Letter from The Director: me and you be sisters
Wintergreen Executive Director Joanne Gabbin and her sister Doris E. Hunt at the naming ceremony of Gabbin Hall at James Madison University.
I am writing this note at one of the most difficult times in my life. My sister, Doris Elizabeth Hunt, passed away on February 14, 2026, after several months of illness. Doris was a kind, generous, compassionate, gracious, and faithful woman. She was devoted to her family, a loving wife to her husband of 52 years, a devoted mother and grandmother, and a model member of the Church of God in Christ and her Baltimore community. The celebration of her life was held on February 25, 2026, with more than 1000 in attendance at the New Antioch Baptist Church and many hundreds more online.
At the ceremony, I opened my remarks with an epigraph from Lucille Clifton’s “sisters:”
me and you be sisters
we be the same
me and you
coming from the same place...
only where you sing
i poet.
For the last 40 years, she traveled with me to every annual meeting of the College Language Association. It became our sister-time. I would often call upon her to sing a spiritual or gospel song that amplified a point in my presentation. She never refused me. I asked her to open the 1994 Furious Flower Conference, as well as the 2004 Furious Flower Conference, and her soulful performances are now a part of the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s archives. As the First Lady of the Mount Hebron Memorial Church of God in Christ, she was a steadfast partner in her husband’s ministry and “a pillar of strength within the congregation.” Her resonant voice, which reminded me of Mahalia Jackson’s, was often raised in her church and church conventions around the country. It will be missed. However, her sweet and generous spirit will be remembered for a very long time.
I want to thank my Wintergreen Sisters for all the love they showed Doris over the last four decades and for the words of condolences, prayers, healing thoughts, and demonstrations of love that they have shared with me and my family during this time of bereavement.
Doris passed on Heart’s Day – her mother’s birthday and her daughter’s – at the age of 72. Her life was all about love, and her living legacy will continue her love song.
Joanne V. Gabbin
Executive Director
Wintergreen Women Writers Collective
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