La Quinta Resident Remembers Michael

Michael Jackson

Yesterday, family, friends, and fans paid tribute to Michael Jackson at his much publicized memorial service in Los Angeles.  Due to Jackson’s legendary popularity, the Staples Center was used but even that was not large enough to safely hold all of Jackson’s fans.  Because of this, a ticket lottery was set in place giving nearly 9,000 people the honor of attending the service.

After the outpouring of emotion that the King of Pop’s death brought, organizers knew that there would be huge security and traffic issues if they did not televise the event.  Most people heeded the warnings and stayed home to watch the coverage.

One person who could not bring himself to watch the service was La Quinta resident Eddie Gilreath who worked with Jackson early in the singer’s career.  Gilreath worked at Motown Records when the Jackson 5 first signed with the label and described Michael, only 10 years old at the time, as having difficulty comprehending his own fame.

Gilreath prefers to remember the good times that he had with young Michael and the other Jackson 5 members than watch the current sadness of the service.  Gilreath has only fond memories of young Michael who he considered to be a good person that genuinely loved children throughout his entire life.