Most days when Markylena Tolbert-Wydman leaves her job as a counselor at the Cancer Centers of the Carolinas, she says, “I’ll see you tomorrow unless Oprah calls.”
She Tivos the show every day and watches with her husband.
Winfrey has inspired her to do community service.
She is an Ultimate Fan.
Officially.
Tolbert-Wydman and her friend and co-worker Amy Dodds were among the 300 Ultimate Fans who attended the taping of Oprah’s final season premiere, which aired Monday. These are the folks who will spend 10 days in Australia with Oprah in December.
A couple of months ago, Dodds was home from work and watched the show. She heard that Winfrey was looking for her ultimate fans. Dodds decided to write about her friend and what Oprah has meant to her through the years.
Oprah has inspired Tolbert-Wydman, especially to do things for others, including early reading programs, serving at the Community Food Bank and as an election commissioner. Tolbert-Wydman is also a lay speaker for the Methodist Church.
Dodds dashed off an e-mail and then someone from the show called. They seemed interested because Dodds was writing on behalf of a friend, not herself.
They asked what Tolbert-Wyndham would do if she were selected.
“She would flip out and she did,” said Dodds.
Once Dodds got the official call inviting her and Tolbert-Wydman to the show, she called a meeting at work.
“You know how you always say if Oprah calls,” Dodds told her friend. “Well Oprah called.”
“I did my hallelujah dance,” Tolbert-Wydman said. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
When they arrived at the show on Sept. 9, they thought it was just a regular show, but in talking to others they got the idea these were the ultimate fans.
“People were so nice, so friendly I said it’s like we were in the South,” Tolbert-Wydman said.
She said she was stunned when she saw her hero walk onto the stage.
“I felt my spirit lift out of my body and it was floating in the air,” Tolbert-Wydman said.
Toward the end of the show, Winfrey brought up the idea of a trip. Philadelphia or New York, perhaps. Los Angeles. But then she said this was her last season and she needed to do something bigger.
“So I started to think about where would I most want to go,” Winfrey said. “Maybe I should take you all with me to the other side of the world.”
The audience members started screaming. Some cried.
“We’re going to Australia,” Winfrey shouted.
Dodds said she and Tolbert-Wydman screamed so much they lost their voices.
“We just got our voices back a couple of days ago,” Tolbert-Wydman said.
And then they came home and couldn’t tell anybody anything until the show aired on Monday.
“My husband said ‘you can tell me. I’m your husband.’ It was very hard to keep a secret like that,” Dodds said.
Reuters reported that the $2.8 million cost of the trip would be paid by the federal and state New South Wales governments to boost tourism.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson told the wire service it’s worth it. Some 40 million Americans watch the show.
Winfrey – Dodds and Tolbert-Wyndman in tow – will be in Australia for eight days and seven nights. At least two episodes of Winfrey’s show will be taped, including one on Dec. 14 at the Sydney Opera House.
Tolbert-Wydman said she hasn’t actually met Winfrey but understands they’ll be spending a lot of time with her on the trip.
Asked whether she intends to slip Winfrey her resume, Tolbert-Wydman said, “I will not but if the good Lord wills that then OK.”
Tags: fan, Lyn Riddle, Oprah
