From Brenda Jackson~My friend William wrote such profound words about our Leslie Esdaile Banks that I had to share it with the bookclub family....

A VEHICLE OF LOVE RETURNS TO GOD  by William Fredrick Cooper

(In Memoriam to LESLIE ESDAILE BANKS - December 11, 1959 – August 2, 2011)

 

She Came.

She Wrote.

Then way too soon, she went home.

Or was it?

 

I strongly believe that God places angels here on Earth amongst us. Using them as instruments of example, if we're are in tune with His Spirit and wishes for us all, then when in the presence of such our lives are richer because of the experience of knowing a True Child of God. 

 

His most precious gift to us all is LOVE. Four letter word that so many of us (TOO MANY IF YOU ASK ME) fail to connect with. However once we do find that place that lay within us all, then we walk in His likeness. After all, God is love, and if we are created in His likeness, then we are Love as well. 

 

In her brief, eventful journey here on Earth, LESLIE ESDAILE BANKS "got it" a long time ago. Possessing an incredible love for people and a spectacular radiance only The Most High can give, her soul illuminated so blindingly that it seemed almost unfair that one person could impact us all with her beauty.

 

But our friend LESLIE ESDAILE BANKS did that to us all, with so many gifts and in so many ways. Warm and welcoming, caring and compassionate, this tremendously transparent talent found that special place within EVERYONE in the literary community with her sensational smile and big hugs.  If the sincerity of her introduction into our lives didn't reel us in, then her deep voice, hearty laugh and never-ending generosity tugged at out heartstrings.

 

She gave, and gave and gave... 

 

And when it seemed she could give no more, God refilled her statuesque frame with more Love so she could give a little more to a world in serious need her kind of love.

 

Becoming one with Leslie and her physical gift to us all, the world was always, ALWAYS a better place with her around.

 

And when we didn't have her physically... then we had a staggering portfolio of timeless writings that transcended genres. One second Leslie was teasing and pleasing us with a sultry, steamy selection from one of her romance novels. (A weight room love scene immediately appears in my mind - I think it was SLOW BURN.) if she wasn't heating up the Rivers of Our Souls  or taking us Through the Storm, she was sucking the blood from us with her Vampire Hunterss series. transforming  us into her Minions minds, we experienced an Awakening as we became The Hunted. But alas, she always rescued us with Damali Richards, our vampire-slaying she-ro who did most of her work in Philadelphia. 

 

Magically moving from Romance, to the paranormal and vampire novels while giving us  a healthy dose of Soul Food in between, her creative rhythm flowed effortlessly, much like a Debbie Allen two-step at the height of her Fame powers.   You laughed. You cried. You got so furious that you found yourself muttering aloud when you got to work, but you always cherished her amazing ability to move from genre to genre with a commitment to the craft. Exciting, exceptional and excellent, she made fans all over the globe with her different, diverse voices.

 

Not to mention her one-of-a-kind spirit.  Delightfully decent and always helpful, you never heard her utter anything negative. EVER. Exuberant, energetic and encouraging,  Leslie always wanted the best for her three families: Her own, the African-American village of readers and authors, and her Philadelphia community. A champion for healthcare, she had the experience of a lifetime when introducing Barack Obama at an Arcadia university function; one that many felt she was the source behind.

 

She personally touched so many of us. Hearing that THREE CHICKS ON LIT INTERVIEW in tribute to her, she transcended genres once more as she aided K'wan and Solomon Jones in their aspirations for higher ground.  Through her benevolence, perhaps she was trying to show  through love that "WE'RE ALL IN THIS  TOGETHER."  So what K'wan writes Street Fiction. So what Donna Hill penned Romance Novels. So what Solomon Jones does Commercial Fiction.

 

"A writer is a writer is a writer," she screamed through action. "And Black Writers must kill the acrimonious nonsense and get along. After all, the future of our village may be at stake. " Perhaps in death, that was her final gift to us all: Uniting the Black Literary Community. 

 

I know personally, she touched me in a way that gave me chills. In July/August 2001, I was in Dallas for the Black Writers Reunion Conference. Naive to the business, I felt disappointed at the  Golden Pen Awards. Wishing I was more than just a self-published author at the time, I remember making my way through the conference room hallway en route to the bar direction when Leslie, coming from the opposite direction, stopped me.

 

I remember her words to me as if she uttered them yesterday.

 

Announcing "Mr. Cooper, I read Six Days In January," with that joyous energy we loved throughout her lifetime, "and God told me to tell you that you're going to be a great one. He has some special  things in store for you, but you're going to go through things because no one will understand you."

 

After imparting me with her words, she just walked away as if nothing happened.

 

She could have been a seer.

 

Having a bigger purpose for her with Him, God did not want to see one of his greatest vehicles of love suffer any more than she already did with her adrenal cancer.  And while we are still weeping over her loss, His precious angel Leslie Esdaile Banks still  gave her love to us in many ways. Providing everyone in the African-American Literary Community a larger-than-life template on how to balance professionalism, talent and the love that comes from Above, her shining example of elegance will only grow larger as the years go by.  Blazing across blue skies with an energy from the Most Divine, her wondrous spirit glowed in all she did: As a mother, a daughter, and as an author.

 

All of our lives are better because of her. And while some of us may still shed tears today, we will not mourn her loss forever.

 

Leslie Esdaile Banks would not want that.

 

In the alternative, she want us to rejoice in her Homegoing, and that fact that part of our own amazing journey through life we traveled together with an incredible vehicle of Love.

 

Rest in piece, my friend. You did good.