Tiffany Williams didn’t think she would be a mother. When she was about 17, she became pregnant but lost the baby.
After that, she was told she wouldn’t be able to sustain a healthy pregnancy in the future, but about eight years later, she found out that wasn’t true. DeAndre, her only child, was born Sept. 29, 1997 in Philadelphia and raised in Mount Airy.
“I carried DeAndre to term, and he changed my life,” Tiffany said. “He was my best friend.”
In early 2015, DeAndre had so much to look forward to. A senior at Eastern University Academy Charter School in East Falls, he was planning on starting college in the fall. But he would never get the chance.
DeAndre asked Tiffany for permission to visit a friend in North Philadelphia on Jan. 23, 2015. As he walked down the sidewalk in the 2100 block of North Lambert Street, he was shot and killed. He was 17 years old.
“I want people to remember his smile,” Tiffany said. “He had the most beautiful smile and dimples ever. I want them to remember him as the kind, considerate, loving happy person that he was all the time. All the time.”
Tiffany and DeAndre had an especially tight bond. Her husband died when DeAndre was 5 months old, so it was always just the two of them, mother and son.
“I raised him the same way my dad raised us,” she said. “School was everything. You had to go to school, and you had to do good while in school.”
Tiffany worked two jobs to be able to provide for DeAndre, and she always rewarded him for good grades. He understood that in order to get what he wanted, he had to earn it.
Tiffany’s dream was for DeAndre to go to college, something she didn’t get to do herself. His hard work paid off, and he had received acceptance letters from several colleges, including Eastern University. He planned to enroll for the fall 2015 semester.
Although DeAndre wasn’t sure what he wanted to study, he was interested in business and entrepreneurship, Tiffany said, and wanted to work for himself.
DeAndre and Tiffany left the house at the same time every morning, and they had a special morning ritual.
“We’d take selfies every morning, then he’d walk me to my car, give me a kiss and tell me to have a good day, and I’d go to work and he’d go to school.”
DeAndre loved to write poetry, and eventually turned his poems into music. He got together with some friends at school and formed a hip hop group and performed in talent shows. He was also a member of a young men’s leadership club at his high school, which he loved.
After his death, his high school established the DeAndre Bing Think Big Scholarship, which awards five scholarships of $1,000 to students who are judged to have the best passion projects. In addition, Tiffany and her family raise another $1,000 every year to allow one more student to receive a scholarship.
Tiffany attends Eastern University Academy Charter School’s graduation every year and presents the scholarships to the recipients.
“It feels good. It feels so good,” she said. “My son’s name is living on. That’s how he would want it.”
DeAndre would be 20 now, in the midst of his college studies. Every year on the anniversary of his death, Tiffany holds a candelight vigil in his memory at the Lawncrest Recreational Center.
“All of his friends, his teachers from his school, his principal, all of my family — everyone comes out,” she said. “We talk about the fun things that we miss, we talk, we cry, we laugh.”
No arrests have been made in his homicide, although a person of interest has been identified. A witness has refused to give a statement, which has hindered the investigation.
“They took everything from me,” she said. “I will never be a grandmother, I will never see my son get married. I’ll never see him walk down the aisle.”
A reward of up to $20,000 is available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible. Anyone with information can make an anonymous tip to the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
DeAndre is laid to rest at Northwood Cemetery in West Oak Lane.
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