WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — If you know Lady Gilmore, you know she loves children. She affectionately calls them her babies. At her Follow Your Dreams Day Care Palace, the children are treated like royalty and she loves to see them grow.
"When they first come, on the first day, I say 'Peace and good day, my prince and princess.' Just to see the joy that they want to see me and be with me," said Lady Gilmore.
For the past three decades, she has cared for children in her day care and anywhere she sees a child in need.
"I look and see these two children with no shoes on and no socks. I heard her say I’m hungry. That did it. So I hollered out the window, 'I want you to get in the car, go to McDonald’s and I’ll meet you there.' They told me they hadn’t eaten in three days. So I let them eat," said Lady Gilmore.
On the day she closed her day care, women in the community, whom she calls her daughters, celebrated her by sharing flowers, gifts and words to illustrate how special she is to them.
"Community, spiritual, giving and love. She is a lot of the reason why I am successful today, said business owner Ariane Kirkpatrick. "I love her immensely."
"There is people like Lady Gilmore that help us to keep it together on our weary days. On our discouraged days, we can call Lady Gilmore," said Derellya "Lady D" Freeman, a radio/podcast host.
"Lady Gilmore is a mother to the motherless. She is God-given. She has been my mother since my mother passed in 2008," said Khalilah Harris
Even the children who love to sit at her feet shared warm thoughts of love.
"It's a gift for Lady Gillmore for taking care of me and my mother," said Mireya.
"She's like positive around me. She makes me feel kinder, and she gives people compliments, making them feel nice," said Amiya.
Lady Gilmore is a woman of faith and openly professes her love for God. Nobody knows that better than her pastor.
"We never had a disagreement. We never had no argument. Just peace and good day all the time," said Pastor Harris.
Lady Gilmore has done so much for so many. Deciding to close her day care after her husband died was tough, but she told 3News' Danita Harris that there was more she needed to do.
"We have the organization Youth Entrepreneurs On the Rise, and I wanted to put more time into youth," said Lady Gilmore. "We have an organization titled Widow to Widow. So we’re going to be speaking throughout the city, encouraging other widows. The pain we feel, but how we had to pull ourselves together to go on and be what our husbands want us to be."