Testify
Joi to Joy: A Journey to healing
Eddie Price and his daughter, Aisha, at her wedding. Price’s youngest daughter, Joi, (right) was killed in a car accident 13 years ago.
By Eddie Price Jr.
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the Winter 2012 issue of
The Well Magazine.
I
t was April 22, 2002.
It was on a Monday— the hardest most stressful day
in my work world as the manager of the Illinois Department of Human Services Office of the Inspector General
Hotline in Springfield. The 24-hour hotline only had emergency staff on call through the weekend and Monday’s challenge was compacting the two-day backlog from the weekend
into a third day of calls from citizens reporting potential abuse
and neglect of adults.
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The Well Magazine Fall/Winter 2015
I knew no end time for my day, but leaving by 6:30 in the evening
was a good day. April 22 was a good day and I went to the Y for a
workout before going home for dinner. I got home a little after 8:30
p.m., hungry but less stressed from the workout. As I came in my
phone was ringing and the light message was blinking.
I heard the voice of my friend and spiritual brother, Rev. Bobbie
Timms. In as calm a voice as you would want to hear anything,
Timms said, “Brother Price, Joi has been in an accident and is at the
University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.”
When I called him back, I could hear my former wife, Mary, Joi’s
mother crying in the background and I asked what he knew about