Day 6 of 28 Days of My Family History - Andrea Denise Gentry - My Cousin

Andrea Denise Gentry, March 4, 1964 - October 2, 2007.   My cousin was definitely that sister I never had. "Denise" was the daughter of the late Aubrey Gentry, Sr. and Octavia Gentry. She was educated in the Baltimore City Public School System and we attended Wes...tern High School together, she graduating a year before me in 1982. It was because of her that I joined her as a member of the Western High School Drill team. She attended Elon College in NC where she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and was given the line name, "Evil-ize". After studying at Elon, she furthered her education by attending Johns Hopkins School of Radiology obtaining a Bachelor of Applied Sciences degree. Denise enjoyed family gatherings and she loved spending time with her children always exposing them to the finer things in life and keeping thhem very active in sporting activities. While Denise was at Elon, we would write letters to each other almost weekly as we had began to get as close as two sisters. We loved sharing our trials and tribulations and the wonderful experiences of raising our children who were close in age. She and I traveled to Tampa Florida one year to our first "Woman Thou Art Loosed" conference and took that time to reflect on life; our past and where we wanted our futures to go. That conference was an awakening for us both. I remember times when I moved into my first apartment and she would come home from school break and we would sit up in my apartment all night long just talking and catching up. She always gave me great advice for various situations, like a sister would and I miss her dearly.  Denise also loved music, especially gospel music and I remember that one of her favorite songs was "I Surrender All."