HOUSTON -- A Houston woman reflected on how Ron Stone lifted her spirits in some of her most difficult times.

Angela Wrigglesworth's stories about Stone started when she was 5 years old at the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. She was missing her front teeth. She was crying. She was scared and about to go on TV.

"Ron walked over, and literally was my first time to ever see him in person, and he got down on my level and he asked me what was wrong," Wrigglesworth said. "And my muffled speech, with tears running down my face, I told him that I was embarrassed to go on camera because of my teeth. He looked at me and said, 'Sweetie, I do it all the time!' He reached into his mouth and he pulled out his front teeth and smiled at me with this toothless grin and really taught me, that day, the power of the smile."

Her smile gave way to tears Tuesday when she found out that the man she called "Uncle Ron" had died of cancer. She said she will always remember the man who lifted her.

Wrigglesworth said, "One year, I had a surgery and I couldn't get out of bed. (I) was very disappointed that I couldn't be on the telethon. Ron flew a helicopter out to my house and interviewed me from my room. He made me feel very special."

Wrigglesworth was the Texas state poster child for MDA for two years. She is now a third grade teacher in the Klein Independent School District and a graduate student at the University of St. Thomas.