Daunte culpepper mother, A love of children and a willingness to help others were the defining traits of Emma Culpepper. She raised at least 15 kids, none of whom were hers, biologically speaking. One was Daunte Culpepper, who found stardom on the football field but never forgot the woman who took him into her arms when he was just 1 day old.
"She was an angel, not only to me but to everyone she came in contact with, and she was always on a mission to help people," the NFL quarterback said Sunday. "If not for her I don't know where I'd be."
Ms. Culpepper died Saturday. She was 92. An exact cause of death wasn't immediately announced. Daunte Culpepper said his adoptive mother, known to many as either "Miss Emma" or "Aunt Dolly," had developed Alzheimer's disease in recent years.
Daunte Culpepper, who was in Fort Lauderdale when his mother died, said several family members were expected to arrive in Ocala by late Sunday afternoon. He expects funeral arrangements to be finalized today.
Ms. Culpepper was born on the outskirts of Ocala in 1914. Bertha Mae Bouie, of Ocala, met her when they both lived in the same neighborhood near the then-Howard High School campus. Bouie remembers they were not allowed to socialize like the other girls.
"We were raised strict and had to go to school and church. We became good friends, but everyone loved Emma because she was so nice and friendly," Bouie said Sunday. "Everyone would always go to visit whenever she was sick because she was a lovable person."
Bouie said Ms. Culpepper's soft speaking voice, "like that of a baby," gave way to a fine alto singing voice in the choir at Greater Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church.
"I've lost a good friend. I've always been there for her and likewise. She was like a sister to me ... I am really going to miss her ... I already do," Bouie said.
Ms. Culpepper lived with her husband, John, in west Ocala. They never had children of their own, but always opened their home, when necessary, to raise children of relatives.
"Every time we said, 'Let's have a baby,' they'd hand us another child," she told the Star-Banner in 2001. "We didn't have time to have one of our own. I walked away from my own to help someone else, but I'm glad I did."
A nephew, Nathaniel Lewis, was one of those kids. He remembers being either 5 or 6 when he and his three younger siblings went to live at the Culpepper house.
"She took us all in and was like a mother to us. She meant everything to us," Lewis said Sunday. "Her loss is a great one."
He said she never spared the rod when it came to discipline. "She was firm, but we knew she loved us."
Daunte came into her life in 1977. He was born to an unwed mother whom Ms. Culpepper met at her workplace, a youth delinquency school in Ocala. She later adopted Daunte.
He was a star athlete at Vanguard High School, the University of Central Florida and then the NFL. But at home, Daunte Culpepper minded his mother and accepted her guidance.
"She always told me to treat people like you want to be treated and to be the best you can be," he said. "And she raised me the old school way .Ê.Ê. with good common sense values, and that is how I'm raising my children today."
One of the first things the quarterback did when he made the pros was buy his mother a house in Westbury, off Shady Road. "All I know is, Daunte gave me the keys and said, 'Here's your house,'Ê" she told the Star-Banner in January 2001, after she moved in. "He picked it out himself. It's comfortable here now. I didn't ever think I'd have what I have here."
