Keisha Shoemaker Keisha was a troubled girl who had a difficult life. Born into a morally bankrup environment, she nevertheless maintained a certain wholesome quality about her heart that belied her seemingly hardened exterior. She was a beautiful, outgoing and unexpectedly intelligent girl. Her biggest problem was she had never, for any length of time, had a good example of how to live. No real role model living a Christ centered life. Keisha drifted and fell victim to every vice known to a corupted society. Her marriage to another deeply disturbed individual turned into an abusive situation. Her children were in danger and so she fled and worked doing the only job that would pay her enough to support her kids. A job that while not illegal, I cannot disclose so as not to dishonor her memory. I met her 3 years ago and my heart was touched by her circumstances. Her two small children had no future because she herself was without hope. I asked her if she would like to try to get control over her life. She was very interested and the spark of hope in her eyes made me hire her to work for my company. She courageously came to work that first day jumping boldly into a world that was foreign to her. A world where people were responsible and did what they promised. A world where you were loved for who you were rather than what you could do for someone. She worked with us for almost a year gaining office skills and ever so slowly and painfully rebuilding her life, only to have it periodically fall completely apart again. Together, my wife and I would always help her get back on her feet. I grew to love this girl like a sister. I hurt when she hurt. She struggled valiantly but in the end her alcholism was so problematic that I was forced, in spite of my love for her, to end her employment with our company. We stayed in touch through phone calls where I did my best to encourage her, but her life was unraveling quickly. It seems that she could never really part company with the crowd she felt most comfortable with....other people whose lives were in turmoil. In the end, she was used up and thrown away by the cruel social group that fostered her self destructive lifestyle. She never was able to love herself because she had grown up with a twisted collection of misguided and downright evil people that didn't know what love was. Early in the morning, March 24, 1999, Keisha took her own life. In a voicemail she left me a few hours earlier, her last words were "I love you". If only she could have loved herself too. Keisha Dawn Shoemaker Born April 4 1974 Jackson Mississippi USA Passed Away March 24 1999 Memphis Tennessee USA Cemetery Leesburg Church of Christ Mississippi USA Memorial Gardens