BY: Walker
Published 4 years ago
You may remember a viral story from 2016 where a white woman she accidentally invited a black boy to her Thanksgiving celebration instead of her grandson.
via: Complex
After 63-year-old grandma Wanda Dench accidentally invited now 21-year-old Jamal Hinton to her family’s Thanksgiving dinner instead of her actual grandson back in 2016, the young man and her family have made it a tradition now to always share the holiday together. This year’s celebration is a little different, however, after the passing of Wanda’s husband due to COVID-19.
It may be a little early, but Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without Wanda & Jamal.
In 2016 they went viral when she accidentally texted him instead of her real grandson.
But this year they honor Wanda’s husband Lonnie, who passed from COVID. Their story tonight ?? #azfamily pic.twitter.com/kRl9mjgCPs
— Briana Whitney (@BrianaWhitney) November 21, 2020
Wanda’s family and Jamal honored Lonnie Dench after he passed away from COVID earlier this year. Wanda and Lonnie were married for 41 years and both experienced symptoms from COVID at the same time, but while Wanda’s health improved, Lonnie’s didn’t. After he passed away, tributes started pouring in on social media as “RIP Lonnie” began trending.
For the first time since her husband Lonnie died of COVID-19, Wanda Dench sits down for an interview.
Wanda is the viral "Thanksgiving grandma" who sent the mistaken text to @kingjamal08 in 2016. Now, Jamal has made all the difference helping her heal??https://t.co/5wLyW51qCE pic.twitter.com/hMobqOaKYG
— Briana Whitney (@BrianaWhitney) May 21, 2020
Wanda and Jamal have celebrated Thanksgiving together every year since 2016 after the two went viral for the initial mix-up.
Thanksgiving isn’t going to be the same anymore but we will make the best of it ?
— Jamal Hinton (@Jamalhinton12) October 9, 2020
The holidays can be a hard time of year for a lot of people but especially this year with over 250,000 losing their lives to Covid. It’s nice to see some good happening.
