Zelma R. (Givings) Green

HERSTORY:

Our Royal Highness, Zelma Ray Green born Zelma Ray Givings on October 3, 1950, in Coney Island Hospital, Brooklyn to our late grandparents Lucy and Prince Givings.  Mom was raised in Jarratt, VA by her late Uncle and Aunt Leila and Willie Ben Turner. She was raised in an immaculate home, with manners, the utmost respect, and church every Sunday. 

Mommy was introduced to fashion early in life. Grandma would adorn her with the finest clothing and shoes; always quality, and quantity. This truly carried over throughout her life. She had to have the best and she had to have it in abundance!!

With that said, our Mother became an avid shopper fashionista!!! Most referred to her as Bougie!!!!! Bougie for her style and taste in clothes, lady handbags, perfume, and home decor. Her fine jewelry, yessss diamonds and gold was her thing. She had a keen eye for quality and an awesome sense of style and flair.  She just loved the finer things in life....did I say she loved clothes and jewelry???.... LOL 

She was such a beautiful woman, so, so pretty! A voluptuous and curvy woman that always smelled and looked good!!  Her co-workers always complimented her on her outfits, and strangers would double-back to ask her what fragrance she was wearing, especially the men. She was definitely a classy lady.....so feminine, soft, girly, foo-foo, she-she...... and her voice, wow! have you ever heard her voice?  So soft, warm, and soothing.... she could talk her way in or out of anything.....people just loved to talk to her and hear her speak.....

Mom had a great work ethic, she would work and go to school.  She attended the Borough of Manhattan Community College where she worked on attaining an Associates's Degree while being a mother and wife.  She worked for the telephone company, the post office, children's family services, adult residence, but she always loved the healthcare field.  She worked in DownState University Hospital and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospitals in Brooklyn and Virginia.  Retiring in 2016 from the VA, Mom and Michael ventured to warmer weather and moved to Simpsonville, SC. Although they moved there, their hearts remained in Virginia. Often speaking about returning there. Unfortunately, she lost her husband and best friend Michael in July 2019,  before this could happen.  This was a devastating loss for Mommy as she and Michael did everything together. Mommy would frequently say her and Michael lived life like Cowboy's

Mommy also lived her life through her children, with her love of education, music, and dance. Richard and Michelle shared their own personal conversations and moments with mommy. With Lynelle, they shared conversations about cars, specifically the Lexus she wanted to buy.  Always traveling the world in spirit with me. Mom is probably in Paris now, as she would often say that's where she was when she wasn't available ....always so fancy!!  

Side note: Mommy loved to watch me dance, it would bring her such joy, my rhythm and being light on my feet., she would explode in laughter when Lynelle would do the "camel walk', and Redd and David have no dance skills at all, but they made her laugh when they rapped and sang to her.  

Mommy always encouraged all of us to shoot for the stars in all areas of our life. With Redd, they would spend countless hours sharing fashion ideas, style and taste. She would be in awe when Redd would share his pictures and videos of the meals he prepared with the Ninja Foodie she gifted him. Mom was so proud of his job and life accomplishments.  And David, while he was out and about he would always call mom to take her along for that venture.  On the phone or in person, she would often give him advice on "how to make it pop" when it came to the kids hair and clothes, you know she had a sense of style. Wow, how she looked forward to those moments!!

When COVID-19 rocked the world I was fortunate enough to have a job that allowed me to uproot and go and live with Mommy in SC. All of us didn't have this option, and that really hurt, so my siblings had to live through me.   Mom and I had ups, downs, highs, and lows, but our good outweighed all else. Mom liked scary movies, go figure. We binge-watched TV shows together, and one of my best memories is when we binge-watch the Jerusalema - Dance Challenge videos, we stayed up until 4 AM one morning watching video after video. I had to beg to go to bed.   She loved this song so much, Redd told me that she had the nursing staff dancing to it on the midnight shift in the hospital.  Her room became a dancehall!

During this pandemic, I learned our Bougie mom liked some spicy shows like The Haves and Have Nots, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta, I think they were her friends in her head.... 

She enjoyed music: gospel, jazz, R&B, and yes Rap/Hip-Hop..... as soft-spoken and dainty as she was she loved Biggie Smalls and Tupac's music, she enjoyed Unforgettable by French Montana amongst others. She said it was always the beats that caught her attention, not the words.  When she realized some of the content and lyrics she was tickled in shame, but still danced to the music with a cute roll of her wrist and hands....what an awesome sight.  Mom was a little upset that we didn't get into the entertainment business, Lynelle was the DJ, David a singer, and Redd and I were rappers!

Memories: We have many, many memories, education was super important, she made sure we all went to school.  Having and keeping a "good job"  is also really important to her. She was so proud that all of her children did well in life and are gainfully employed. She worked so hard to protect us and keep us out of trouble. We had no idea at the time that she was looking out for our best interest.....we were little rebels.  We knew not to give her a spoon to eat her food unless it was soup or cereal, her food had to be a little spicy and piping hot, she loved a good brisket of beef, curry goat, salmon, and crab legs to name a few.   And let's not forget certain traditions were a must: spaghetti on Wednesday, fish on Friday, and ham on all holidays.

But overall, our mom was a very private person, with a few close friends and relatives, When it came to our good friends, she may have not met them in person, but our friends became her friends, they would call her and she'd call them.  Mom was still very particular, she did not share a lot with the world, she didn't believe in social media, nor online transactions. She hated to be caught off guard in photos and videos. Something we always did to her anyway.

If you knew our mom, she dismissed everyone the same way, Mommy would often say things like  "get out of here" ....no, no, no, no...."I don't want to talk about it", "Don't go there", "not today",  wave you off, or even hang up on you ï¿½ï¿½ï�ïï 

Family and Friends, please understand there are no words that could ever describe our mother's life journey, and what she means to us. 

In closing, to know our mom is to love her. Mommy loves her children, grandchildren, and late husband, and they undoubtedly love her!!  More often, she told us to take care of one another, she told us and showed us that she loved us. and we promised to never ever leave her side, and we did not!!

We all Cherish her in memory:

Late Husband: Michael C. Green, and QueeQueg (late beloved pet)

Four children: Howard Lynelle (Resa), Zatarsha, Chance "affectionately known as "Redd/RoJay", David (Monique). Two Bonus children: Richard (LaWanda), Michelle (Desmond)

21 grandchildren: Ahkeem, Keyona, Ranelle, Zatasia, Karizzma, Mario, Jeremiah, Arianna, Amber, Maurice, Richard Jr.,  Issaaiah, Raven, Brookelynn, Lourelynn, Jaylenn, PeaLaura, Kyra, Onyxx, Diamond, and Banky (fur grandbabies preceded her). Mom had a very special bond with her granddaughters (Arianna aka "NuNu" and Amber)

5 great-grandchildren

Mommy was very excited that she was able to develop a meaningful relationship with her only sibling and younger brother: Kenneth. Sister-in law Yasuko, nephew Akira, niece Claudia and great-nephew Charlie.

By the way, Mom is now with two of her favorite cousins Connie aka "Papoose" and Cynthia aka "Sista"

We may have been selfish with our mom, but definitely, there are people that were there for her in their own special way:

Special mentions: Adrienne/Dwayne aka "Joe", Kisha aka "Coco Chanel", Chris, Tameka aka "Cocktail', Zogie, Maurice, Nakisha, Terell.  Cousins: Thelma, Velma, Brenda, Vivian, and Ashley.  

Grand-daughter Zatasia was at her grandmother's bedside the night of May 31, 2021, when she fell into eternal sleep.

Gone way too soon Mommy!!! 

No More Pain Mom, No More Pain!!!

Professional services entrusted to the staff of Whiting's Funeral Home, 7005 Pocahontas Trail, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185. 757-229-3011 whitingsfuneralhome.com

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