Alice Windom is her name

 

 

 Thursday morning this Earthly plain released my Aunt Alice so she could be reunited with family and friends that have gone on before.

She was a unique woman who lived an extraordinary life. She was known on a professional level for being a Social Worker. She received her Bachelors and Masters in Social Work. 

R.I.P. Kaiysha Naima Sharpe-Morrow

This week seems like a blur. I never thought I would be writing R.I.P. to one of my best friends. I would have never guessed that this past weekend would be the last I would ever lay eyes on you.
Some people come into your life and they are leaves...other people comes into your lives and they are branches......then there are those who come into your lives and are roots..... You most definitely were a root.

R.I.P. Amanda Sheputis

You ever have a feeling that something isn't quite right when you wake up. On my birthday I had that feeling. I thought I should be happy for the most part and I was but not as excited. I went to work and did my usual thing.  After work, I went out and honestly at this point don't even remember what I did. What I do recall is that evening was going to an art exhibit down in the Delmar Loop. Around 8:30 pm I left and decided to go to the Central West End to stop by Sub Zero to have some sushi and collect my birthday Vodka bottle. As I was leaving Sub Zero I was still having the same nagging feeling from earlier but slightly became more intensified.

R.I.P. Keisha Powell

Today I went to the funeral of one of my best friend's siblings. Keisha was an amazing person, but I'm not surprised. She comes from an extraordinary family who I'm blessed to consider an extension of my own family. One of her sisters, Kamina, is one of my best friends since I have known from Kindergarten. I consider Mr. and Mrs. Ballard additional parents to my own and her siblings as special family members as well. It's been a while since I had seen Keisha but when I had heard of her passing last week. All I could think about was how her family was coping. How her children were dealing with the sudden loss of their mother. How my best friend and her siblings were handling their oldest sister being taken from them. How her parents could deal with the loss of another child.  

When I heard the news of her death, I found out through Facebook. Social Media with all it's advantages, does have it disadvantages. Nothing can prepare you for such a shock. To make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me I immediately called my best friend and she confirmed the news. I couldn't believe it and was just in shock. Ever since then and up until the funeral I just kept thinking about one story regarding Keisha.

Back when Keisha was battling breast cancer, which was also around the same time my own mother was dealing with the same battle, I remember going to a haunted house in Soulard with Kamina, Keisha, and some other people. We were waiting in line to go through the "haunted" warehouse and we were just having a ball cracking up and joking with some other people in line. We were talking about how warm it was and why they didn't have any fans or something circulating the air. Around this time Keisha was dealing with chemo and one of the side effects was hair loss. Now I'm not sure if Keisha had on a wig or a scarf at the time, but all of a sudden without any warning, she whips off whatever she had on her head and the reactions around us were in different levels of array. They went from shock to straight up hysterical laughter. I was definitely in the range of laughter. She looked around at everyone and was just acting as calm as can be and just said, "What?, it's hot up in here and I'm trying to cool down." 

THAT was the Keisha I remember who could make you laugh regardless if she was going through something. At the funeral today I wanted to tell that story but I was just so sad and I couldn't bring myself to talk. She had accomplished so much in her life and none of the trials she went through in her life were easy, but she had a strong foundation of a family that she knew she could lean on if needed. Watching the church fill up with the people who loved her just showed me a glimpse of how special of a woman she was. 

A daughter who loved her parents. A mother who cherished her kids. A sister who adored her siblings. A friend and coworker who definitely left an impression on countless people. A phenomenal woman is what she was and how she will be remembered.

R.I.P. Keisha

*Update* - There were some links I forgot to share with my original post.

A story that the Saint Louis Post Dispatch did on Keisha back in 2004 --> Click Here

A Go Fund Me account was also set up to help support her children's education --> Click Here

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

Farewell friend: Sarai Slaughter

Sarai at prom

 
Yesterday evening one of my best friends, Amy, contacted me via Facebook chat to inform me that she found out via Facebook a high school friend of ours had passed away. At first I was thinking, "what?" I just stared at the screen because it wouldn't sink in.. 

Freshman year

Sarai was an amazing person and an awesome friend. My memories of her range from her unique fashions to fascinating conversations. I'll never forget for our senior high school trip (during Spring Break if I recall) a group of us (10 I think) decided we wanted to go to Disney World. By the time it came to purchase tickets for airfare and make reservations for the hotel, it was just down to Amy, Sarai, and myself.

We were so excited and I finally was going to live out a life long dream to meet Mickey Mouse. After settling into our hotel once we arrived we did some sight seeing, but we waited until the next morning to go to Disney World. I'll never forget we had Breakfast with the Stars and you were able to take pictures with them. We took in so many rides, took so many pictures, just had so much fun overall. It is still one of the highlights of my life.

Amy & Sarai meeting a Stormtrooper

I still can't believe that after such a great time in our lives, finishing high school, and getting ready for college, that a car accident caused by a careless individual would change her life forever. I'll never forget when my mom woke me up and told me she had just talked with someone (Amy's mom I think) and they informed her that Sarai had been in a severe car accident and she was at Barnes Hospital. I remember shooting out of my bed still in my pajamas and putting on my shoes and looking for my car keys. My mom had to calm me down and tell me to take a shower and get dressed and she would drive me down there. I was so nervous I couldn't believe this had happened.

All I can remember from when we arrived at the hospital was my stomach being in knots. I was walking/running to get to where we were suppose to be, my mom's voice behind me telling me to slow down. I honestly don't remember who else was in the waiting area near Sarai's room except seeing her mom. I remember giving her a hug and she is preparing me for what I'm going to see when I go into Sarai's room. I tell ya till this day....I still get goosebumps recalling that memory. I remember her telling me to be strong and try not to cry. Hell I had already been crying up until that moment. I honestly thought when I saw Sarai in her hospital room that I was going to faint. I saw all the wires, machine hook ups and I'll never forget the stent that had been put into her head to help with the swelling to her brain. I remember going over to her and saying her name and telling her I was there. I was touching one of her hand's and her hair.

Gen and Sarai at Prom, I always did love Sarai's unique facial expressions

I honestly didn't know if she was going to survive. When I heard the details of the accident and what happened later on, I just kept thinking, Why? and why her.... As time went by more information kept coming through and Sarai did come out of her coma. Yet the price she paid for it was far too high. Gone was the friend who used to scare the mess out of me when I was at my locker by sometimes running at high speed then stopping right when she got close by. She was now confined to a motorized wheelchair, with severely limited physical mobility and could no longer talk. I remember visiting her when she had been transferred from the hospital to a healthcare facility (Bethesda, I think). It took everything in me not to cry when I would visit. I honestly didn't know if she remembered me.

Gen and Sarai at prom

I can't say enough about Sarai's mom. That woman is a warrior and God only knows she has been through the fire and back with all this on her shoulders.  Not once do I recall her being angry. Her only focus was Sarai and making sure that she was able to take care of her.

Throughout the years our lives have gone on. Sarai and her mom moved to Colorado. I had lost touch with them unfortunately but when I found out they were on Facebook I immediately sent out a friend request to Ms. Slaughter. I was so happy to see recent pictures of Sarai that I didn't even realize I was crying at first. 

Retreat time

From time to time I still think about that day and even now almost 16 years later I can still find information regarding the accident here and here. The man that did this to her is Richard Weith. From what I heard a phone call he was on distracted him from paying attention to the road and unfortunately Sarai paid for his carelessness. I remember someone telling me that he was a part-time firefighter and I thought how ironic. Here is someone who is suppose to be about public safety yet you can't practice what you supposedly preach. For a while I was obsessed with what this guy looked like, I prayed that some type of bodily harm would befall him. Hell I was praying I could be the one to do it to him. I don't know if he ever received jail time or was even sued by Sarai's family. Over the years I wonder if he ever felt guilty or had any remorse for the lives he changed. Not only of Sarai's but her mom, her family, and her friends.

Rosati-Kain Prom 1997

When I found out that she had passed, I went home yesterday evening and cried in my bedroom. I miss her but part of me is thinking her suffering is gone and now she is in a better place. But even in the end I still think damn such a life with so much promise and it's just not fair.

I miss you Sarai. I know you are in heaven stirring up all kinds of ruckus with your red  horns, wings, and pitchfork.

One of my favorite pics of Sarai ;)

 
 Side note: I'll upload some pictures to this post hopefully today and later on this week.

Side side note: pics are uploaded. 
 

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

Gone too soon: Matt Bachrach

A while back, on November 4,2005 to be exact, I had written in my blog about an amazing guy that I had heard playing piano at one of my local malls (West County Mall). This evening for some strange reason I just thought about him and decided to see if he had a new cd out. Unfortunately I found out through my googling that he had been killed in a car accident back in September. My spirits were definitely dampened and thought about how this talented man would no longer be able to express himself through new music pieces. But then I realized even beyond that, he had a family that misses him dearly. I was lucky enough to snag a picture of him at the time when he was playing piano back in the mall.

If you would like to hear his music as well, go to Amazon.com and you will find his music. Absolutely breathtaking. Above is a link, which is connected to the Title of this blog entry to my original post on Matt with a fuzzy picture. Rest in Peace:)


Below information from azfamily.com in regards to Matt's passing.


Wife of musician killed in weekend crash speaks out
More Gilbert and Phoenix Local News
06:42 PM Mountain Standard Time on Monday, September 15, 2008
azfamily.com

Wife of musician killed in wreck speaks out
GILBERT - He was an Arizona musician whom 3TV once featured but over the weekend Matt Bachrach died in a car crash on Interstate 10.

azfamily.com’s Marissa Wingate talked to his family. His wife and two young sons live in Gilbert and his other son is due to be born in four weeks.

Brenda Bachrach says the hardest part of it all is knowing her unborn child will never know his father. Thirty-one-year-old Matt Bachrach was an accomplished pianist who traveled the country performing.

A song called “Along for the Ride” was one of his own and was featured on one of his countless cd's. Matt was also in the process of creating a movie.

Nevertheless, Matt Bachrach was killed Sunday morning as he was driving home from a business trip in California.

An 18 wheeler turned over on the 1-10 near Tonopah and Matt was unable to avoid crashing into it.

His wife says she sensed something was wrong. "He should have been home by now and so I tried to call his cell phone and it rang and rang and went to his voice mail and probably within 30 seconds of me hanging up from trying to call him a Highway Patrol man came to the door."

The officer told the mother of two sons with another son on the way that her husband was dead. Brenda is eight-months pregnant.

She says, "I think about our little boys 6, 3 and then the one not even born and I just think that's so much of a child's life to go without a father."

She is grateful they will always have his music. 3TV was told Matt did not have life insurance and he was self-employed so now his wife is struggling financially.

Donations can be made at any Chase location into account number 797 425 774. Donators must have the account number in order to donate. Linda Mora is the contact at Chase Bank. She can be reached at 480-782-8721. Also, donations can be sent directly to the family through Bunker Mortuaries.

Danielle Livingston Franks (Former Rosati-Kain classmate)

Danielle was a kick ass person who loved life and was one those unique people that always had a smile on her face and made sure u had one right next her. I never thought she would be an officer but apparently she found her calling. It's just a shame that her life was cut so short:( RIP



Funeral for city officer to be held Wednesday
By Leah Thorsen
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Dec. 30 2008
A funeral Mass for a St. Louis police officer who died six months after
suffering injuries in an on-duty crash will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday
at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis at 4431 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis
police said.

Officer Danielle Livingston, 29, died Dec. 24. She suffered severe neck and
spinal cord injuries when she crashed into a utility pole while responding to a
burglar alarm on June 10. She had to be cut from the wreckage, and doctors had
been unsure whether she would be able to regain mobility, but she was beginning
to walk within months of the crash.

Livingston had been at home after months of rehabilitation at a hospital and
the St. Louis Rehabilitation Institute. Police said she had asthma, and it is
possible she suffered a severe asthma attack and fell unconscious at her home
on Dec. 14. She died 10 days later.

Police were treating Livingston's death as on-duty death pending the results of
an autopsy.

On Wednesday, no parking will be allowed on Lindell Boulevard between Sarah
Street and Taylor Avenue from 7 a.m to 1 p.m., and Lindell will be closed to
traffic during the funeral service. Newstead Avenue between Maryland Plaza and
West Pine Boulevard also will be closed to traffic during the funeral service,
as will Boyle Avenue between McPherson Avenue and West Pine, police said.

A procession following the service will begin at the church and go west on
Lindell to Union, north on Union to Martin Luther King, west on Martin Luther
King, which becomes St. Charles Rock Road, and west on St. Charles Rock Road to
Valhalla Cemetery at 7600 St. Charles Rock Road, where Livingston will be
buried, police said.

A visitation for Livingston will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. today at Granberry
Mortuary Home, 8806 Jennings Station Road in Jennings. Traffic in the 8800
block of Jennings Station Road will be reduced to one lane during the
visitation.

Livingston is survived by her two sons, Hayden, 8, and Brenden, 3, her fiancé,
St. Louis police Officer Ervin Lockhart, and her mother, Anne Franks.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a trust fund for her
sons. Donations can be made at any Pulaski Bank.

never take the one you love for granted.

I'm writing this late tonight because I had read through facebook that a former high school classmate had lost her husband to a carjacking back on March 25, 2008. She gradauated from Rosati back in '99. I do remember her and sent her a message expressing my condelences. His wake and funeral are being held March 29, 2008 in Kansas City, MO.

As I went through her facebook pictures and saw her with her husband I thought to myself, I know how it is to lose a family member, aunt, uncle, cousin, as well as all of my grandparents. Yet how would I feel to lose my soulmate, love of my life, the ying to my yang.....the person that I pledged to spend the rest of my life with, grow old, and raise a family? I know people lose that special one to various reasons. It could be to illness where the process is prolonging and you watch while your mate suffers and you feel powerless as the person you love slowly detorates or it can happen like a snap of your fingers and one minute the person you love is kissing you goodbye promising to be home later on that evening.

You wait to hear their key in the door but instead you get a sharp tap and the men in blue are at your door with a grim face and you pray with all your might that everything is okay, yet when they start their speech, your knees get week, your eyes begin to tear up, you start to go numb, and all you can do is shake your head in denial and wish for the day to slowly go back in reverse so you can change whatever happened throughout the day so you wouldn't be standing where you are right now.

I can't begin to imagine what my former classmate is going through now. Lord knows I wish never do. What I will say is this, know that you were blessed with the time you had him in your life. He showed you something other people would wish to have in their lives and can only imagine. Only time will tell when your wounds have healed. Yet know that you have forever to remember the good times that you had together.

R.I.P. - Brandon Fauntleroy-McDowel

Story below


Police quick stop at KC park costs man his life

Mar 27, 2008 10:04 AM (1 day ago) AP
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Map, News) - Police are looking for a suspected carjacker in the shooting death of a Kansas City man who made a quick stop after work to dump trash from his SUV into a garbage can.

Police say 25-year-old Brandon Fauntleroy-McDowel was shot at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday during a struggle with a gunman who had demanded his vehicle. Moments after Fauntleroy-McDowel drove out of the downtown parking garage of his employer, he stopped at a park to remove trash from his SUV.

The attack at Case Park took place in front of witnesses and was within view of his workplace, State Street Bank and Trust Co. He had resigned to take another job, and Tuesday was his last day at State Street.

Police said Thursday a burned-out SUV found in Kansas City, Kan., overnight was related to a homicide, but they did not provide specifics.


Funeral and Wake Services

Brandon Charles Fauntleroy-McDowel

FAUNTLEROY-McDOWEL Brandon C. Fauntleroy-McDowel, 25, Raytown, passed away March 25, 2008. Services 11 a.m. Sat., March 29 at Prince of Peace MBC, 4301 Wabash. Visitation 8-11 a.m. at the church; Masonic services 10 a.m., Alpha Phi Alpha services 10:30 a.m. Burial in Forest Hill Cemetery) Published in the Kansas City Star on 3/27/2008.



Suspect Sketch Released In Carjacking Murder
Last Edited: Friday, 28 Mar 2008, 5:08 PM CDT
Created: Friday, 28 Mar 2008, 5:06 PM CDT

8th and Jefferson suspect

Police released a sketch of a suspect in the murder of a 25-year-old man at 8th and Jefferson earlier this week. It is from a witness who saw the man driving Brandon Fauntleroy-McDowel's vehicle shortly after the shooting. The witness said the male had a very dark complexion

Fauntleroy-McDowel was leaving his last day on the job at State Street Financial around 5:15 p.m. when he was shot and killed.

Police have also confirmed the burned out SUV they found was that of a 25-year-old Kansas City carjacking victim.

Officers found the Chevy Tahoe in a secluded area on Muncie near State Avenue in Kansas City, Kan. - about eight miles away from where Brandon Fauntleroy-McDowel's body was found murdered earlier this week.

The company has added $10,000 to the reward to help find the killer.

Dorrie Holland from State Street said, "We certainly are concerned for the family and friends and for the safety of our own employees and the community.

"The vehicle is so badly burned that detectives hope the VIN number will prove it's Fauntleroy-McDowel's.

Fauntleroy-McDowel was a graduate of Pembroke High School, and attended Hampton University on a Presidential Scholarship. He was finishing his master's degree and going to graduate from Avila University in a matter of weeks.

The university voted Thursday to posthumously award the family his MBA degree.

Ron Slepitza from Avila University said, "Part of Brandon's life was here and part of the relationships he developed were with the people here and it is also a tribute to what he was able to accomplish."

Brandon had just been accepted to law school at UMKC and was a Vice President of Omicron Xi Lambda Alumni Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha at UMKC."

He was very excited about law school. We actually all stayed up with him the night before he took his LSAT while he studied, and we were all together when he got his results. He called everybody and let everybody know," Christopher Rembert, Fauntleroy-McDowel's fraternity brother, said.

Brandon's family finalized funeral arrangements on Thursday. His service is set for Saturday, March 30.Police do not have any suspects in custody. If you have information on Fauntleroy-McDowel's murder investigation call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.

In rememberance of Larry Ahart

This past weekend has been a bit stresssful. I had so much going on I felt I was being pulled in 3 different directions. One direction I was typing a presentation for my dad, 12 pages which was due completed this Friday, another direction I had to give a meeting in my department Saturday morning 7am, and then I had a wake/funeral that took place Sunday. So i had to leave work early that day so I could it make it for the service.

When I got home my family and relatives from out of town were getting dressed for the service. I took a bath and got dressed myself but left a tad bit later. I got there after the rest of my family. It was pretty packed and when I finally made it to the coffin I just looked at my departed cousin. He didn't really look the same to me. I knew he had been sick for a while but I didn't realize it until I saw him laying there.

The service soon got underway and I realized that I hadn't been to a funeral in at least 12 years. With the last 3 being in the same year, 1994. I lost my maternal grandmother on my birthday, another cousin had commited suicide that summer, she was my age, and the last being that Novemeber on Thanksgiving when my maternal grandfather passed. Yet know that I'm typing this I realize that it's actually been since 2000, since a good elementary friend of mine, Donald Lee Jr., his father passed away. He was my basketball coach and like second father.

Yet back to my cousin service. I sat there and cried my eyes out. I tried to hold it in but I just couldn't. The way people were talking about how good of a person he was it really showed how many people loved him. He wasn't a perfect person he had his share of demons but then again nobody is perfect. You just have to deal the best that you can with the hand that is dealt. He was in the Marines for 12 years and would be laid to rest Monday (yesterday) at Jefferson Barracks.

So after the service was over I ran into many members of the church I belonged to, not to mention my former pastor gave the eulogy at the service and it was a great sermon. We were laughing and remembering the good times. They had food ready below in the funeral homes cafeteria so we could get something to eat. Afterwards I went home and met the rest of my family there. My extended family left that evening to make it back to Chicago.

Monday morning it was dreary with rain and the tempatures falling. We met up at the funeral home and made our way to Jefferson Barracks to inter the body. I realized that this was my first trip here and that I would come back again so i could find out where my cousin Rachel was buried, she was the one that commited suicide back in the summer of '94. I always think of her and wonder what she would have been in life. I'll always remember her being shy, quiet, and very self conscience of her appearance. The last time I saw her she had on a black turtleneck yet it was so hot outside. I never asked her why she had it on, because I knew why.

So back to my cousin Larry. We make our way to the place where his last ceramony will be performed. There were Reserved Guards there to give the gun salute, another person played TAPS on a bugle, and another 2 officers who folded the flag and presente it to his mother. He was married but they were estranged for 12 years and that is just another can of worms that just needs to stay closed from what I hear from other family members.

After leaving his body at the cemetary we go back to my cousin Jean's house, Larry's mother and wait for her so we can all go to the Repast that Larry's father was throwing at a building he owned. My family stayed for awhile and then we left to go home so we could get our strength back from this past week. My mother had been helping my cousin Jean making sure she was okay an d helping with a photo project for the funeral.

Later on that evening my cousin Rhonda who is a singer came over and played her latest tracks from her new upcoming album. The girl has a beautiful voice and she can BLOW!!!! She was talking with my mom about when they were growing up. My girl Kai called me after we were IM'ing on the cpu for a while and then I went to my room so we could talk in private. Afterwards I got dressed and decided to go to the movies but then detoured to Applebee's at the last minute. I then came home and watched some tv until I dozed off. Thankfully I have Tuesday off so I can just chillout.

Note: I was able to video tape the interment at Jefferson Barracks and will post the link once it becomes available thru Google Video