Two ceremonies will be held to celebrate the life and legacy of the late award-winning gospel artist, radio personality, songwriter and journalist, Vanessa "Divine Lady" Clarke - one is scheduled for July on Grand Bahama where she made her life with her husband Volare Clarke and their daughters V'ajha, 15, and V'lori, 11; the other on New Providence where Vanessa was born and lived her early life, in August.
Vanessa, 48, died on Friday, July 14.
She will be cremated.
"Cremation was something we both agreed to," said her husband Volare Clarke in the lead-up yesterday to his final viewing of Vanessa's body.
"She didn't want a casket or a body for anyone to view."
None of the two planned celebrations will be held in a church edifice.
"We don't want to have a church service because Vanessa's ministry went through all different ministries and denominations in this country. She had been born into Church of God, converted to Seventh-day Adventist at age 18, and, in recent years, was a member of my church, Life Community Church, a non-denominational church, and she spent a lot of time with the Baptists. We want to cut out the traditional church, and traditional religion and location, to not create any kind of offense to any friends and family that we love. We will celebrate Vanessa's legacy and what she means to us," said Volare.
"She loved her God and she had great love for her family. Even up to these last days, her family was the ultimate goal. No, ifs, ands, or buts."
The celebrations, as Volare calls them, will be done in the way Vanessa wants, with family and friends coming together for the celebrations that will take the form of a mini concert to rejoice in her life and legacy and to view clippings and videos of Vanessa over the years.
He said they have lots of images to choose from.
"Anyone who saw her in these last years of her life know that we always took pictures when anyone came to visit her. There was never a sneak or surprise visit; she was always prepared to see them."
While she kept her official diagnosis private, Vanessa was diligent about sharing her life through pictures on social media. She posted religiously.
Vanessa wanted to ensure the memories were there for their girls.
Volare is not the biggest fan of taking pictures, but he said he learned to let Vanessa have that option because it made her happy.
"We had times when I didn't want to take pictures," he said. "I didn't say no because it was something she always wanted."
It was in 2018 that Vanessa suffered a slip and fall which resulted in her injuring her leg, two days prior to traveling to New Providence to record her single "Plead My Cause", which she did while in excruciating pain, she told The Nassau Guardian at the time.
What she did not know was that her fall was one of the early signs she would have to a neurological disorder diagnosis she would receive later. She refused to divulge to anyone outside her immediate circle which neurological disorder she had - there are more than 600.
Her reasoning for not going public was that she did not want to become a "poster child" for the disease.
With her passing, Volare did not mind Vanessa's diagnosis being shared.
Vanessa was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, a rare neurological disease that affects motor neurons - nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that controls voluntary muscle movement.
Vanessa was in hospital on Grand Bahama when she died.
Volare and Vanessa met at a fast-food restaurant drive-thru window where he was purchasing food. He made eye contact with Vanessa and a friend she was with who he knew. He said they held that eye contact. As he was paying his bill, they hailed and he introduced himself. That was the beginning of what would be Vanessa and Volare's love story.
"I told her [Vanessa] that I would remember her name because my sister's name is Vanessa."
He recalled Vanessa refusing to give him her number, so he gave her his. Vanessa called him two days later - June 10, 1996. She was 21 years old at the time. Volare was 25.
Vanessa and Volare celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary on April 21.
A recent post on her Facebook page reads: "So, hubby came home and said all kind of people wished him happy anniversary yesterday after seeing my Facebook post ... even the women who been eyeballing him. He said he hope they see that he is standing by his wife. These people who watching my hubby don't know what a great big bowl of deliciousness I am, whether I am sick or well ... the Lord will always make a way somehow."
"She was always my best friend," said Volare. "We did a lot of things together. I went to a different island to work and moved from Nassau to Grand Bahama, and we broke up. But whenever we saw each other, there was always a click between us. For me, that was always a positive, and I always told her whenever I decide in my life to get married again, you would be the first person I would tell that to. She did not realize that was what I was telling her – she had a boyfriend at that time. When certain things would happen, she had someone prophesy to her and she said this was who I was supposed to be with."
And who could forget the March 16, 2022 post when she wrote: "Happy birthday to my sexy, loving husband Volare ... in sickness and in health, I'll still be all over that. I came home in an air ambulance in September with a helmet on my head, strapped to a gurney after suffering a brain aneurysm and a stroke, and battling a terminal neurological disorder. I was just there, staring at him, barely able to move. Months later, by the healing power of God, I'm starting to feel like me again. We are beginning to look like us again. I am beginning to breathe more on my own again, which opens room for much more kissing, hugging, laughing and loving." She wrote that she was about to be the best birthday present of all presents because of the miracle God bestowed on her life. And that she was ready for Volare to open up the bow.
They started to communicate again in 2005 and were married in 2009.
Volare said he planned their final wedding anniversary celebration with his oldest daughter V'ajha. It was a family-oriented affair with them fixing a meal for Vanessa, and them watching a movie together.
"That whole day, we had a good time," he said.
Vanessa's initial fall happened when she turned away from the ironing board andfell to the ground. Volare said she slipped and hurt her knee. Then, there were instances when she tried to step up onto their porch and the leg would collapse.
They did not know what was happening at the time.
They got her a walking cane to help her get around as they sought answers as to what was going on. They were given an official Lou Gehrig's Disease diagnosis on their wedding anniversary in 2019.
Vanessa became bedridden in the pandemic. She suffered a brain aneurysm and stroke in August 2021. Earlier this month, she had a double leg amputation. She died on Friday, July 14.
Throughout her challenges, Vanessa held firm to her faith and was a light of positivity to everyone she came in contact with whether in person or through her social media postings.
She refused to be afraid or depressed. She preferred to remain optimistic.
A year after her initial diagnosis, and knowing what she was up against, in that it was incurable, Vanessa told The Nassau Guardian that she knew God was in her corner and had not forsaken her. Armed with that knowledge, she lived her final years on her terms.
Despite being bedridden, she continued to tell God to use her in whatever way He could and to "squeeze every little piece out of me".
She said she had also been asked how she stayed committed to God and managed to not become angry with Him. The thought she said never crossed her mind to abandon her faith.
"I've loved Him so long, that loving Him has become innate to me. It is in Him that I find my strength to face each day," she previously told The Nassau Guardian. She said the joy of the Lord was her strength and she was good with that.
She said she was in it "till the end".
Her diagnosis, she said, made her more introspective and caused her to prioritize things more that she might have taken for granted, including the mandate she said God had placed on her life.
Vanessa, who had being singing since the age of 15, released her first solo CD "Like The Dew" in 2018, a seven-song albumu featuring the single of the same name which has a message geared toward women, letting them know that God is ever-present and that they are never alone, whatever trial they face. The message in the single invites women to spread their case before the Lord, and let their spirit be braced for endurance.
It was a message Vanessa said she received full circle.
She followed that with her "Like the Dew Devotional" book, which came after "The Children's Den: A Mother's Diary", which is a compilation of stories about her daughters over 10 years which she dedicated to Volare, their children and her future grandchildren.
Her plan was to also pen a book about the issues she faced and the journey she had to take.
Vanessa was among the 50 gospel artists honored on Sunday for their contribution to gospel music during the 50th Anniversary Bahamian Gospel Honors during The Bahamas' golden jubilee year. The honor came two days after she died.
Vanessa was the winner of multiple Marlin Awards and a Cacique Award - none for a project of her own. She was the first winner of the Gospel Music Marlin Award for Outstanding Female Vocalist in 1996; she won three more awards over a decade. Along with Da Fam, she won the Cacique Award for Best Song of the Year in 2005.
She received the inaugural Trailblazer Award, which was bestowed on her by Prayze Factor Awards International. It's an award that was also named in Vanessa's honor and will be given to gospel artists who are blazing a trail in the gospel music industry internationally, despite extenuating circumstances.
Despite her health challenges, Vanessa produced new music and released the singles "Going Through", "Faith Walk" and her classic, "The Lord's Prayer". Her rendition of "The Lord's Prayer" has always been the most requested song for her to perform over her decades of ministering in song.
Vanessa made an appearance on Dr. Bobby Jones Presents - a television show which focuses on gospel music and gospel artists - on Impact TV as her music video "Faith Walk" made its debut.
Jesus in the City, a Christian organization out of Canada, released its music video production "The Blessing: Caribbean" with Vanessa representing The Bahamas along with fellow musicians Tony Lowe and Nehemiah Hield.
She was also nominated for the Texas Gospel Music Excellence Awards in multiple categories including Producer of the Year and Song of the Year, for the song "Going Through". She was also nominated in the 2021 Gospel Choice Music Awards in six categories including Best International Female Artist.
Besides her love for God and family, Vanessa also loved her work in media. She started her career at The Tribune in 1998 as a reporter. She moved to The Nassau Guardian, where she worked for a decade, ending her tenure having attained the position of lifestyles editor. She transitioned to Love 97 as a reporter and also wrote for the Bahama Journal. She was at Jones Communications when it launched JCN TV. After she moved to Grand Bahama, she became JCN's news correspondent on the island, before she made the move to the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas on Grand Bahama. Vanessa hosted "The Morning Glory Show" on the Light 810 am (ZNS 3) in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Through the program, she uplifted, encouraged and inspired listeners as "Divine Lady".
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