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Reese's mother, Nellie Mitchelle Early, died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Reese's father, Richard Early, died in 1959.
Reese had an adoptive daughter, Deloreese Daniels Owens, in 1961. Owens died on March 14, 2002, after complications stemming from pituitary disease. She said about the painful experience, sharing her frustration with the lack of awareness and knowledge of pituitary disorders,
- "When it happened, I thought, 'It's such an odd thing to die from,' because pituitary problems aren't something you hear about. It makes it harder because you don't understand what happened. It seemed so strange and hard to explain. It still is, to be honest."
In 1979, after taping a guest spot for The Tonight Show, she suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm, but made a full recovery after two operations by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Drake at University Hospital in London, Ontario.
In 1983, she married Franklin Thomas Lett, Jr., a concert producer and writer.
In 2002, Reese announced on Larry King Live that she had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. She became a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, traveling around the United States to raise awareness about this disorder.
In 2005, Reese was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball ceremony, along with 25 other women of African-American descent.
Reese was ordained as a minister in 2010, after serving as the senior minister and founder of the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church, an independent "Christian New Thought" congregation, which currently meets at First Lutheran Church (www.firsting.org) in Inglewood, California. In her ministerial work, she is known as the Rev. Dr. Della Reese Lett.
Read more about this topic: Della Reese
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