NORFOLK, Va. - As civil rights icon John Lewis lies in state in the nation's Capitol, those who knew him best are looking back on his life.
News 3 anchor Beverly Kidd spoke with Wes and Lyn Vann, who knew Congressman Lewis and his wife, Lillian, for more than 40 years. They were with him the night he passed and have been traveling with the motorcade this week.
They shared a side of the Georgia congressman that many didn't see and said that he was hopeful rather than discouraged over the current state of civil rights in the U.S.
"He loved people; he loved the world. He never talked hate... in his private life, he would tell jokes," Wes shared.
Lyn said the late congressman loved to dance, unlike his wife.
“Lillian didn't like to dance. We'd go to the Congressional Black Caucus and they had the mega stars. One year it was Stevie Wonder, and we knew all of Stevie's songs. The snappy ones would come on and I'd have to dance with John," she remembered.
As for his famous phrase, “good trouble,” the Vanns say it came from his mother.
"His mother used to say, ‘Don't get into trouble.’ He talks about getting in ‘good trouble,’ and that’s what he likes about these kids. They know something is not right, and he liked the fact that they saw something and decided to do something."
And one thing’s for sure – they say there will never be another like him.
Lewis died on July 17 after a months-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He will be buried alongside Lillian, who died in 2012, on Thursday in Atlanta.
