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Does Oprah Winfrey have devoted local fans? Please. Do you even have to ask?

Tears were shed, both on the screen and in the audience.

"You and the show have been the great love of my life," Winfrey said in her final episode, which she labeled her "love letter" to fans.

And Utah faithful at the Clark Planetarium were feeling the love. They watched in rapt attention as a giant version of the TV host towered over them on an IMAX screen. In her 4,561st and final show, the "Queen of Daytime TV" delivered a sermon expounding on her beliefs — including God.

Winfrey thanked "my team and Jesus. Because nothing but the hand of God has made this possible for me."

Before the show, Elizabeth Metcalf, of Holladay, a fan since childhood, said her family has "been crying for days."

"I'm very sad," she said. "I watched it with [my] grandma and my sister, and it bonded us. My sister and I called Oprah 'Auntie O.' "

Wanda Powless and Debbie Riddle drove 10 hours from Klamath Falls, Ore., to share the experience.

"We left work yesterday, got in the car and drove," Powless said. "And as soon as it's over, we're driving straight back."

"We've been watching for a long time," said Riddle, who entered KUTV's contest to win tickets for the event and was surprised when a representative of Channel 2 called and told her she'd won. "She [the woman who called] said, 'Oh, you'll probably want to give the tickets away,' " Riddle said. "I said, 'No, I'm coming!' "

The surprise in the final episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was that there were no surprises. After taping the two previous shows at Chicago's United Center with huge stars and 20,000 audience members, Winfrey's last episode was decidedly different. It featured just Oprah on stage in her studio, expressing gratitude and offering advice to millions of viewers.

"Every day that I stood here, I knew that this was exactly where I was supposed to be," she said. "This is what I was called to do. We all are called. Everybody has a calling. And your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it."

After the show, Debbie Bird, of Orem, expressed her emotional response.

"I loved it. I had no idea she had that in her — that spirituality," Bird said. "And then when she talked about her belief in God, I got a whole new insight into her."

Many in the audience appeared to be fighting back tears as Winfrey got emotional as she introduced the fourth-grade teacher who inspired her. And again when Winfrey teared up talking about her childhood and what the show has meant to her.

Even viewers who didn't expect to be affected were.

"I really never watched Oprah a whole lot. I've always had day jobs," said Michelle Ridd, of Sandy. "But it did make me emotional."

And longtime fans were more emotional still.

"I came a long way with Oprah," said Bridget Brown, of Ogden. "She helped me through my divorce in the '80s. I remember a couple of segments on verbal abuse. I didn't realize it was abuse, so Oprah brought it to my attention."

Fans seemed a bit shocked that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is no more. "There's always been Oprah," Powless said. "My grandchildren watch 'Oprah.' She crosses generations, culture, everything."

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