Explain in one sentence what it is you do.

I am at the University of Illinois as a campus and community affairs specialist and adjunct instructor in African-American studies and the Office of Minority Student Affairs, teaching classes on African-American sacred music; and I direct the Canaan Baptist Church adult choir and St. Luke's Christian Methodist Episcopal New Life Choir.

What time do you typically get up? And what do you do the first hour of the morning:

It varies between 4 a.m. or 6 a.m. I do my morning meditation: read the Bible and pray for family, friends, my job, my bosses, everything.

What did you have for lunch today? Where? Who with?

I had a salad that had some kind of steak on it at the Urbana Country Club with fellow members of the Urbana Rotary Club.

What is your best high school memory?

When I was going to high school at T.W. Daniel in Crossett, Ark., I won the Georgia Pacific Paper Corporation scholarship that paid everything, including spending money, to the Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College in Pine Bluff (now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).

Tell me about your favorite pair of shoes.

When I went to the inauguration, a bought a pair of shoes at Bergner's that was originally $65 to $85, but I got them for $12 – a blessing. They were the best walking shoes I've worn anywhere. I walked for nine hours that day and they were the salvation of my feet. They are kind of like a boot style, with a moderately thick sole. They've gotten worn, but you can't see it so I still wear them.

What's a perfect Sunday afternoon include?

Resting between (church) services. I pray with deacons and the pastor at 7:30 a.m. teach Sunday school at 8:30 a.m. and go to worship services at 9:25 and 11 a.m., then Sunday evening services, so I take a much-needed nap in between.

Was there one book you read as a child that you still cherish? Own? Read?

I've read the Bible since I was a child. I was also a great reader of famous Americans, both black and white. I loved the stories of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.

Where on earth are you dying to go?

I've never taken my wife to Paris, and I would love to do that. We've been married 43 years. Maybe my (three) children can save up and give us that trip for our 50th.

Tell me about your favorite pet.

Usually, I don't like animals. When I was a little boy, my father had a hunting dog named Sport, but another dog bit me when I was a child visiting my grandparents. I had to go to the hospital. I've never allowed animals in my house.

Have you discovered as you matured that you are becoming like one of your parents? Which one and how?

I think I'm becoming more and more like my father. He taught me how to handle stress and I'm thankful for that. Like him, I try not to act impulsively. He could weigh things out and wait things out.

What would you order for your last meal?

My wife's chicken and organic cornbread dressing; regular corn bread on the side; cranberry sauce; turnip greens, she makes the best; and she's real good with mashed potatoes; sliced fresh tomatoes; and her banana pudding.

What can you NOT live without?

Jesus.

Who do you have on your iPod?

I don't have an iPod. I still use cassette tapes and CDs with mostly Gospel music on them.

What's the happiest memory of your life?

When my wife said "I do." I proposed to her, when she was visiting us, in my mother's kitchen. She said "yes" right away.

If you could host a dinner party with three living persons, what three would you invite?

Jesus, because I believe he's alive: and all the Obama family, the mother-in-law, too, because she must be wonderful like mine, who lived with us.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

My father reminding me of the importance of being faithful as a musician in church. He said "God does not need you, but you need God." He hated for me to be late because he was the choir director. Today, people never have to wonder if I'll be at church.

What's your best piece of advice?

Appreciate your family.

What was your first job and how much did you make an hour?

My first real job was working with a lady. I used to cut her grass and pull weeds out of her flowers for 50 cents an hour. I thought, "One day I'm going to have my own house and make sure it looks beautiful."

That lady was one of my references for the scholarship. She wrote: "The hardest job I gave Willie Summerville was to burn magazines. He would try to scan them all before he dumped them in the trash, so I started saving them for him." My dad made only $40 a week to support a family of seven and we couldn't afford subscriptions.

Her husband was an executive at Georgia Pacific. He passed away before the scholarship came up, but I think her letter put me over the top.

What was a pivotal decision in your career?

To not take a job teaching at Tuskegee University (in Alabama) in 1967.

I had come here (to the UI) playing the tuba with the Marching Illini and as a graduate student for my master's degree in teaching music. Robert Earl Thomas told me not to leave because I would be a good teacher here.

I was an itinerant elementary music teacher at Champaign's Robeson, Marquette and Bottenfield schools from 1967 to 1970, at (the former) Brookens Junior High School, Urbana, from 1970 to 1980, at Urbana Junior High School from 1980 to 1990 and Urbana High School, 1990 to 2005, when I retired.

Do you have a bad habit? What is it?

Eating too many sweets because I'm diabetic.

How do you handle a stressful situation?

Weighing things out and waiting things out, like my father told me. It's from a Biblical proverb: "Be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath."