On Sept. 21, 1945, Billy Graham and Ruth Bell Graham had their first child in Montreat, N.C. Billy wrote of their special new born, Virginia, in his autobiography, Just As I Am.

“That evening, Virginia Leftwich Graham was born into the world, the daughter we would forever call Gigi and who enriched our lives immeasurably.

When I arrived home from Alabama and looked down at the baby in the bassinet that Ruth had trimmed with her wedding veil, I could only repeat over and over, ‘Hello, darling! Hello, precious darling!’

Proud parents that we were, we thought our daughter was perfect, from her shapely head to her pudgy toes. Her eyes were the largest Ruth had ever seen in a baby, and the way Gigi stared wide-eyed at her mother made Ruth think, this child has seen more, knows more, than I.”

Fifty-three years later, Gigi and her mother published a book together about the blessings and challenges of motherhood. In this book, Gigi reflected on how much time her parents had poured into her, and how she would return that love. “Through this experience… I have begun to understand coming ‘full circle.’ Helping to care for my parents is a responsibility and a privilege that I would not trade for anything,” she wrote in Mothers Together.