Florence Henderson, "America's Favorite Mom," of "The Brady Bunch" fame died Thanksgiving Day at age 82. Ms. Henderson, who began her career as a singer, gave a concert at Harford Community College on Mother's Day in 2006. Below is an interview with Ms. Henderson by former Aegis staff member Katie Bennett that was published a few days before the concert.
Carol Brady, from 1970s iconic TV show "The Brady Bunch," is known to some as America's favorite mom, but Florence Henderson is known to all four of her children as their favorite mom.
To share her life of being both a TV mom and a real mom, Henderson will be coming to Harford County to celebrate Mother's Day.
She will be doing a musical performance titled "All the Lives of Me," which will take place Sunday, May 14, at 3 p.m. in the Harford Community College Amoss Center.
This will be the first time Henderson will give this performance. It will consist of the different trials and tribulations that have made up the life of Florence Henderson.
"You'll learn everything you ever wanted to know about me," Henderson said last week in a telephone interview.
Henderson has two boys and two girls of her own who are all grown.
"My proudest achievements in my life," she said of her children.
While she was on "The Brady Bunch," Henderson said her real kids always asked her, "How come you don't scream at those kids on television?"
She laughed, while reminiscing about this question and explained her real children mean so much to her. Henderson said she usually tries to spend Mother's Day with one or all of her four children, but it is hard with her career and with her kids living in different parts of the country.
"You never know where you're going to end up," she said of being in the business she has chosen.
This Mother's Day Henderson will end up in Harford County for the first time, which she is very excited about. She explained her nephew Carl Henderson is a professor at Harford Community College and she is happy to be able to see him on this special day.
"I love him very much," she said.
Carl Henderson contacted Florence Henderson about performing at the college and she said she would absolutely love to.
"I hear it's very beautiful and I expect it will be lovely," Henderson said of Harford County.
Henderson said she was recently having some soup by herself at a restaurant in Los Angeles and a women from Maryland approached her to have a picture taken. She described the woman as a "lovely young lady" and this woman told Henderson she and her mother would attend the show at Harford Community College, with which they were very familiar. She was spreading the word about her performance from all the way in Los Angeles.
"I'm so excited about it," Florence Henderson said about the show.
She said the performance is her way of honoring her mother and all mothers throughout the country. Henderson believes there are mothers all around the world doing amazing things and not being recognized.
This is why Henderson is performing on Mother's Day in Harford County and also doing another event at a hospice in Oxnard, California.
"I love to give back. There are so many people out there doing great work," she said.
A part of the great work Henderson did was "The Brady Bunch," which she said will hopefully never go away. She said people constantly call her Mrs. Brady and ask for hugs.
"It's an incredible gift from a child to a mother or a mother to a child," Henderson said.