April 4, 1955 was a day like none other. Willie Lillian Jackson Curtis welcomed a bouncing baby girl, Tanyah Verdon Curtis, and the world was never the same. Feisty and gregarious, even as a youngster, Tanyah relished life and made friends easily. She loved to play the childhood games of the city, hopscotch, patty cake, pick-up-sticks, and of course, every little Black girl’s favorite, double dutch jump rope. Those were the days of Motown, James Brown, and soul music. Tanyah always knew the latest dances and wasn’t shy about “shaking her groove thing” and never missed a chance to show off her moves. Strong willed and outspoken, Tanyah was a straight shooter and was known to speak her mind. Ask any member of the family and they’ll say you haven’t lived unless she’s read you the riot act or “put you in your place” as she liked to say.
Tanyah received her education in the New York City public school system, graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx, in 1973. After graduation, Tanyah found employment in the New York City government and started a family. In 1974 she welcomed her first-born child, her son, Equaun, followed by daughters, Quanasia, Tuere, and Monet. Together with her childhood love, Stephany Barnett, they formed a strong family unit filled with laughter, family excursions and love. Tanyah was an impressive cook and loved to spoil her children and grandchildren with her southern inspired soul food.
The year 2000 and the new millennium brought major changes for Tanyah Verdon. With most of the children now grown, she and Monet relocated to Savannah, Georgia, fulfilling a lifelong dream to live in the southern home of her mother, Willie. After Monet’s high school graduation, Tanyah moved further south, joining her son Equaun, his wife Diane and their family in Tampa, Florida. Life continued to be centered around family gatherings, birthday and holiday celebrations, barbeques, and beach outings.
A die-hard New Yorker, Tanyah would also make frequent visits to her hometown to spend time with her daughters, extended family and to visit her old stomping grounds. Around this time, she also began visiting the Virgin Islands, home of her father, Floyd Lenhardt, and her paternal ancestors. A bigger than life personality, Tanyah made scores of friends on the island and could be considered the mayor-at-large of St. Croix. She embraced her Crucian family, the food, culture, and the music of her ancestral home, and enjoyed many happy times on the island.
As the self-appointed family ambassador, Tanyah was the glue that kept the family close. If you wanted to know how anyone in the circle of family and friends was doing, you need only call her for an update. Fiercely “old school,” Tanyah kept up with everyone, every day of her life.
Tanyah also had a spiritual side to her personality. She had a deep, abiding faith in Almighty God, attending church with family and friends from time to time. She was also a believer in the spiritual wealth of her ancestors and came to embrace African spirituality and the Yoruba religious tradition.
On May 18, 2022, after battling congestive heart failure for many years, Tanyah made her transition to the land of the ancestors. The family is sure that she would like everyone to know that she fought the good fight and lived life on her terms. Her advice to everyone she knew was, “live your best life!” And indeed, she did.
Our beloved Tanyah was funny, loyal, and loving and her absence leaves a gaping hole in her family circle that can never be filled. May she rise into the protective embrace of the Almighty and may her good works here on earth be remembered and honored for generations. Ashe and Amen.
Tanyah was predeceased by her parents Willie Lillian Jackson Curtis, Floyd Enrique Lenhardt, Sr., and Samuel Curtis; her brother John Jackson, and sister Catherine Nicole (Nikki) Curtis Robinson and her husband, Stephany Barnett.
To celebrate her life Tanyah leaves her four children, Equaun Dowdell (Diane), Quanasia Simmons, Tuere Prescott, and Monet Barnett. Her siblings, Lois Troupe (William), Donna Johnson (Dwayne), Kevin Curtis of New York City, Paulette Curtis of Connecticut, Denise Lenhardt Benoit of St. Croix, VI, and Floyd E. Lenhardt Jr. of Danville, Virginia. Her beloved grandchildren are Daquaun Dowdell, Donte Dowdell, Emani Dowdell, Jeremiah Martinez, Lillian Hajdari, and great grandson, Dangelo Dowdell. Not to be remiss, we must mention one grandchild still in the oven, Tuere, (nicknamed “T2” by her Uncle Equaun) whose birth we anxiously await this summer. The list of nieces, nephews, cousins, extended relatives, and friends could fill a book and thus are too numerous to mention.
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