WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Editor's note: Video is coverage of Macon's celebration of Otis Redding's 80th birthday in 2021.
Louise Redding McClain remembers her late father Otis Redding Sr. She says he worked hard to take care of six children, including two boys, one being the legendary musician Otis Redding Jr.
McClain said she and the family were surprised by the recent discovery of a photo of her father found in a 1955 Robins Air Force Base yearbook. Otis Redding Sr is listed under the Shop Production Control Division.
She said it means a lot to the family to have this memory today. Except for maybe their mom, McClain said no one in the family knew the Base's photo existed.
“Oh, really?” said McClain with surprise and delight in her voice as she spoke to 13WMAZ about her dad’s photo. “I know he worked there when I was in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, and that was in the '50s.”
“It still looks like him,” said McClain as she reflects. “When he died, he was about 54, in his 50s, so he never lived to get old, what we called 'old.' He died right after my brother’s plane crashed, so we lost him -- we lost Otis one year, and lost him the next.”
Roland Leach, Media Operations at Robins Public Affairs Office Robins AFB, said finding a photo of Otis Redding Sr. was exciting. Leach said the Base was not sure the Redding family had a copy of this photo and wanted to make sure they saw it.
McClain said the photo is important, especially for the younger family members who never really got to know their father and grandfather. McClain is the oldest of Redding's children.
“Deborah was born when I graduated from high school. She may remember a lot of things, but certainly not a picture like that,” said McClain.
McClain said sometimes her father would work at night, and even worked at other locations like at Mercer University, but she said his primary source of income was at Robins Air Force Base.
Otis Redding Sr. was still working at the base when he passed in 1968.