Cicely Tyson “wrapped her hands around mine and pulled me closer to her,” recalls author and artist Chet Jelinski, in this warm memoir of a fan’s face-to-face friendship with the unforgettable leading lady. Unlike many books which popped up online after Tyson’s death in January 2021, the source material for “Meeting Cicely Tyson” is not her autobiography, released just two days before she passed.Rather, Chet Jelinski writes from their personal relationship. A Tyson fan since 1972, he was privileged to interact with Ms. Tyson in a new way—in person, rather than just on the screen—between the years of 2002-2012, at events at the School which bears her name.In this book, Chet shares what he learned about the often secretive and mysterious Ms. Tyson. He also includes his personal insights about several of her most popular movies, which meant all the more to him after he met the actor and realized she was only playing herself in those positive roles.The detailed records he kept of each meeting, including video tapes of her remarks at some events, provide depth and assure accuracy far beyond what might be found in other “Cicely Tyson” books.In addition, “Meeting Cicely Tyson” contains personal photographs, plus prints of Chet’s portraits of Ms. Tyson (available only in this book) that pleased her so much that she had one prominently displayed in the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts. Cicely Tyson knew Chet Jelinski by name and he came to know her on a level most fans can scarcely imagine. Their personal interactions gave him many positive insights into her character and inspired him creatively, in both his artwork and his writing.“Meeting Cicely Tyson” ends with a brief review of Tyson’s own autobiography, “Just as I Am,” through which Chet got to “meet” her in yet another way, along with the rest of the world. He found her autobiography “troubling on some levels,” and far less satisfying than meeting Cicely Tyson in person, he says. You, too, can enjoy “Meeting Cicely Tyson” personally, through this insightful book. Chapter 1 - Meeting Cicely Tyson - Would her “legend” be more rewarding than “she” was? … she was exactly the person I thought she was. She was real. She was refreshing. She was fair, and I was overwhelmingly impressed.Chapter 2 - “A Man Called Adam” - Cicely Tyson’s movie career really began with this film… watched through that “lens,” Adam’s trumpet at the outset almost seems to announce her “arrival” into the movie world.Chapter 3 – “Sounder” - She knew this was The Role that she was born to play. Director Martin Ritt told her she was ‘too young, too pretty and too sexy’ for the part … However, Irrepressible Cicely would accept nothing less than the lead...Chapter 4 – “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” - Years later, Ms. Tyson added, “I would’ve taken the Jane Pittman role if it was written on toilet paper and produced in the basement of a basement.”Chapter 5 – “A Woman Called Moses” – first Cicely was Wilma Rudolph’s mother, and then she was Martin Luther King’s wife, and now she took on the role of the long deceased, but deeply revered, heroine named Harriet Ross Tubman.Chapter 6 – Ms. Tyson and Madea - She stood up and greeted me by name, and I, in turn, bowed my head down so she could hear me over the din of the crowd in the auditorium. “Ms. Tyson, did you know that Madea is #1 again?” I asked her. She grasped my hands and said, “Again? AGAIN?” She literally began to jump up and down squealing like a happy child, her big brown eyes filled with delight.Chapter 7 – The Matriarch and Her Children - Ms. Tyson was always referred to as the “Matriarch” of her school and, for those times I went there to visit, I felt like one of them. In 2008 I wrote this poem…