We wish to thank everyone for the many expressions of sympathy and
prayers for our family. On Thursday, October 12, 2000, aboard the USS
Cole, God, the Master Planter harvested a life from our family; Lakiba.
Lakiba finished her academic endeavors and turned her attention to
the United States Navy. Lakiba met unfamiliar horizons while serving
her country, but the greatness in service is that you submit to the
awesome task of defending the free world and Lakiba was a young woman,
facing the grand possibilities of that life.
Everytime we look into a mirror, we can see a part of Lakiba in
different gestures, which are common to our family. With so many faces
to remind us, we have to realize she is gone, never to return to us.
Words fail to express the terrible emptiness we feel, because Lakiba was
a pearl on the road to becoming cultured, a diamond in the rough,
realizing her true potential.
It has been written in a lyric, "Let the work that I do speak for
me." Lakiba's work is sending a loud echo.
Because Lakiba died for her country, millions are comforted
because she and her shipmates left the comfort of their shores to represent
the United States of America. She is a heroine because she raised her
right hand and vowed to protect the United States against enemies
foreign and domestic. The greatest test or gift summarized in love is that
one is willing to give all that one has for a friend, and Lakiba along
with her friends/shipmates gave their love and lives for over 280
million living on this precious soil called America.
Our Lakiba was one of
the few women given an opportunity to venture to a far country for the
best of reasons, to let the world know that "someone has the watch."
Please understand that we are in no way diminishing the bravery
exemplified by her shipmates, we honor them and recognize that their
families are sharing our grief as well. God has blessed America with some
great young people, because they have proven that valor is common in
the hearts of Americans; and, God decided that one of them should be our
daughter, granddaughter, mother, wife, sister, niece, cousin, and
friend.
We pray that all of the families accept God's will...as we have.
Thank You The Family of Lakiba Nicole Palmer

Keep My Memory
Keep my memory with you,
For memories never die;
I will be there with you,
When you look across the sky.
I will be there in the clouds,
In the birds that fill the air;
In the beauty of a fragrant rose,
You will find my memory there.
You will feel me in the tenderness,
Of a tiny baby's touch;
You will hear me if you listen,
In the twilight's gentle hush.
When your hearts are heavy,
And you feel that you are alone;
Just reach down deep inside of you,
For your heart is now my home.
I will always be with you,
I will never go away;
For I will live on in your hearts,
Forever and a day.
Allison Chambers Coxsey
c1996
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