celebration” and a barbecue in the backyard, where he was surrounded by friends and loved ones.
The celebration was a way to give her father her “flowers while she’s still good enough to smell them,” Oprah said in a previous post.
During the celebration, Oprah’s friend and gospel singer Wintley Phipps sang for him. “She felt love and reveled in him until she could no longer speak,” he wrote.
Vernon was a well-known barber in his community and served on Metro Nashville Council for 16 years.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Vernon Winfrey. Vernon served on the Metro Council for 16 years and dedicated his life to the entrepreneurship, barbering and mentoring of young people in the community,” said the Nashville Mayor John Cooper on Twitter. “An army veteran and deacon, he leaves behind a legacy of service.” Oprah’s mother, Vernita Lee, died in 2018 at the age of 83. Lee was born in Mississippi and gave birth to Winfrey when she was a young woman. Lee and Vernon never married.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.