Deztanee Cobb

Ms. Deztanee A. Cobb, who was affectionately known as, “Dezaboo”, was born March 15, 2000 in Kalamazoo, MI. Deza’s mother, Tracey handpicked what day she would like for her daughter to come into this world, the day that was chosen was her mother’s best friend, Valerie Thrash’s birthdate. Her mother chose her name because she knew her daughter had a destiny. Deza’s middle name came from her grandmother, Alfreadia Cobb. Deza always had ambition, even as a child, and always wanted more out of whatever the situation was. She made friends wherever she went and when she loved, she loved hard, and her love was real and genuine. She was the great-granddaughter of Doris Lee (Oliver) O’Bryant. Today, we gather together to offer our support to Deztanee, family and friends and to all that can not believe she is gone. We are here for her father and mother and their entire family. We are here for her aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, teachers, peers and co-workers to remember her joyful spirit. Being the baby of a blended family gave her the knowledge of a variety of coping skills to draw from and use to her advantage: Dub: She learned hustle and might; Sekoya: She learned the importance of safety; Tameka: style and work ethic; Jasmine: persuasiveness and mischievousness; Dominique: attitude and stubbornness; Kiara: determination and compassion; Marcus: invincibility and a competitive spirit; NuNu: comfort and trust. The bad thing about having all of these traits is she had a hard time compartmentalizing them. The good part is carrying them all made her the Deza Boo that she was—Intricately Phenomenal! Deztanee made a shining example of what she wanted her life to be. I can say she was truly one-of-a-kind, an original young lady, whose loss will be felt by everyone that knew her. She always stood up for herself and protected her friends and family—even sometimes from each other! It may sound life a cliche’, but Deztanee was truly beautiful inside and out. You could feel her energy whenever she was near. She was 17, bubbly, outgoing, vivacious, funny, and silly at times with a loud contagious laugh, simply like no other. Tracey, Deztanee, Meagan, Marcus and NuNu lived as one big happy family with an abundance of love and support for one another. Even after they no longer lived under the same roof, their bond still remained for one another to this day. Deztanee loved her aunty Meagie and the bond with her cousin NuNu was one that could not be broken. She leaves a huge emptiness in the hearts of all of us who loved her. She wanted to try all things new and was not afraid. Deztanee enjoyed life and was eager to taste all that it had to offer. She loved to swim and she was a die-hard athlete. She swam for team USA from 9 years old and throughout middle school, earning an abundance of ribbons for recognition. She earned her first Varsity Letter in the 9th grade from Allegan Senior High and a Varsity Letter for swimming from Kalamazoo Central High School. She loved her swim coach Mark, who was her coach ever since Team USA. She was so excited when by surprise he ended up being hired as the school’s new swim coach for her 9th grade year. It was as if he was meant to be back in her life. On her lowest days, she would say that she should of never left Allegan because coach Mark would have kept her focused and her weight down! She loved the excitement of Kalamazoo but she missed the simplicity of Allegan! With her, she always had a way of finding clarity in chaos. Dezaboo reached a dark area in her young life when her grief overwhelmed her over the suicidal death of her best friend, Malik, which was followed by another classmate later that year. Deztanee found comfort in counseling and from that counseling, she had a goal to achieve a master’s degree in Child Psychology, which came as no surprise, considering she was so good with children, especially babies. This was to be her Senior Year, enrolled in AP Classes at Kalamazoo Central and Sign Language and Criminal Justice Classes at KVCC. This summer, Deztanee injured her knee at the end of the school year, which resulted in her being notified that she would not be able to play any sports her senior year. With this disappointment, came the open availability to spend more time towards her academics and future goals for graduating in 2018. She had a few career options. She loved gruesome stuff, so from 9 to 13 years old she wanted to be a surgeon! However, because of her love of babies, she thought of working in Pediatrics for a while. When she started thinking about Colleges to attend, she didn’t correlate them with the field of study. She just knew it would be an HBCU. She couldn’t wait to fill out College apps and put down that she helped to implement a black history program at her high school. She was so proud of herself. Till this day, she wanted to go back every February to see if they still honored that month. She was giddy when she told people that she planned to attend an HBCU and If they didn’t know what HBCU meant, her eyes would light up and with pride she would say, “Historically Black University.” Her plan was to relocate her and her mom to North Carolina and that was written in stone, (‘cause she was the boss!). Another option was to go to Texas to be near her big sister. Either way, she was determined to attend and HBCU school. With all the career choices, she just knew she would be a Delta and get her degree. With all her goals, the end result of her vision was that she would get married, never get divorced no matter what, adopt a deaf child and have her mom come to live with her and family and help her raise her child. She was going to let mom live her life, while she got her life together, but then like Michelle Obama, she would have had Mom come live with her and believe me there was no choice in the matter. She was determined that her and her mom would always be together. Our beloved Dezaboo has slipped out of bonds of this earth to touch the face of God. WE are all at a loss and this community is in pain not being able to make sense of such a beautiful young lady’s life cut way to short. So, lets remember her joyful spirit and as long as Dez’s memory continues to live in us, Deztanee will never be gone. Dezaboo entered her heavenly home September 2, 2017. Her sister, Kiara Cobb, her grandparents, Howard and Alfreadia Cobb and special great aunt Cathy all preceded her. Dezaboo will forever be remembered in the hearts of: her parents Tracey Taylor and Donald Cobb Sr.; grandparents, Willie Spraggins, Mary O’Bryant; and honorary grandmother, Rochelle Hardy;5 sisters, Sekoya Gordon, Tamika Cobb, Jasmine West, Kiara Cobb and Dominique Cobb; 3 brothers, Donald Cobb Jr. Marcus Simmons and Damarrion Simmons; 10 nieces and nephews, Jamiere and Jada Warren, Javarion Boyd-Franklin, Miracle, Donald III and Faith West, DonJanai,, Don Tajiah and DJ Cobb and Kaniya Dixon; 4 uncles, Jeffery O’Bryant, Micah O’Bryant, Kevin Cobb (Tonya) and Lewis Nixon (Evon); 10 aunts, Meagan O’Bryant, Lorie McDaniels (Marvin), Kim Evans (Jonathon), Marsha Spraggins, Robin Johnson, Sherry Brown (Lamont), Angela Evans (Marvin), Pamela Spraggins, Cricket Overton (Micheal), a special great aunt, Doris L. Hankins (George), Bessie Johnson, Honorary Aunt, Carol Williams (DeWayne), godparents, Katrina Burchfield (James) and Sebastian Williams, godbrothers and sisters, Aurelia Ware, Jasmine Myers (Cord), Tywand Pritchett and Nyasia Berry, 6 special cousins, Jenna Cobb, Jhakiyah Yarbrough-O’Bryant, Lacole Spraggins, Lynn Bradford (Edward), Kamile Fields (Quinton), Kenneth Jordan (Eric) and Corrie O’Bryant. Also, a tremendous amount of family, friends and love ones that will carry on her love.

Deztanee Cobb

March 15, 2000 - September 2, 2017