Jaanai Xaeren Dickerson

Jaanai Xaeren Dickerson, 19 of Oak Ridge, passed away on June 22.

Jaanai was born on Dec. 6, 1993, in Mt. Vernon, Ill., to parents Claude and Rebecca Dickerson. She had worked for Lincoln’s Sports Grille as a waitress.

Among her interests she enjoyed riding bikes, being with her friends, music—especially playing the tuba, for which she had received many awards—and art, with some of her work being permanently displayed at the Municipal Building. But poetry was her passion.

 

“It’s Just The Beginning”

Note to My Future Self:

 

I hope you are still well.

And I sure as hell hope you didn’t forget.

To never allow yourself to quit.

 

I hope you kept striving

And you never ceased surviving.

That you loved and lost

But continued to love with all your heart.

 

We both know how easily

You’d give in to relentless squeezing

Of Life from our very lungs.

But nonetheless I hope you fought beyond and above

Never agreeing to abandoning life.

I hope it gets better.

 

Even when times get at their hardest

Continue to endeavor

Because I swore I would forever.

 

So before I go

I’ll let you know,

I will love you for who you are

And not hate what my past self did.

 

I will love you. So be you and nothing else.

Loving you, taking care of you.

 

Keep in touch and remind me of how good we are

Do wake up and thank God you took another breath.

 

Go to sleep and thank God for life.

Death Only to rest and rise again.

Relieved. You’ve made it.

Ecstatic. You lived to the fullest.

Grateful. You made for better every day.

You lived.

Thank God, you lived

 

Jaanai Xaeren Dickerson

4-16-2012

 

Everyone who met Jaanai loved her with her sweet angelic spirit and her tender heart.

She was preceded in death by her father, Claude Dickerson, on June 14, 2006.

Her survivors include her mother, Rebecca Burns Dickerson; paternal grandmother, Attie Brooks; brothers, Cameron and Xyrius Dickerson, all of Oak Ridge; and step-brothers, Claude Datrell Vivarette and Gabriel Dickerson, both of St. Louis.

The family will receive friends Thursday, June 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Weatherford Mortuary. There will be a memorial service held in the chapel of Weatherford Mortuary on Thursday, June 27, 8 p.m. with Pastor Paul Metler officiating. There will be a Celebration of Life held at Lincoln’s Sports Grille following the service.

An online guest book may be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com.