(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps. For 45 years, Freddie Wiggins has worked as a custodian at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. That is where he crossed paths with Sarah Hart. Her mother was hospitalized with Lewy body dementia, which affects the brain and movement. At StoryCorps, they remembered the day they met.
SARAH HART: That morning, Mom had lost the ability to speak. So I was walking down a very dark, long hallway, feeling alone and scared. And there you were.
FREDDIE WIGGINS: I did ask you, what's wrong? 'Cause you was crying. I said, well, come in. Let me give you a hug. And I felt the pain that you was going through. I knew I had to do something. So when I got off of work, I came upstairs looking for your mom, and when they rolled her down the hallway, I started singing "My Girl." (Singing) I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
HART: Yes. You held her hand and she locked her eyes with you.
WIGGINS: And then your mama started singing.
HART: Yeah. The nurses were crying. The patient transport person was crying.
WIGGINS: Yeah. So I was, like, dang. What did I do?
HART: Well, Freddie, you found a channel in to her, that frequency that she could still connect with. When you sang to her, it was like nothing else mattered.
After Mom passed away, one of my first thoughts was, I have to call Freddie Wiggins and see if he will sing "Amazing Grace" at her funeral. I need him to sing at her funeral.
WIGGINS: I was so happy to be part of it. And ever since then, we talk, I call, I check on y'all and everything. So you just stuck to me 'cause my mom had dementia, too, and she always put us five kids first. Since then it's time for me to give back, you know, and I try to show some love to the people that I come in contact with.
HART: She would be very pleased looking down on you now, knowing the joy that you spread and the peace that you give to so many people. You have been an angel in my life. You might come to St. Thomas for work every day and then go back up to Heaven every night and then come back every morning. I don't know. But the world is blessed with you in it.
WIGGINS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY GIRL")
THE TEMPTATIONS: (Singing) I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Freddie Wiggins and his friend Sarah Hart for StoryCorps in Nashville, Tennessee. Their interview is archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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