LITTLE ROCK — When Shanita Diane Leverett of North Little Rock sang the faith-filled song, “God is Keeping Me,” it gave her renewed hope as she struggled with congestive heart failure.
“When she would sing that song, the church would just catch on fire,” said her mother, Jeanette Leverett. “Because of her sickness, that was her testimony - the Lord was keeping her.”
Leverett died Tuesday while under Arkansas Hospice care at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock from congestive heart failure. She was 37.
When Jeanette Leverett first laid eyes on a picture of her future daughter in an adoption pamphlet, she said it was love.
“I saw this little blue eyed baby who would probably have a hard time being adopted” because she was biracial, Jeanette Leverett said. “She had the most beautiful eyes.”
At the age of 8, Leverett decided to join her faith family at the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in North Little Rock.
“One Sunday morning in our church, the pastor asked if anyone wanted to come up and join the church. I looked around and she and her friend ... they both came up together,” her mother said. “She accepted Jesus as her savior and she wanted to be baptized. ... She just said she felt Jesus came into her life and she wanted to be with Him.”
Leverett attended Philander Smith College in Little Rock for about two years and went on to be a hairstylist and a dispatch operator for the 911 and 311 systems in Little Rock.While emergency dispatch was stressful, hairstyling fit her personality, said her brother, Mark Leverett.
“She kind of did the diva thing,” Mark Leverett said. “She liked to dress up, do different hairstyles. ... When she was able, she was a queen.”
However, 3 1/2 years ago, doctors diagnosed Leverett with congestive heart failure, which led to several hospital stays and continuous medical treatments, her brother said.
“Had it not been for her strong-rooted belief in Jesus Christ and his promise to all of his children after death, she could not have handled this diagnosis,” her brother said. “Her continuing to serve the church the way she did after the diagnosis, serve other people the way she did, that was all based on her faith.”
Leverett stayed active, serving in the church’s youth department, Sunday school and as assistant choir director. Known affectionately as “Miss Shanita,” Leverett was a strong role model for young church members, her mother said.
“They looked up to her and called her for advice,” Mark Leverett said. “She’d say, ‘Listen, here are some of the mistakes I made, don’t go down this road.’ She even used her failures in life to help others.”
On June 24, 2011, Leverett gave birth to her only daughter, Madison, against advice from doctors.
“The doctor wanted her to have an abortion because of her congestive heart failure,” saying it was likely she would die while giving birth, her mother said. “She told the doctor that there was a higher power than them and that God would bring them through. ... She loved that baby very much, to the point she risked her life to bring that baby into the world.”
Madison, nicknamed “Madi,” was the center of Leverett’s affection, whether the child was napping on her mother’s chest or mingling with the farm animals Leverett arranged to have at her first birthday.
“That baby meant the absolute world to her and she treated her as such,” Mark Leverett said.
Even as she was dying, Leverett was asking about others and sharing her belief in Heaven while drifting in and out of consciousness, her family said.
“She woke up and said, ‘I am ready to go,’” her brother said. “[We asked], ‘Where do you want to go?’ She said, ‘Home.’”
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 01/18/2013