Most everyone has a special memory of Easter, whether it relates to family, friends, faith, experiences or even a certain cottontail bunny. When I was young, I would get up at 4 a.m. to ride with my dad to Krispy Kreme to get dozens of hot doughnuts for the church reception after sunrise service. The sugary smell of those warm doughnuts remains with me today.
We asked several Richmonders to share their fondest memories of the spring holiday.
Saying Goodbye
Photo courtesy Greg McQuade
Greg McQuade’s calendar has a circle marked around March 31. This Easter will be the 22nd anniversary of the death of his beloved grandmother Anne, known as “Ma,” who passed away on Easter, March 31, 2002, at the age of 87.
“She was the grandmother who helped raise me in Boston,” says McQuade, who produces “Heroes Among Us” and “I Have a Story” for WTVR and anchors the “CBS6 Weekend Morning” show on Saturdays and Sundays. “My mom was a single mom. I was blessed with having two moms.”
McQuade, who moved to Richmond in 2000, was attending his second Easter on Parade when he was in contact with his grandmother for the last time. “She couldn’t speak, but my mom and aunt said she was mouthing words to me on the phone,” he says. “Later that night, I received the call that Ma passed away on Easter night. I was told only the most special individuals are called to heaven on Easter.”
Today, he will attend Easter on Parade again and say a little prayer for Ma. “Most every time I drive down Monument Ave. I think of that day,” he says. “I miss her dearly. I would love to have just one more hour with her.”
Honoring Heroes
Photo courtesy Debbie Johnston
Debbie Johnston, the founder/owner of Serenity First Hospice, grew up in Varina. She remembers going with her sister Wendy and her father to the Glendale National Cemetery for Veterans in the East End. “We would put flags on all the graves,” she says.
Then one Easter, she and Wendy decided to decorate the graves with something different: hard-boiled eggs. “There were a lot of eggs,” she says. “I think it’s especially important to me because last year I lost my dad and sister within six weeks of each. My dad, Richard D. ‘Pappy’ Johnston, was a veteran who served in the Korean War.”
Dyeing and Designing
Photo courtesy Mike Street
Mike Street, format vice president for mainstream hip hop and R&B with Audacy Inc., says decorating eggs used to be his favorite part of Easter prep. “I would wake up and boil them, put color on them, and design them or put stickers on them,” he says. “Decorating the eggs used to be the big thing. Everybody had the opportunity to pick the colors, dye and design them, and put stickers or color on them. It was a family thing.”
Street was fortunate that many of his cousins and other kids lived in his neighborhood. “Back then, your neighbors were your extended family. The grownups would hide the eggs and you would look for them,” he says, adding the eggs were always hidden in a community area. “After they were collected, the eggs were yours to eat. And, whoever collected the most eggs would get a special basket. It’s amazing how stuff like that sticks in your mind.”
On the Avenue
Photo courtesy Rebecca Wilde
Easter on Parade along Monument Ave. is one of Rebecca Wilde’s favorite Easter activities. She loves to go with a friend and stroll up and down the avenue as she watches people and their pets walk by. “I am a chatterbox. I will talk to everybody. I have met so many great people,” says Wilde, co-host of The Morning Mix with Wicker & Wilde on Lite 98.1.
She recalls the time she and a friend were invited into one of the stately homes along the way. “The homeowner was making fresh eggnog. I tried it, and it was the most wonderful stuff I ever had in my life,” she says. “So, I have learned that fresh eggnog is the best thing on earth.”
Savoring the Search
When Sarah Bloom was young, the Easter bunny always came while she and her family were at church. “The Easter bunny would hide our Easter baskets,” says Bloom, the morning anchor at WWBT/NBC 12 On Your Side. “The older you got, the harder it got to find.”
“My parents hid multiple baskets per kid. I don’t remember how many, but say it was eight per kid. I’d found seven, but the eighth was eluding me. We finally found it hanging on one of the panels of the ceiling fan! The [baskets] weren’t super full — one or two things, maybe — but it was really fun to track them down. And we do that with the kids today!”
As an adult with children of her own, Bloom finds something “so special and magical about Easter. It’s more simple. We go to church and then come home and spend time with the kids. We simply enjoy it.”
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