Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir »

At age eight, Victoria Rowell won a Ford Foundation grant to study ballet and later went on to train and dance professionally under the auspices of the American Ballet Theatre, Twyla Tharp Workshop, and the Juilliard School before becoming an actress. She is the founder of the Rowell Foster Children Positive Plan, which provides scholarships in the arts and education to foster youth, and serves as national spokesperson for the Annie E. Casey Foundation/Casey Family Services.

Unlike so many children who fall through the cracks of the overburdened foster care system, Rowells experience was nothing short of miraculous—thanks to several extraordinary women who stepped forward to give Rowell the love and guidance she needed to succeed. Unabridged. 1 MP3.

The Washington Post - Amy Alexander

The Women Who Raised Me is a "quilt," Rowell writes, "and each woman gave me a piece of herself to sew together, to make me whole." Likely due to the "can-do Mainers" who gave Rowell her start, the author's thorough exploration of her life within and without the system is an honest, persuasive testament to her strength, and to that system's potential.

Prologue: The Viewing     1
Grandmothers, Mothers, Aunts (1959-1968)
Bertha C. Taylor     17
Agatha Wooten Armstead     39
The Wooten Sisters & the Armstead Daughters     80
Mentors, Fosterers, Grande Dames (1968-1983)
Esther Brooks     107
Rosa Turner & Barbara Sterling ... & Linda Webb & Carol Jordan     144
Sylvia Pasik Silverman     177
Valentina Pereyaslavec & Paulina Ruvinska Dichter     195
Dorothy & Agatha     230
Sisters (1983-Present)
Millie Spencer & Irene Kearney     249
The Sisters Who Taught Me     279
Dolores Marsalis & LaTanya Richardson Jackson     306
Vicki Lynn Bevan Sawyer Collins Rowell     317
Gratitudes     325
Resources     327