Unbeknownst to them, Tiwona and Derrick both attended Blairwood Elementary School in Jefferson Township during the 1975 -1976 school year. Tiwona was a kindergartener and Derrick was in second grade. Tiwona moved to Trotwood and became a student at Shilohview Elementary School, so they never had an opportunity to actually engage with one another during Elementary, Middle or High School years.

Derrick and Tiwona would later meet in college at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio in the fall of 1988. Tiwona, a freshman business major, received assistance from Derrick, a junior business major, with class registration and financial aid. Tiwona not excited about taking “Rita” or the RTA bus to Central State every day, would give Derrick $5.00 a day for a ride to the campus and home. They would lose contact after Tiwona transferred to the University of Dayton in the winter of 1989. They both graduated from their respective University’s and would go on to lead their lives as God designed for the next 30-plus years, Tiwona raising her son as a single mom, and Derrick getting married and providing for his four children and three grandchildren.

Tiwona would later become actively involved in the Dayton Unit of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to support her father, who served as 1st Vice President for 12 years, under the leadership of Derrick. She became interested in working with the NAACP Youth & College Division after beginning her tenure as an educator at Thurgood Marshall High School in the fall of 2016. Due to her diligence, she became the Co-Advisor for Move Foward Thurgood Marshall NAACP High School Chapter in 2019, subsequently becoming the Advisor in 2022.

Demonstrating her commitment to Civil and Human Rights, Derrick asked Tiwona to run as Treasurer of the Dayton Unit NAACP in 2020. She is currently in her second two-year term as treasurer and Derrick is in his eighth two-year term as President.

Derrick learned through her involvement with the Dayton Unit NAACP, that Tiwona enjoyed designing and planting flowerbeds in her yard. He asked Tiwona if she would show him how to create a flowerbed in front of his home, opposite of the flowerbed that is in memory of his late wife, Jean Ann Foward. This project would ignite a friendship that would evolve into an unforeseen romantic relationship.

On February 24, 2023, Derrick proposed to Tiwona after giving his acceptance speech for receiving the NAACP Image Award for Activist of the Year during the 54th NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, California. She thought he was going to thank her for nominating him for the award, but Derrick pulled a ring out of his pocket and bent down on one knee in front of the celebrity-filled audience, and asked for Tiwona’s hand in marriage. The crowd erupted, as a proposal had never been done before at the NAACP Image Awards! Over the next couple of days, celebrities were saying that Derrick has set the bar high and has made it hard for brothers across the Nation, especially in Hollywood.

Tiwona and Derrick will be joined together in holy matrimony on Saturday, June 17,2023 at 4:30 PM in the afternoon at Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Church in Trotwood, Ohio in front of their family and friends.

Q + A

Q + A coming soon!