Florence Ballard and her home on Buena Vista

[sup_fan]

there's really very little inside information about what was going on with Flo during this time and who was/wasn't helping her. There have been stories published that Diana attempted to help save her house but things couldn't be worked out.

And people ask why Berry didn't? don't know. maybe he did and we don't know about it.

people should also ask "why didn't Mary help" She certainly had the most contact with Flo during the years post-Supremes. Also around this time, Mary bought and moved into a mansion in Hancock Park so she had some funds - at least enough to have made a payment or two to a bank and have kept Flo's loan current and out of default

Not blaming Mary here. Nor Berry. there comes a certain point where you have to let people live their own lives. Flo certainly held part of the blame for her problems within the group and with her exit. It wasn't solely that Berry or Diana were the evil ones. And so given that troubled history, does someone have a responsibility later to financially help someone out? especially when there had been 0 contact in many years? and flo had never reached out for help either.

[RanRan79]

And so given that troubled history, does someone have a responsibility later to financially help someone out? especially when there had been 0 contact in many years? and flo had never reached out for help either.

In Berry's case, yes, he had a responsibility. His wealth was directly tied to the talent he had at Motown. The argument can be made that without Berry, there is no Supremes. I'll allow that argument, but counter it with the Supremes could have possibly gone to any number of record companies in the country and gotten signed. Would any of those labels have had the kind of goals for the group that Gordy eventually had? Maybe, maybe not. It's all debatable. What I find less debatable is the argument that Gordy could have found any other three singers and accomplished what the Supremes accomplished. Those ladies were unique in so many ways. So in my mind he needed them- and every other singer at Motown- more than they necessarily needed him. With that thinking, every time he checked his account balance he should have said a silent [[or aloud) thank you to God for sending him the Motown stable, especially the Supremes. For him to see any one of them in such a bad financial position and not help is...slimy.

He had no legal obligation to help. I realize that in this world of "self above all else" that morality is often an afterthought, if it's a thought at all, but IMO he had a moral obligation to do something. I would've felt like shit in his shoes if I didn't try to help. Now with that being said, because Gordy has never talked in depth about Flo beyond the surface issue of her "dismissal" from the group, he may very well have done something or tried to do something. We don't know. And maybe it's not our business to know. I do know that in Nicole's IG live interview she said Berry was one of the people who helped Flo's girls when growing up. I imagine that even if he didn't help Flo while she was alive that she would much rather he have helped her girls when she was no longer here. So our judgements of him should be kept to a minimum, if we must judge at all.