“Sophomore year at university was very hard; it was becoming difficult to survive. It was at this point in my life that I read Ayn Rand’s novel ‘The Fountainhead,’ and that was a turning point in my life. The book taught the virtue of individualism. It changed the course of my life philosophically, and I really had to work on myself to become a college student. Soon, I began to make the Dean’s list. As I married, I delved further into Ayn Rand’s teaching, where I discovered Nathaniel Branden who propagated Objectivism. He founded the Nathaniel Branden Institute, for which I became a representative in the Cincinnati area between the periods of 1963 to 1969. I have passed down some of these concepts to my children, particularly the concept of self-reliance.” Another admirable self-improvement step Warren took was a reduction in his weight. “At a point in time, I was grossly overweight. I started exercising and trying to get in better shape. I started a fasting program and lost about 50 pounds. Then after a relapse, I took up another program and lost all the weight down to 140 pounds, which is amazing.” Warren is also concerned about his entire extended family, because of which they celebrate the Hughes Family Reunion each year. “All nine of my siblings started this Hughes Family Reunion. The first of which started in 1972. We host it every year, and a different sibling gets to host each year. Currently, there are only four of us alive, and as we are getting older, we have begun to hand the baton over to the younger generation.” Finally, Warren is keen to keep his family history alive and is currently documenting their family history together with one of his cousins. “I am descended from the famous Elizabeth Hemming, owned at various points in time by three first families of Virginia, including the JeffersonRandolph family. Elizabeth’s daughter, Betty, was the first Hemming to go to Monticello when she was passed down to John Wayles’ daughter, Martha, who got married to Thomas Jefferson. A very respected personality, she was also the last slave to leave Monticello.” 23 The Birthday Journal
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