Shirley Bayless

Shirley Bayless sat down with me for Heroes I Know. Sixty minutes. Life and times centered in the 1990s in Fayetteville.

She and Mr. Jim were the nineties for us. Fayetteville for us. The Christian church for us in a lot of ways. I love Miss Shirley.

Twenty-one in the graduating class. Grew up together from infancy. Still close. Still live around. Her brother was in the same class. He was not very smart, she says, so they kept him with her. They did a lot of crazy things.

Jim Bayless. There is never going to be another one. Brilliant. He could do anything. He knew how to talk to people. She still talks about him in the present tense of love.

Love you, Miss Shirley. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.