Toya Powell

Our Toya/ My Toya

This girl was something else! Toya lived her life her way, on her terms. She did exactly what she wanted when she wanted and with no apologies. She was a walking oxymoron; gentle and tough,
sweet and sour, serious and funny, crazy and sane, small but huge, fragile and strong!!! And it drove us crazy, but that’s what made Toya so real and so loved! And she was skinnnnny!!!! She was a giant through all this, fighting to the end with her battle with sarcoidosis. Toya always smiled. Y’all know that girl could do some smiling! She always lit up and made you feel like the star when she was the Diamond!

Some days you seen her in the rough, and other days she shined up like new money... man, did she shine! You’d catch it anytime she laid her eyes on her baby, her poo thang, Khaela. She loved her daughter with all her might. When you ask Khaela about her mommy, she always says the same thing: “She’s a great Mommy!” That’s all a mother ever hopes for. Well done Toya! She was a fighter. She fought battles most of us would have folded to long ago.  Mentally, physically and spiritually, and she never surrendered.  She endured without complaint or excuses. She just rode her ride to the end. Her transition is devastating and our hearts are forever broken, but there is peace in knowing this was the relief she needed.

God stepped in, and when He makes the call, the situation is officially beyond what we are equipped to handle. We are at peace with God’s final say. Our trust, faith, and belief in God, salvation through the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is where we find comfort for our aching hearts. She is with the Master and Creator of all, God our Father. Forever embraced in His Eternal Love, Heavenly Peace, and tender mercy. Toya was born alongside her twin, Tia Powell, on Oct 30, 1981, in San Bernardino, California, never letting her forget she was the oldest (by 60 seconds), and that she will be respected!!

She spent 41 years making sure Tia knew that every chance she got. She grew up on the Hilltop, Westside of Columbus, graduating from North Education Center, but she really was a West High Cowboy at heart! She furthered her education at the Ohio State School of cosmetology as a licensed beautician. She lived her life being a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin and friend. She leaves behind to cherish her memory: her one and only daughter, Khaela Powell; mother, Joyce Vassar; sisters, Kesha, Shannon, and Kim Vassar Celeste Cardwell, Nikisha Reed, and Tamara Nichols; brothers, James Patterson, Adrian and Mark Johnson; and many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and close friends to cherish her memory.

She was preceded in death by father, Elvin Earl Powell; honorary mother, Louise Patterson; grandmothers, Lucille Roland and Modessa Busbee; grandfather, Pete Vassar; sister, Monica Powell;
brother, Tyrone Powell; and uncles, James and Ray Martin, and Gregory and Michael Vasser. 

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