BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Last Mother's Day, Garnell Whitfield built a flower box for his mother Ruth Whitfield just days before her tragic death. It has sat empty in Ruth Whitfield's backyard with nothing planted inside.
"I spent the entire day here in the yard with my mom," said Garnell Whitfield. "I came back on May 14 that morning at about 7:30, put more dirt in the box, and went inside and knocked on the door. She didn't answer."
That afternoon Garnell and his wife came back home from shopping and were told by a relative that something was happening at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue. Garnell called his mother, but couldn't get a hold of her. He then went by her house, but her car wasn't there.
Garnell, the former Buffalo Fire Commissioner, headed to the fire station on Kensington Avenue. He said he then got an escort and walked the scene to later find his mother's car there He hoped his mother was one of the people evacuated from Tops, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
"I never saw her again," said Garnell.
Two weeks later at Ruth Whitfield's funeral service, Garnell Whitfield spoke in front of hundreds, including Vice President Kamala Harris, and mentioned the flower box in his speech.
"She wasn't trying to grow seeds in that box, she had been tending her seeds all of her life. She was taking care of us her whole life."
Ruth Whitfield supported her four children every day, never missing them play football or cheer. The Whitfield matriarch supported her family on the $50 per week that her husband earned as an electrician.
"We were her seeds," explained Garnell.
One year later, 7 News' Michael Schwartz met with Garnell at his mother's house to get a glimpse of the flower box that sat empty with dirt for the past year.
7 News donated colorful flowers to fill the flower bed for the first time. Whitfield and Schwartz planted white and bright orange lilies, Ruth Whitfield's favorite flower.
"What kind of mother was she growing up?" asked Schwartz.
"She was not afraid. She was not awed by anybody," said Garnell about his mother. "She had a faith in God that allowed her to see herself as a child of God and deserving of, obviously, his blessing. So everybody else, she demanded respect. You had to call her Mrs. Whitfield, no matter who it was."
Mrs. Whitfield is also remembered as classy, creative, artsy, fashionable, and loving to her grandchildren, four children, and husband of 68 years.
"He's doing all right," said Garnell about his father. "She was his caretaker literally daily. So we're coming up on a year now that he's done without her care. We can't take the place, you know. So I'm sure it's not easy for him either."
This Mother's Day falls on May 14, the one-year mark of the mass shooting that killed Ruth Whitfield.
"I trust God. He did not make mistakes, and I believe she's in his presence," said Garnell. "I believe she's in his presence, and I believe that not only did her murderer serve as a tool that our creator used to bring my mother home, but he also used him to get us to get up and to get involved and to do something about our condition and about this world."
When asked how Garnell will honor his mother on Mother's Day, he said every day is Mother's Day.
"I mean, it's the fact that I'm standing here talking to you," said Garnell. "That's a sign of the work that my mother did to raise me, to raise us."
