Her Life & Legacy Ashley Dionne Leatherwood was born July 3rd, 1990, to Ronald and
Josephine Leatherwood. She returned to God’s loving arms Monday, August 16th, 2021.
She confessed Jesus as her Lord and Savior at the age of six. Ashley lived her life to the fullest: full of love, joy, gentleness, kindness, and wisdom that she freely shared with her family and friends. She had a tremendous love for her students, their parents, and her coworkers. Ashley loved to travel and did so frequently. Ashley had a love of music and had a beautiful voice. She was a proud member of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority. Ashley attended Overton High School, where she was in the choir, participated in the All-West competition, and received a 5-year award. She graduated from Overton in 2008 and received a Bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Memphis in 2012. She later attended and graduated from Strayer University with her Master of Education in 2018. She had recently begun her doctoral program at Strayer University. She was a Shelby County School teacher for nine years. Ashley leaves to cherish her memories, her mother and father, her sister, Brandi Taylor, two special nieces, Makayla and Mya Taylor, grandmother, Prince Ella Hayes, and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.
Order of Celebration Saturday, August 28, 2021 11:00 A.M.
Breath of Life Christian Center 3795 Frayer-Raleigh Road Memphis, Tennessee 38128
Prelude Processional Scripture Reading: Old & New Testament.......................................................................................Gerald Leatherwood Prayer of Comfort.........................................................................................................Gerald Leatherwood Musical Selection...............................................................................................................Alexis Roberson “His Eyes Are On The Sparrow”
“Remembering Ashley Dionne Leatherwood” (Respectfully, Three Minutes Please) Tekesha Jones JoAnn Lewis Leigh Ann Schlessinger
Riverwood Tribute Video Musical Selection........................................................................... “Jesus, At The Mention of Your Name” Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................Beatrice Clark Resolution...............................................................................................................................Sharon Moss Diary of Life............................................................................................................................Read Silently Eulogy.........................................................................................................................Pastor Howard Moss Recessional
Letter From Daddy July 3rd, 2006 To: Ashley (my Daughter) From: Daddy Today, you have reached a milestone in your life, becoming sixteen years of age. Through all of the ups, downs, testing, tribulations, happy and joyous times, you are still here and doing well. Many adults have given up and thrown in the towel, but you didn’t. Even though you thought about it many times, God’s destiny, purpose, and the vision that He placed within you kept you going along with His grace, mercy, and prayers from others. In my eyes, today, you have become a woman. This brings with it more challenges and opportunities to mature even more. Your mother and I believe in you and bestow blessings upon you with unconditional love and declare a prosperous future in God’s plan for your life. As your father, this note validates and confirms you as a daughter loved and valued very much. Love Always, Daddy
Letter from Mama To My Beloved Ashley Words cannot express how proud I was the day you were born. I knew then that you were special from the way you entered the world, feet first. As a young child, you were very busy. I watched you grow into a confident young lady. Your love for singing was pleasant and could often be heard around the house. You had a beautiful voice. When you decided to become a teacher, I was overjoyed. I watched you spend countless hours planning lessons that would not only teach your students but inspire them as well. You put your all into teaching, and your students and their parents loved you for it. You were “the life of the party.” Your bubbling personality drew people to you. The day you left us was the darkest day of my life. I didn’t get to say goodbye. I am comforted by the fact that you are in no more pain and are in the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Nothing or no one will ever take your place. I will always love you.
Love, Mama
Letter from Sister My Dear Sister, I can’t believe I even have to write this letter. I remember when we talked about how we probably would live together when we were old and gray, and now, I have to figure out how I am supposed to live my life without you. The good thing is we have so many memories and good times I can look back on. It’s funny when I think about how close we were because when you were a teenager, I could not stand you lol. It was probably because of our 8-year age gap, and we were always in different phases of life. But when you were in high school and beginning college, that is where our love and friendship blossomed. We never called each other by our names. When we were little, we called each other Sister because it was only the two of us. When we got a little older, we thought it was weird that other sisters called their siblings by their actual name lol. You were here for so many of my good moments in life, like the birth of my second born, my graduations, every single birthday celebration, and so many more. You always said that I needed to give myself more credit and celebrate myself more. Everybody knew that you had my back and would fight over me…. literally lol. And I was the same about you, still am. You were also there in my lowest moments, my divorce, breakups, and disappointments. When I got sick, you were with me every step of the way. You always made me laugh because you were hilarious!! And when we got together, it was never a dull moment. People always stared at us when we went out, and people thought we were twins. I could write a book on all the crazy things that we witnessed. I was so proud of your accomplishments and dedication to your career and students. I remember countless times of me telling you to sit down somewhere when you would be up late working on things for your class. There were so many days where you pushed past your pain to show up for your students. You would come to me for advice, and you would joke that I would start talking with my “therapist” voice. I hated to see people not treat you with the respect and love you deserved. It was difficult to see you struggle with your health. I was there for many of the procedures and surgeries that you endured, and I made sure that you got the proper care you needed. I’m going to miss so many things about you. I’m going to miss you borrowing my clothes and never giving them back. I’m going to miss you joking about how old I am getting. I am going to miss your hilarious impressions, especially of Daddy, lol. I’m going to miss you fussing at me about never being ready on time. I’m going to miss our FaceTime calls. I’m going to miss you hyping me up and boosting my Leo ego. And I am really going to miss going out to eat with you because one thing about us was that we were going to eat lol. I’m mad that you didn’t give me a niece or nephew, but you loved my children as your own. I promise I will make you proud and continue to live my dreams because you would not have it any other way. I consider it an honor to have known your beautiful soul, and I know you will always be in my heart. Love Always, Your Sister
Letter from Uncles Our Dearest Ashley, It’s hard to know what to say when the unexpected becomes a reality, when hello becomes goodbye. We expect to see your beautiful smile; we expect to hear your laughter fill the room. We expect your bigger-than-life personality to become center stage wherever you are more than 5 minutes. We expect to hug and kiss you one more time. The truth is, life has thrown us a huge curve, and our expectations are now memories of you we get to cherish, remember and share. Some things make absolutely no sense, and honestly, we don’t know what to do with what we’re feeling. We will hold tightly to the free-spirited imprint that you left on us. We all love you and will struggle through this time without your lively soul around us. You were a bright light, and as a result, the world was brighter too with you in it. We can almost hear you saying, “Turn up the music,” I’m in heaven, and it’s nice here! We aren’t willing yet to accept the loss of you from our lives because there’s nothing that will fill the space left empty, so we hand you over to God, who is equipped to cover you in the warmth of his love and ours. The angel vacancy sign in heaven can come down now because you’re there. Loving You Always Your Uncles, Mike, Gerry, Gene, Cleophus and Charles
~ Acknowledgements ~
The family would like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude to you, our many friends, and loved ones for your kindness shown during the passing of our loved one. We thank you for your prayers, love, support, cards, flowers, telephone calls, texts, visits, and every act of kindness that was shown. ~ The Family
~ Honorary Pallbearers ~ Michael Hayes Tommie Hayes Alfred Scott Jerry Williams Calvin Avant Quintavias King
~ Active Pallbearers ~ Calvin Leatherwood Gerald Leatherwood Michael Leatherwood Cleophus Leatherwood Charles Leatherwood Michael O. Leatherwood
~Committal Rites & Interment~ Memorial Park Southwoods 5485 Hacks Cross Road Memphis, Tennessee 38125
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