“I’m a big fan of Patti LaBelle. It’s not just her voice. It’s the positive effect that her songs have on people.

“When I found out she was going to perform near Houston, I was like, I’ve got to get a front row seat. It was my third time seeing her. I wanted to stand out. I wanted a way to say, ‘Hey, me, I’m your biggest fan.’

“She always gets flowers from her fans. So I decided to go above and beyond. I got her this huge bouquet. When I entered the venue, security took the flowers and said they would give them to her. I was a bit disappointed. I wanted her to see me in the front row, and to hand them to her on stage. So that maybe, just maybe, her pinky would touch my pinky.

“When she finished her first song, she stopped the show and said, ‘Where’s Christopher?’ And my jaw just dropped. I’m like, she’s talking about me. Those are my flowers on the piano. So I stood up, and she asked, ‘Why’d you give me all these flowers?’ I was star struck. I just said, ‘Because I love you.’

“When she performs her big hit song, ‘Lady Marmalade,’ she asks for four gentlemen from the crowd to come on stage. I was a little timid. But she straight up asked, ‘Where’s Christopher?’ And I was like, OK, there’s no way that the 3,000 people in here are going to let me just sit this one out. So I went up there with the three other guys.

“When I belted out a note, everybody just went crazy. And she gave me this look like, wow. I thought, OK, if the best singer in the world in my eyes can give me that kind of look, then I must have something going on. I’ll always be humble, but it definitely boosted my confidence.

“Fast forward a couple years to another show, and there I was in the front row again. She always brings five or six flowers that she gives out to people in the crowd. I saw her look at me, she saw my red shirt, and I got one of her flowers. I almost started crying. That was everything to me. It was an experience of a lifetime.”

— Chris Champion

Check out Chris’ music.

Related:

• Singer tries to spread positivity

• ‘I feel like this time, it’s really forever’

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“Through the years we’ve had all sorts of hobbies. We start out with something and then we go nuts. We had exotic birds for a while. Then we raised Dobermans. When my husband was doing over-the-road truck driving, he decided I needed something else to do here at the house. That’s what got us started with plumeria.

“He always liked the way the flowers looked, so we started small and it’s just kept growing. We sell a lot, like at the Plumeria Society shows. People around town know me. I’ll run into someone who will say, ‘You’re the plumeria lady.’ I used to be the bird lady. Then I was the dog lady. Now I guess I’m the plumeria lady.

“It’s fun. I enjoy it. But it’s a lot of work, too. I think this is going to be my last hobby.”

— Elaine Williams

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“I started the garden in 2006 as an effort to help beautify Texas Avenue and its surrounding community, and to educate others about growing organically. It was my belief that if the community could see a living example of what could be done on a small scale, then others would do the same. That is still my belief.

“That first year I planted the entire garden in flowers. Now I grow flowers and vegetables.

“My love of gardening began as a child. I learned so much from my parents and grandparents. I have always had a garden. It connects me to my past, my family and the earth.”

— Noe Tristan

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“For most of my years I’ve been a plant taxonomist. I get hired to identify plants.

“My most interesting work has been in the Big Thicket here in Texas. I have a species list, so I find the plants and write scientific papers on them. I’m working on a big species list right now with a friend of mine in the Beaumont Unit of the Big Thicket.”

What are you most known for in your field?
“Well, I discovered a new species over in the hillside bogs in east Texas. The genus is Rudbeckia. The family is Asteraceae. It’s a sunflower called Rudbeckia Scabrifolia, a roughleaf coneflower. I was the one who recognized the difference from all the others. Since then, I also found it in Louisiana. I wrote a paper and had somebody make a drawing of the plant. But it’s professional journals, so it’s not really well known by the public.

“It’s still fascinating work to me, although I’m not going strong like I used to. I do it mostly by myself. My wife or grandkids, they don’t want to go out with me anymore. These days, it’s more like a hobby. But I plan to keep doing it as long as I can.”

— Larry Brown, 78

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“We recommend going organic. It really works, and it’s harmless to people and animals.

“Everybody wonders why their gardens don’t do well, why they don’t have flowers and fruit. It’s because they’re spraying all this toxic stuff on their plants and trees and shrubs, and they’re killing the bee population. There’s no pollination.

“The last few years, more people are starting to go organic.”

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