Sada Jackson became a mother in 2016, shortly after losing her own mother, Ileana Watson, to breast cancer. 

Photo: Sada Jackson with her mother, Ilena Watson, in October 2014. Courtesy of Sada Jackson.

Years later, Sada was still longing for all the moments they’d never get to share — and thinking about all the questions she never got to ask. So in 2018, she sat down at StoryCorps in Kansas City, Missouri with her mom’s best friend, Angela Morehead-Mugita, to get to know more about who her mom was.

Photo: Sada Jackson (right) at StoryCorps in Kansas City, MO in 2018 with her late-mother’s best friend, Angela Morehead-Mugita. By Savannah Winchester for StoryCorps.

Sada is now a mom of two, and she teaches them about their grandmother whenever she can. She says that all these years later, she can still feel her mom watching after her and her family. 

Top photo: Artwork by Rosalyn Yoon.

Released on September 14th, 2021.