R.I.P.: Poetic Tributes

By Genevieve Williams

R.I.P. is a compilation of poetic tributes for young people who died between 20092014.
Some of them died accidental deaths through drowning, car accidents; however, sadly most of them died because of the senseless violence on Chicago streets and some neighboring cities. The ideal is to pay tribute to their lives. I hope that these tributes about each individual show how much they were loved before tragically dying. I hope it will bring some comfort.
Through making these tributes, I hope to memorialize them. Each individual has a different story. I noticed that when someone was murdered, their loved ones paid tribute to them by putting flowers, candles, teddy bears, and letters with messages of (R.I.P.) Rest in Peace. They didnt want anybody to forget how their loved one died. They didnt want anybody to forget their names or those left behind of family and friends who loved them. Some were deaths that caused a lot of controversy in which politicians and ministers got involved. These young people are not the well-known youths who have remained forthright in the news for lengthy periods. The idea of these tributes is to say You will never be forgotten.
These young people had families, dreams, aspirations, and futures that were cut short. This is condolences to families possibly still grieving the loss of their loved ones.
Though poetically done, I do not, by any means, take their deaths lightly. Each of them brought tears to my eyes. One of those young men (Michael Patton) died on the street in the rain. A stranger came out of his home along with his wife to comfort and assist him. I read about it and thought that it was too sad and decided not to write about him. However, one night as I was about to go to sleep, I clearly heard someone say I didnt die alone. I tried to ignore it, but I kept hearing it until I got up and wrote a tribute that I called I Didnt Die Alone.
So yes, sometimes I heard them speak to me spiritually. They will not be forgotten.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503517158

Genevieve Williams

Genevieve was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. She attended school in the fifties and sixties. She had three children, a daughter Jennean and two sons Allan and Eric. She also has six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She discovered at an early age that she had a unique writing ability. She had a gift to not only write poems but to poetically be able to describe people or situations. She described all of her children’s attributes physically while describing each of their personalities. She didn’t realize that this very gift would be utilized toward friends and relatives and for complete strangers whom sometimes asked would she pay tribute to their loved ones poetically. She believes this is how R.I.P. was born. She was mortified by the violence and young lives lost but began to write about them from 2009 until 2014. Of course all are not included. That would have been impossible. Also included are individuals who drowned and others who did not succumb to violence on the street but still will be missed by their family and friends. She remembers being mortified by the old westerns where one gunslinger challenged another to a shootout and they both ended up counting down until one of them got shot and killed. She used to think thank God I’m not living in those times. Then in the seventies she became aware of gang presence in Chicago. Then in 2008 it escalated. She decided to publish a book of tributes to their lives. However, it was so many deaths she couldn’t keep up with them. It became overwhelmingly sad to observe the violence on Chicago streets and she focused on the some and could not write tributes for all of them. She hopes to one day be able to include others in a second book. Genevieve works for the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago and lives in a relatively quiet area in a condo on the south side of Chicago. She is a line dancer. She is an avid reader and homebody.

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Copyright © 2014 by Genevieve Williams.

Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 11/22/2014

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Contents

Tribute to Tommie Williams

Dequarrius Dee Cannon

Francisco Frankie Valencia

Darrell McKinney

Rosemary Newman

Ryan Royall

Jovany Pookie Diaz

Lawrence Ricky Wilson

Tribute to the life of Arianna Gibson

Dominique Thomas

Harry DeeJay Rodriguez

Out There on the Streets

12) Troy Cameron

(13) Isaac Braswell

Marielle Carson and Latisha Ray

Maurice Blandin Jr.

Lexie Adu

Tribute to the life of Ivan Alanis

Chicago Is Still a Great City

Joseph Briggs

Davonte Flennoy

Davonte’s father Musikla

Davonte,s mother, Danielle

Davonte’s mentor, Stevie Powell

Shakiki Asphy

Antonio Davis

Tyquan Tyler

Tribute to the life of Heaven Sutton

Jamel Shepard

Michael Haynes

Robert Butler

Quiltavia A. Patterson

Tribute for Jermaine Carter

Tristian Hicks-Williams

We must not forget her ever! Frances Colon

Marissa Boyd-Stingley

Eva Mae Casara

Endia Martin

Daminan Williams

Michael Patton

Marcel Pearson

Jasmine Curry

Wil Lewis

Shamiya Adams

Sharita Smith

Antonio Smith

Ernesto Garcia

About Genevieve Williams

Tribute to

Tommie Williams

Died April 2, 2009

18 years old

He was a Chicago Vocational Career Academy sophomore.

Quote: by: mother Lois Williams, They don’t know that when they kill a kid, they kill a whole family

Tommie was shot in his neighborhood while returning home from a store.

His mother had no idea that he would not return and she wouldn’t see him anymore.

He was a pretty boy whom the girls liked so much.

He will never be comforted again by the protective embrace of a mothers touch.

Surely God has taken him to a place where there is no pain.

He is high up in the Heavens on another spiritual plane.

Tommie was such a lively and sweet soul but was taken away by gang violence.

The sound of his voice is now forever silenced.

In Heaven there is the whisper of Angels and the wind blowing moon dust.

The angels sing their sweet comforting songs but cannot bring Tommie back to us.

Left are memories of a boy growing up under his mother’s watchful care.

She never imagined of a time when Tommie would not be there.

Surely God will one day bring sweet peace.

Surely his family will be released from such unbearable grief.

You will find