Desiraye Havania Cobbs

Born on November 14, 1996, in Louisville, Kentucky, Dez was a beautiful, kind, strong, and endlessly creative soul whose warmth reached far beyond the bounds of her own family. She had a remarkable way of making people feel loved, important, accepted, and appreciated. She saw the good and the potential in the people she cared about, and her presence continues to radiate through the many lives she touched.

Dez shared her life with her beloved husband, Jonah Ray Cobbs. The two met online while unknowingly living only a few miles apart. By their second date, they had both reached the same conclusion: they were destined for one another. On February 15, 2021—exactly one year after their relationship began—they ceremoniously married. That June, they gathered their dearest family and friends for a beautiful outdoor wedding in the foothills of Jefferson County in Golden, Colorado. Surrounded by the people they loved most, they felt deeply supported and affirmed as they began their married life together.

Nothing brought Dez greater joy than being a mother to their daughter, Ziggy. She poured her boundless joy, thoughtfulness, imagination, and love into raising her. From Ziggy's first days as a newborn through toddlerhood, Dez devoted herself to nurturing the person her daughter was becoming.

Together, Dez and Ziggy filled ordinary days with the things that become extraordinary in memory: blowing bubbles, singing songs, reading books, taking walks, watching movies, playing hide-and-seek, pretending to talk to one another on the phone, and sharing seemingly endless cuddles.

Dez was endlessly proud of Ziggy—not only of the child she is today, but of the person she would someday become. Everything that brought Ziggy joy mattered deeply to her mother. Dez cherished the opportunity to raise her daughter to be kind, joyful, curious, creative, and fun, and those who knew Dez can already see so much of her reflected in Ziggy.

Dez also gave Jonah the strength and confidence to become the father he is today. Together, they created a family rooted in love, laughter, imagination, and the belief that life was meant to be experienced fully.

That sense of joy followed Dez everywhere.

On one trip to Walt Disney World, after riding Expedition Everest for the first time, Dez turned to Jonah and announced that they were going to ride it as many times as their adult bodies would allow. It was quintessential Dez: spontaneous, enthusiastic, funny, determined, and completely committed to squeezing every possible bit of happiness out of the moment.

Dez – who carried an endless passion for creative works and expression – was an avid reader who could make her way through as many as 30 books in a year, and enjoyed fan-fiction above all. In 2022, Dez brought two of her greatest interests together by founding a business of her own, By Book or By Hook, a name inspired by a love of both books and crochet.

Through countless pop-up markets across the Greater Houston and Denver metropolitan areas, Dez built more than a business. Dez built friendships and community. Customers came to know and love her bookish creations and crocheted stuffed animals, and Dez treasured the relationships and experiences the business brought into her life. Dez was forward-thinking, resourceful, and a masterfully imaginative problem solver who could seemingly find a creative way through anything.

That creativity extended into nearly every part of her life. Dez loved theater and television, especially Doctor Who and Steven Universe. Dez loved video games, particularly Stardew Valley and The Sims and any one she affectionately called "cozy games." Dez greatly enjoyed playing tabletop board games with friends and family. She enjoyed serving as the Dungeon Master for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, taking great care to make sure everyone at the table was having fun, but she enjoyed playing on the other side of the table even more. Dez loved singing whatever happened to be in her head—especially songs from Blackbear, Giveon, and Taylor Swift, the latest viral TikTok tune, and above all, songs from Broadway musicals like Hamilton (of which she knew every single word)—and treasured being part of the WordNerds podcast alongside friends across the United States and Canada.

Most of all, Dez loved people.

Dez loved without conditions. There was no standard a person had to meet to be welcomed into Dez's life, and no impossible one required to stay there. Dez took people exactly as they were, and when Dez loved you, she loved hard. In the days since, those who knew that love have said the same thing again and again: they had never known anything like it, and they are only now discovering how many were shaped by it. That was never a chance; that was simply the way Dez loved—compassionately, and without condition. Dez is the person who taught so many others how to love that way in return.

Dez made time for friends and family, calling simply to stay connected and to remind people that they mattered. In her professional life, often working in educational settings, Dez brought that same compassion to children who were not her own. Dez made the effort to truly understand her students and became a safe and trusted person for many of them.

Dez was proud to earn a bachelor's degree from Western Governors University while pursuing a future in education. She had plans to return to the workforce as a substitute teacher, continuing the work of encouraging and caring for children in the way that came so naturally.

Above all else, Dez cared deeply about other human beings.

She leaves behind her beloved husband, Jonah Ray Cobbs; their cherished daughter, Ziggy; her mother, Mariea Williams; and many beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family members, and friends. She also leaves behind an enormous community of people who are different because Dez loved them.

Those closest to Dez believe that the people we love do not simply disappear from the universe. Dez's soul can still be felt in the lives she shaped, in the child she adored, in the people who carry her kindness forward, in the crafts made by her hands, and perhaps even in the flowers she once stopped to smell.

For Jonah, Dez will remain present in those things and in countless others—in memories, laughter, music, creativity, quiet moments, and in watching Ziggy grow.

And someday, as Ziggy grows old enough to understand the extraordinary person who was her mother, she should know this above all:

She was loved by Dez deeply, dearly, and every waking moment. Her mother delighted in who she was, cherished the privilege of raising her, and would be endlessly proud of the person she becomes.

A memorial service honoring Dez's life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at Brookside Funeral Home–Cypress Creek in Cypress, Texas.

Those wishing to support Jonah and Ziggy during this sudden and profound loss may contribute to the family's GoFundMe:

https://gofund.me/e722c9457