By Stephanie Warsmith, Rick Armon and John Higgins, Akron Beacon Journal –
AKRON, Ohio — The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his son have stopped at Ann’s Place. So have several professional football players.
For Josephine “Ann” Harris, however, none came close to President Barack Obama visiting her West Akron restaurant. He was her hero.
(PHOTO: Ann Harris, 71, owner of Ann’s Place 24-Hour Restaurant, in Akron, Ohio, where President Obama dropped by for breakfast on his bus tour on Friday, July 6, 2012. Ann Harris said, “the President said his grandmother’s name was Ann as he held her hand.” Harris was taken to the hospital following Obama’s visit where she later died)
“You know it’s great,” Harris, 70, said Friday morning, shortly after Obama left her family-owned restaurant on South Hawkins Avenue.
Harris, who didn’t know Obama planned to visit until earlier that morning, sat at a booth with a wet towel around her neck.
“He treated us like one of the brothers,” she said. “He hugged all of us and … got his picture taken with all of us.”
Within hours of Obama’s visit, Harris, who had been ill for some time, complained of fatigue and a tingling feeling. She was rushed to Akron General Medical Center, where she died about 11:15 a.m., according to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Her family members and customers, saddened by her death, were pleased she was able to meet the president.
“I’m sure this was her highlight,” said Frankie Adkins, Harris’ sister, who lives in Tulsa, Okla., and had heard about her sister’s sudden death from family members. “She loved Obama.”
The president’s campaign offered condolences to the Harris family.
“As a small-business owner, a mother, a sister, a grandmother, a great-grandmother and friend of many throughout the community, Ann led an exceptional life and will be missed by all who knew her,” Greg Schultz, the Ohio director of Obama’s campaign, said in an emailed statement. “Ann and her family are in our thoughts and prayers.”
Obama’s trip to Ann’s Place was his first stop in the second day of a bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania. He made campaign stops Thursday in the Ohio cities of Toledo, Sandusky and Parma, then stayed overnight at the Hilton in Fairlawn, Ohio. He concluded his tour Friday with an unannounced trip to a Boardman manufacturing plant and public events at an elementary school in the Youngstown area then at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Obama’s motorcade arrived at Ann’s Place about 8:30 a.m.
“What’s going on?” he asked after bounding off his campaign bus and entering the small diner-style establishment.
Obama ordered two eggs over easy, bacon, wheat toast, orange juice and water. At the suggestion of waitress Toni Watkins, who has worked at Ann’s Place for 23 years, he added grits.
It was his second breakfast of the day; he had ordered salmon and sea bass from the Hilton.
Obama went around the restaurant, shaking hands and greeting each customer.
“Keep up the good work,” one customer called out.
“Thanks for joining me,” Obama said, as he sat at the counter with three Goodyear workers who were invited to dine with him.
Rick Nixon, a 20-year Goodyear employee, talked trade and tariffs with Obama, but also discussed the Fourth of July and their families. When Nixon mentioned his son is getting married Saturday, Obama wrote a note to the couple that read: “To Lance and Erica, I wish you a lifetime of happiness. Congratulations. —Barack Obama”
Harris had no idea Obama would make a stop at her small diner, which she had owned for about 30 years. Her daughter came and picked her up, and they hurried to the restaurant.
Harris and Obama hugged in the parking lot.
Wilma Parsons, Harris’ daughter, said they plan to enlarge a photo of the family with Obama and put it on display at the restaurant.
“Because that is something special,” Parsons said.
She received a phone call from the president expressing his condolences Friday afternoon.
Obama’s was the diner’s first presidential visit, though other notable people have visited over the years.
“None of the other ones came in 30 years,” Harris said of past presidents. “We was happy for him to choose us for breakfast.”
